Albuquerque Trip!

My best friend in all the land, Emily, lives in Albuquerque (but I don't like to think about that!) We met when we both worked at Jeppesen in Denver, a job she started the day before I gave birth to Dresden. She was singlehandedly the best (if not only) reason it was worth coming back after Maternity Leave. Emily is the most amazing, positive, sunny-disposition girl I know, which made coming to work and leaving the little man at home that year so much easier and waaaaaayyyy more fun. I wish those heydays could have lasted forever, but alas, things change, and we both found ourselves moving out of Colorado within a month of each other. This whole year, my phone has barely left my hand because we text constantly, but it has been hard not being able to get together whenever to bake cupcakes (her favorite) or just chat. So, she finally begged her hubby JR to bring me out for her birthday at the end of August, and he very sweetly (a MILLION thank yous to him) obliged, and I got to fly out over the weekend of August 26th. It was pretty much like one of those tearful reunion shows at the airport. The whole weekend was an awesome break from "reality" for me, and sooooo much fun. We ate WAY too much amazing food, stayed up later than I've stayed up forever, even considering I have a two-year-old, and made as much merry as we possibly could! The only pictures I got were with my phone, but I still wanted to document this on the ol' blog, for posterity's sake...

I told her I wanted to do something New Mexican-y, so we went to the Petroglyph National Park and saw these guys. They were pretty cool, especially when you considered they were thousands of years old...

Pretty Albuquerque skyline...It was awesome to be near mountains again. Not the majestic grandeur of the Rockies, but beautiful just the same! These are The Sandias, named such because they turn pink at night (Sandia means watermelon in Spanish)

"We're the three best friends that anybody ever had..." Em, J.R. and me!

A cool warrior guy

The sky's the limit!

Not sure what this is depicting, except the star...I think those are birds on the left, too...

This is the hill we climbed

More carvings

On Saturday night, we got dressed up and went to the Hard Rock Cafe casino for some dancing! Do y'all know how long it's been since I've been dancing? My feet were reminding me all day the next day, but it was so worth it, and so much fun.

On our way to the casino...

In the dark on the dancefloor, so I had to use the snazzy enhancing effects on my not-iPhone, lol!

Then, to cap off the trip, on Sunday, we found this guy: 

 The most GIGANTIC caterpillar I have EVER seen. We named him Heimlich, and talked for him in a German accent as we performed a dramatic rescue mission to get him off the driveway. 

Then before it was time for me to get on the plane we went to Old Town and got some souvenirs to take back for Dresden, and learned the sad tale about Mexican Jumping Beans (did you know they are a certain kind of caterpillar that comes from ONLY one single area in Mexico?), and went to a Christmas store. Emily is Mrs. Christmas, so this was only apropos, and seeing all the decor made me SOOOO excited. I loved this carved Nativity.

And St. Francis always makes me miss my little Grandma...

The trip was wonderful, and it was hard to leave, though I did miss my little man who stayed home with Daddy, and who talked to me every day multiple times. Hearing his little voice on the phone, he sounded so grown up. Emily and I are already planning our next get together; I just hope it will be sooner than later! Here's to much-needed vacations!

Love,

Cassie