Our trip to New Mexico

It's about time I resurrected this blog! Below is an account of our trip to New Mexico...
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What a beautiful and diverse place New Mexico is (and by diverse, I mean terrain), a true feast for the eyes. It certainly has a unique "flavor" all it's own. From mountains to deserts, there is much to explore and experience. We all had such a wonderfully refreshing time during our vacation in the mountain town of Ruidoso, where my mother grew up. I wish we could've stayed longer than just a week...

The main reason for this excursion was to celebrate my cousin's wedding; but it also provided a prime opportunity to bring my mother, her two brothers and my grandmother together under one roof. Something that hadn't been facilitated in about six years, primarily due to distance between individual families and our differing schedules. Besides the wedding, nothing topped witnessing "the kids" close to Grandmother and her "pleased mother hen" expression on her dear face (though, a late night chat with my cousin, Tonia ranks up there too).

We flew into El Paso, Texas on Tuesday afternoon. The flight from Tampa-Dallas-El Paso was actually rather relaxing. I was half expecting to feel totally drained after a full day of traveling, but it was a pleasant surprise to find the opposite -- though, I can't speak for the rest of my family on that score.

After a brief drive through El Paso, I fully realized that it's the next-to-the-last place I'd want to live in. When we were getting our rental car it was ninety-eight degrees of intensely dry, hot air (though, I won't complain too loudly, because Florida's heat and humidity can be harder to deal with than just plain heat)! It's hard to find anything that resembles "green and cool", though. While flying in, Dad pointed out White Sands to us. In two words I can describe El Paso: shimmering heat. I apologize if I've created a prejudice against this barren city - maybe if I had spent a little more time there I wouldn't have such a harsh view... :o)

After a two hour drive to Ruidoso, New Mexico we parked at Uncle Clifton and Aunt Dee Dee's home. We were definitely ready to unwind and stretch our legs (that makes it sound as though we were curled up in balls all day long!). We didn't stay at Aunt Dee Dee's because other relatives were going to, but we were blessed with the residence of Uncle Clifton's friend, Robyn. It could not have worked out better. We were so close to Uncle Clifton's that on several occasions, Delaney and I walked down the main street and up to their house.

One thing Delaney and I noticed about Ruidoso and the surrounding area, is the amount of shops with names ranging from the unique to just plain hilarious (for some, I wondered if they were a prank to lure customers in). One that really stuck out was "Split Ends Salon". Odd isn't it? Do I come out with split ends...or do they take care of them? :o)

The days leading up to the wedding were filled with an abundant amount of laughter, talking, shopping/browsing (Ruidoso boasts of some fun little shops, even though they might have weird names), hiking, picnicking, and late-nights. Oh, and a highlight of the week: arranging my cousins "bazillion" roses in Capitan's local grocery store refrigerator (Capitan is a town outside of Ruidoso) -- that was certainly a first!

Now, enough words. How about I let the pictures do the talking (they'll do a better job anyway). First, here's a picture of some of us cousins sitting around the picnic table at my uncle's house:

Uncle Clifton and Mom:

One day, we "climbed" Monjeau lookout. It was definitely a piece of cake (actually, we drove -- and yes, that's cheating!).

The view from part way up:

The steps leading to the tower:

Proof we were there (elevation: 9, 641):

The tower:

Blogger is not allowing me to post more pictures, and it's late, so I'll upload them tomorrow...hopefully I'll having wedding pictures up in a couple of days. Thanks for stopping by!