Laughs and Screams

We decided to head to Santa Fe today -- but I wanted to revisit some of my favorite places

Madrid (you pronounce it MADrid instead of MaDRID) and Cerillos....so the back way to Santa Fe.

We walked out the door and got in the car and had the most amazing surprise

Balloons

tons of hot air balloons

I hadn't hoped to see any this time of year -- I didn't even mention them to the girls -- and we spent about 20 minutes chasing balloon pictures

amazing

We had a nice breakfast at Village Inn and a visit to the Dollar Store and then headed up the canyon.

I had gotten lost last night -- thinking that the Sandias were North -- which turned me all around -- now that I remember they are east it's easy for me to find my way.

We made a few photo stops along the way and found our way to MADrid

Miss S said she needed to go to the bathroom -- and I found a lovely port-o-potty

horrified she peeked in.

Miss M assured her it was fine -- if a bit dark inside

"where does it go?" -- she asked -- noticing that they're a bit off the ground

"it stays in there" I told her

"eventually they'll haul it away and clean it out"

the need to pee outweighed the need to avoid the portopotty (btw - -these are very clean ones) -- and she broke down and used it.

We walked about 15 feet and found the public potties

whoops

we couldn't stop laughing -- eventually though - -the girls noticed that the town was full of shops and we headed into one

MADrid is a ghost town that hippies have pounced on -- tie-dyed -- and turned into a tourist industry. If you saw the movie Wild Hogs it was filmed there (although parts of it were actually in cerillos)

the second Miss M stepped in she saw a lovely maxi dress and had to see how it would look -- she put it over herself by slipping the hanger over her head -- and next thing I hear are girls screaming SPIDER! WHERE?! WHERE?! And a dress being ejected off her

Initially I rolled my eyes and said "seriously?" -- until I saw the large spider scurry away --

I picked up the dress and the shop owner came over with an upset look until I showed her the spider's next that was on the back of the dress

the victims fled -- laughing and shuddering -- but the siren song of the dress called them back -- um -- until they found out the spider dress was over $100.

see-ya!

then off to Santa Fe with a stop in the ghost town Cerillos

I got to wave in a vanna-esque fashion at the State Prison -- the girls were very excited to see a real prison

and Santa Fe -- well

was Santa Fe

Lovely Cathedral

Expensive souvenirs

oh

and the girls got to hear me drop the F-bomb because I tried to park on the street and the new car makes this urgent beep-beep-beep sound when you're too close to something -- but I don't know if it means that I'm going to hear glass any second or if I'm find -- I started to panic

and yeah
I dropped the Fbomb

I parked at covered parking for whopping 8 bucks instead

I need to get someone who speaks English as a first language and knows how to drive to stand behind and wave me in the first time so I can figure out where the bumpers are!

We had a horrible lunch at the Burro Alley Cafe (and who would have thought it would be bad with such a name?) -- and finally headed back (the fast way) to ABQ to have dinner with Matt and Dominick (everyone wave hello at Matt and Dominick!)

we had a terrific pizza and got to know an old friend again -- and get acquainted with his son

Facebook really is cool for hooking up with old friends.

and we topped the night off with a trip up to the Tramway parking lot to view the city.

Day 2 -- filled with laughs and screams -- what more can you ask?