Life and the Foods That Feed It: Down the Long and Winding Road

Road tripped to Colorado recently and it went well. Three families traveling together in two cars with 6 kids in tow. What could go wrong? Well actually nothing. Sure there were moments of screaming, crying, rowdiness and tomfoolery but that’s just part of the norm. We made it to our designation just fine and on our way even had a chance to eat at ----- the first of our many burger stops on this trip.

Gene's (A shack of a place but big on flavor)

They are just happy to be out of the car

Burger was solid, crispy char with lots of flavor

The onion rings though were the grand marshall of the meal.

We ended up spending the night in Tucumcari , NM to split up the ride and to give ourselves a little bit of time off. We stopped in Espanola, NM for lunch the next day and enjoyed some homemade tortillas and neat scenery such as a tree inside the restaurant and other old relics and nick nacks. If you do come here to eat, please note that they charge you for extra salsa and chips. The food was pricey too but all in all it was delicious.


El Paragua in Espanola, NM Some of the gang

This was a tortilla making fool right here. Good one too!

chicken enchiladas with green

Stuffed sopapilla Christmas dressed.

Sopapillas for the taking.

We finally made it to our destination. The kids enjoyed the snow a bit and the parents had some nice drinks and relaxation time. Stayed in and cooked our first meal of the trip. Simple and easy spaghetti.

We woke up the next morning to go skiing, everyone was wicked excited including yours truly. I was going to get my first snowboarding lesson and my buddy was joining me. We kicked off the day with cooking breakfast at the resort and drove up to Wolf Creek . After the spouses got the kids off to their class, I checked into mine. Got buckled up on the board and was ready. Heel turn. Simple enough, ten feet in and I met the not so soft snow for the first time. We get back in line and try it again, and again, the snow was waiting to greet me. Then we went toe turn, and again, Tom meet snow. After a bit of this and already being slightly fatigued we got on the lift for the first time.

Right… I get off the lift and fall straight down. Gathered myself and scooted to the area where the instructor wanted us. He wanted to show us how to slowly go down sideboard on the slopes. Right. First run down had me rolling and tumbling on my front, back or side most of the time. Took about 6 tries to get down the bunny slope and when I finally got there, that jackwagon wanted us to go back up. Sure thing boss.

Repeat last paragraph but add in some moments I actually stayed upright for more than 10 feet and as a result a lot more painful spills.

Third trip on the slopes. I finally got up on my board and was going a good click but I caught myself starting to veer the wrong direction and as every newbie does, I over corrected myself and the front of the board dug into the snow and stuck. Unfortunately my body decided to go on without it and I was bent over like a pretzel. I felt my back shift, my left knee give in just slightly and I felt a good pop in my ankle. As I laid there on the ground, I started wondering why on earth an Asian who was born in a tropical climate would make his way up to the top of a mountain just to kill himself. Michelle's idea of a vacation was this man's idea of torture.

So as I sat there in the snow and ice wondering if I could just roll myself down the hill, the instructor comes over and asks me if I need a hand up. My brain was saying, “dear man yes, just drag me down to the base and let me lay there.” But unfortunately the words that came out of my mouth were, “just give me a minute and I’ll get up.” My ankle was messed up something fierce though. I couldn’t get the weight evenly on it to balance on the board and I knew this but I still got up and tried to get down. 40 feet later, I was back down and it wasn’t a soft landing. I noticed the instructor coming again but before he could, I dragged myself back up and went down the hill some more this time just wanting to make it down all the way. I went heel to toe and was picking up some good speed. Since we hadn’t really gotten to that point and not really knowing how to stop proper, I stopped the only way I knew how and just cut the turn sharp and braced myself for another Tom special and I went down again. I was fortunately close enough to the base to drag myself over to a safe spot and unstrapped, probably for the last time in my life because momma didn’t raise a fool.

With my ankle just throbbing, I went and hung out in the kid's ski school to check on my kids who were moved to the more advance wolf pup class. Seems their American half caught on to skiing a lot faster than their full blooded Asian dad. Michelle took a break from shredding the mountain to eat a burger with me at the resort there and then I took a couple of the kids to play in the snow.

Cooked Chili for dinner that night.

What to do with left over chili? Toast, ham, egg, cheese and top it with chili. Pow. You are welcome.

The next day, I stayed home while the rest of the adults went skiing. Crazy thing is, none of the kids wanted to go back up there to ski... so guess what? Being home with a bum ankle and hanging out with 6 kids was one thing. The fact two of them were sick and we didn't get to do much was an entirely different animal altogether.

Left the sickest of the kids at home (also the oldest so it wasn't like a latch key situation) and took the other 5 to play some mini golf, then we went to get some ice-cream. That's when the second kid bit the dust and we went back to the room to just watch movies, eat popcorn, scream, holler, and make a terrible mess. Thankfully we weren't in the room I was staying at but one of the other couples.

The adults get back and had a great time. All were a little sore and worn out. I had cooked pot roast and another roast for dinner since I had so much free time.

The other roast. Pot roast was too boring looking, this passed the test though.

We head reports of bad weather coming so we decided to pack up a little early. One of the couples started getting really sick too and they were looking terrible. They decided to head home the next morning. That left us with the Smiths and that was fine. Did some shopping in town that morning and headed out after lunching at this fine um... hamburger establishment...

Lunch with the Smiths at the Malt Shoppe. Great shakes.

This is how sickness spreads. But they are cute aren't they? (Note: Michelle's nice sunburned face from skiing)

Pretty good burger here but was only 2nd best to Gene's on this trip.

On the way home, there was snow, hail, and big rain. Wind was battering the suburban right and left too but we make it all the way to Childress where we stayed the night.


Hard to enjoy a road trip when the road was fighting back.

The Days Inn was nice and this was a welcoming site the next morning.

We drove back all the way home the next day leaving us plenty of time to unpack, relax, and unwind for work the next day.

Thanks to the Smith's and the Wilson's for taking this trip with us. Hopefully we can do it again next year. Without the sickies and the bad weather. Here are just random pics for your viewing pleasure.