VACATIONING IN NEW MEXICO

The genius and I have taken several road trips out West. We have driven to Phoenix to see Ashley and family on several occasions, and once we even drove to San Francisco and back. One of our favorite journeys was the time we went to New Mexico.

We drove to Albuquerque in two days and spent a couple of nights where we got our first taste of New Mexican food --- yum!! We looked around the town and then headed straight down the middle of the state. Our next destination was Socorro, the home of New Mexico Tech, which was of interest to us for two reasons: 1) The genius’ father once attended the school (when it was called New Mexico School of Mines) and 2) a great uncle of the genius (Xavier Illinski, isn’t that a great name?) served as its president for several years.

We found a very nice (and inexpensive) motel with an exercise room, always a must for the genius, and checked in. The scenery is really beautiful in this town as in all of New Mexico and we had fun just walking around. We visited the college and saw Uncle Illinski’s picture in the gallery of presidents. Then we visited the registrar’s office where they actually gave us a copy of the father’s transcript (I hope that my children and grandchildren never see the grades I made at Memphis State!).

From Socorro we were able to make little side trips. One was to Roswell where a space ship supposedly landed. Of course, the town has seized on this alleged episode to draw tourists in and we saw it all. I remained a skeptic about it, but the genius wasn’t ready to discount it; he has always kept an open mind about life in outer space. Anyway, we enjoyed the trip before we headed on down to Las Cruces at the bottom of the state.

We took the southern route through Texas to come home and not much happened except for one potentially disastrous event. We ate lunch at a Wendy’s in a small town somewhere and started on our way. About an hour out I realized I didn’t have my purse. When we were sure it was not in the car, the genius crossed the median and flew back to that town (I don’t remember the name). We came screeching into the Wendy’s and jumped out and ran in. The clean up lady had found it and had put it behind the counter to hold for us. Everything was there safe and sound: cash, credit cards, etc. The genius gave her $10.00, but I was so relieved that I added $40.00 to it.

(Now, of course, he doesn’t trust me at all to get my purse when we go out. I would like to say that I have never done that again, but that is not the case. As he can testify, I have left it on several occasions, always remembering in time. Many times now I don’t even take one, just to be safe and also to keep him from nagging.)

Except for that little glitch, we had a wonderful time. One reason I wrote about this is that Brenda and I are going to go on a similar journey for Spring Break (a week away!) and we are both really excited. Rufus (and Jesse) are staying with the genius while we tour New Mexico. I promise to keep some kind of a journal while we are on the road.

Hopefully, we’ll both hold on to our purses!