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My vacation to New Mexico was very squee-worthy.
Day One (Thursday): I arrive in Albuquerque (and isn't that a difficult destination to spell properly!) and pick up my rental car. The rest of the day is spent ferrying various members of my group around while we wait for everyone else to arrive. I landed at 1:10 and the first trip out I took H (our triathelete) out to Sandia Peak to run for three hours. Back to the airport for the 2:30 crowd. Took the 2:30 crowd (L, D, T, AB, and JR) to Old Town Albuquerque to hang about for a few hours, and find a restaurant for dinner.
Back out to Sandia Peak to pick up our runner (three hours, eighteen miles - nine up, nine down). Back to the airport to pick up the 6:30 crowd (K and MM). Meet the Old Town group at the restaurant (Little Anita's Mexican - good food!). MT, AW, NT, and JB meet us there (they have a car and were out in Monument Valley).
We eat dinner and hang about until our last group arrives (supposed to come in at 9:30pm - don't show up till after eleven). Unfortunately, they have two of the four drivers in that crowd, so the rest of us can't even go on to Santa Fe. At this point I have nine people's luggage in my car. So S, AC, and CC finally arrive with the two cars, we split ourselves up and get ourselves on the road to Santa Fe. We get to the hotel and crash.
Day Two:
Up early for white water rafting! We raft on the Rio Grande, and it was grand! The rapids are high because of the wet spring and winter runoff (can we say cold water? Oh, yes it is cold!!!) Our trip was the section of the river called the racetrack - and it is usually class II and class III rapids. With the river running high it became class III and class IV...
Alternately exhilerating and terrifying, the six in my boat stayed in - our other boat lost two, but they were pretty scrappy, and saved themselves. One boat (not one of ours) flipped, but they were all okay. Our guide, Eric, had a good time with us. We took the "toilet bowl" (apt description!) backwards when we weren't supposed to, but we made it! When your guide yells "SHIT!" all you do is hang on for the ride!
After rafting we got back to Santa Fe and showered and relaxed for a while before going off to dinner at the Cowgirl Hall of Fame. We ate outside and the margarita was tasty (the CHF boasts twenty-one different kinds of tequila).
Back to the hotel for talking and such before bed.
I'll get to Days Three, Four and Five later.
Day One (Thursday): I arrive in Albuquerque (and isn't that a difficult destination to spell properly!) and pick up my rental car. The rest of the day is spent ferrying various members of my group around while we wait for everyone else to arrive. I landed at 1:10 and the first trip out I took H (our triathelete) out to Sandia Peak to run for three hours. Back to the airport for the 2:30 crowd. Took the 2:30 crowd (L, D, T, AB, and JR) to Old Town Albuquerque to hang about for a few hours, and find a restaurant for dinner.
Back out to Sandia Peak to pick up our runner (three hours, eighteen miles - nine up, nine down). Back to the airport to pick up the 6:30 crowd (K and MM). Meet the Old Town group at the restaurant (Little Anita's Mexican - good food!). MT, AW, NT, and JB meet us there (they have a car and were out in Monument Valley).
We eat dinner and hang about until our last group arrives (supposed to come in at 9:30pm - don't show up till after eleven). Unfortunately, they have two of the four drivers in that crowd, so the rest of us can't even go on to Santa Fe. At this point I have nine people's luggage in my car. So S, AC, and CC finally arrive with the two cars, we split ourselves up and get ourselves on the road to Santa Fe. We get to the hotel and crash.
Day Two:
Up early for white water rafting! We raft on the Rio Grande, and it was grand! The rapids are high because of the wet spring and winter runoff (can we say cold water? Oh, yes it is cold!!!) Our trip was the section of the river called the racetrack - and it is usually class II and class III rapids. With the river running high it became class III and class IV...
Alternately exhilerating and terrifying, the six in my boat stayed in - our other boat lost two, but they were pretty scrappy, and saved themselves. One boat (not one of ours) flipped, but they were all okay. Our guide, Eric, had a good time with us. We took the "toilet bowl" (apt description!) backwards when we weren't supposed to, but we made it! When your guide yells "SHIT!" all you do is hang on for the ride!
After rafting we got back to Santa Fe and showered and relaxed for a while before going off to dinner at the Cowgirl Hall of Fame. We ate outside and the margarita was tasty (the CHF boasts twenty-one different kinds of tequila).
Back to the hotel for talking and such before bed.
I'll get to Days Three, Four and Five later.
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Etakyma, I had no idea you took such exciting vacations!
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No, actually, I've just hooked up with a fabulous group of people who are adventurous and fun. I've been horseback riding and hiking with the same crowd...
Next year is anyone's guess - parasailing, anyone?
From:
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This is a writer's group (we all met online initially) and every year the members get together. This was the third trip. First trip to Vegas (I didn't go that year), second trip the Bryce Canyon and Zion National Park (my sneakers still have reddish dust ground into them from that trip! Hoodoos! Queen Victoria in rock! Poligamy Porter! Fun times.), and this last one was the third trip they've planned.
I just decided to go last year, since I knew they were, well I can't say *sane* exactly, and *harmless* sounds bad, but how about "a fun crowd." And I'd never been to the southwest before. And it was time to actually plan for and go on real vacation! So yeah. I met them online. And there were between fourteen and sixteen people from all over the country (and world! one from australia this year, one from england last year) each trip (the first one had fifteen, I think). Only two are married, three have kids, and this was their weekend away *without* the family. The rest of us are single, no dependents besides the four footed, furry kind (cats, dogs, one horse, and one goat).