Jan 062014
 

Christmas Day found us leaving Las Cruses and heading Northwest to Silver City.

But before we left, we placed another Skype call to my Dad and siblings to wish them all a Merry Christmas and gab for a bit.  We were also treated to my Niece singing Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer in Spanish!  That girl has a beautiful voice and I’m so glad that she gave us that little present.

:::

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One of the most entertaining part of our drives through New Mexico were the rest stops, because as I mentioned before they are anything but boring!

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They are a mix of creativity and humor.

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For some reason this made me laugh, but Rick gladly gave his opinion.

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After a drive through Silver City (which by the way has the best Main Street I think that I have ever seen and a wonderful Java joint that made a killer Vanilla Latte), I gave Rick a special treat by driving through the Mountains on our way back to Albuquerque.

This was a little out of my comfort zone, but I mustered up my courage, pulled up my big girl panties and ventured on.

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At first I didn’t think it was so bad with the spectacular views.

And since I was doing the driving, Rick was left with the photography responsibilities.

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He did not disappoint.  Although he did curse my camera a few times and threatened to throw it out the window.

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We quickly came across an open pit mine that reminded us of what was a very real potential in the northern part of our state.

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Even though I appreciated the view and the information, there was just something unsettling about it all.

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As much as the mine had been a big downer, the traverse through the rest of the mountain reclaimed our spirits a little.

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Until I came upon the higher elevations that had snow and ice on the road.

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And the switchbacks were unending with their 15 mph speed limits that I took at 5 mph because there was no guardrail to stop me from going in the ditch.

And by ditch I mean a 1,000 foot drop down down the side of a mountain.

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We eventually made it out the other side and Rick peeled my fingers away from the steering wheel.

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The rest of the drive back to Albuquerque was smooth sailing with sunny skies and warm temperatures.

I wish I could have bottled that up and brought it back to the Northwoods.

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