Going to New Mexico!

[MizzouRah]

Ok, anyone here live in Aluquerque? I'm heading there for work next week and I have no idea what there is to do there.

Thanks,

Todd

[Tigercat]

An exclamation mark at the end of a sentence saying "going to New Mexico," REALLY? Was it an accident?

[CraigSca]

Umm....don't the Dodgers have their AAA affiliate there? Maybe you can go see the next Franklin Stubbs.

[MizzouRah]

Well, I get a call from my boss today.

Boss: "Have you ever been to Albuquerque?"
Me: "Ummm..No"
Boss: "Would you like to go?"
Me: "Uhhh.. ok.. let me call my wife"
Wife: "Who's going with you?"
Me: "Just me, I'm covering for a guy who was in an auto accident"
Wife: "Ok"
Me: "Ok Boss, looks like I'll go"
Boss: "Someone else (Kirk) beat you to it"
Me: "Ok, fine with me"

Later...

Kirk: "Hey, do you still want to goto NM?"
Me: "Ummm...sure - You can't go?"
Kirk: "Wife is bitchin at me"
Me: "I'll call American Airlines"

So yes... I guess I'm excited becuase I've never been there before and the HP/Compaq coverage is very small compared to what we cover here in Missouri/Illinios. Looks like Mr. Xbox, Madden, and ESPN are coming with.

Todd

[Glengoyne]

I used to travel to NM to visit a client in Albquerque all the time. The best thing to do in Albequerque is to go to Santa Fe. In fact I'd always stay in Santa Fe, almost an hour away, just because I hated Ablequerque so much.

Also eat at some Mexican restaurants. I come from an area where we have very good mexican food, and almost every restaurant in NM is as good or better than the places I frequent here. If you visit Santa Fe, my favorite place is Garduno's. It is downtown, and a fairly casual place. The food is very good, and the Margaritas are great! Oh, also You are about to be introduced to the sopapilla. Here in CA, and most everywhere else, when you go to a Mexican restaurant, you are typically given chips and salsa. In NM, almost everyone gives you sopapillas instead. They are great drizzled with honey, then again most everything is.

[finkenst]

New Mexico is the Land of Enchantment! Haven't you seen the commercials for NM tourism with Governor Bill Richardson? Late summer, hard to call what it's like in ABQ. Also, tour the UNM campus since they should be back in session...

And along with Glengoyne, some restaurants start you with the traditional Chips&salsa and give you sopapillas for desert... fill 'em with honey.. yum!

[Poli]

I've driven past it twice (from MO to CA and then last year as I returned home from deployment). I got incredibly lost going through it the first time when I pulled off for gas. On ramps closed here, off ramps closed there, detour signs here, no detour signs there. It was lousy. I actually made sure I had plenty of gas the next time I drove through.

On the plus side, all of that construction should be done, but I'd have my fingers crossed if I were you.

[MizzouRah]

I love sopapillas.


Todd

[Buccaneer]

Originally Posted by Glengoyne

I used to travel to NM to visit a client in Albquerque all the time. The best thing to do in Albequerque is to go to Santa Fe. In fact I'd always stay in Santa Fe, almost an hour away, just because I hated Ablequerque so much.

Also eat at some Mexican restaurants. I come from an area where we have very good mexican food, and almost every restaurant in NM is as good or better than the places I frequent here. If you visit Santa Fe, my favorite place is Garduno's. It is downtown, and a fairly casual place. The food is very good, and the Margaritas are great! Oh, also You are about to be introduced to the sopapilla. Here in CA, and most everywhere else, when you go to a Mexican restaurant, you are typically given chips and salsa. In NM, almost everyone gives you sopapillas instead. They are great drizzled with honey, then again most everything is.

I concur. Having probably traveled to Northern New Mexico more than any other state in the US, I love being down there. Santa Fe and Taos are probably two of the most unique cities you would ever go to. Travel the back roads between those two (through Chimayo), as well as the back road out to Abiquiu (think Georgia O'Keefe). Authentic Northern New Mexican cuisine is among my very favorite, not only the sopapillas but the blue corn tortillas and the best red or green chiles sauce anywhere. I recommend Tomasita's and the Plaza Restaraunt in Santa Fe for casual fares, and La Fonda and the Pinon Grill in Santa Fe for upscale dining.

[Poli]

By the way, say hi to my dad while you're out there.

[MizzouRah]

Originally Posted by Buccaneer

I concur. Having probably traveled to Northern New Mexico more than any other state in the US, I love being down there. Santa Fe and Taos are probably two of the most unique cities you would ever go to. Travel the back roads between those two (through Chimayo), as well as the back road out to Abiquiu (think Georgia O'Keefe). Authentic Northern New Mexican cuisine is among my very favorite, not only the sopapillas but the blue corn tortillas and the best red or green chiles sauce anywhere. I recommend Tomasita's and the Plaza Restaraunt in Santa Fe for casual fares, and La Fonda and the Pinon Grill in Santa Fe for upscale dining.

Thanks!


Todd

[MizzouRah]

Originally Posted by ardent enthusiast

By the way, say hi to my dad while you're out there.

Will do!

Todd

[cartman]

Like Bucc, I know northern NM much better than ABQ. I second all of the statements on Santa Fe. I used to work summers at Philmont, the huge scout camp in the mountains outside Cimarron. We would go to Santa Fe as often as possible. Taos is interesting, and the Rio Grande Gorge bridge nearby is simply amazing.

Los Alamos is an interesting visit. Nearby are some Indian cliff dwellings (Puye, I think). In ABQ, Sandia Peak is a good spot to visit.

[MizzouRah]

Originally Posted by cartman

Like Bucc, I know northern NM much better than ABQ. I second all of the statements on Santa Fe. I used to work summers at Philmont, the huge scout camp in the mountains outside Cimarron. We would go to Santa Fe as often as possible. Taos is interesting, and the Rio Grande Gorge bridge nearby is simply amazing.

Los Alamos is an interesting visit. Nearby are some Indian cliff dwellings (Puye, I think). In ABQ, Sandia Peak is a good spot to visit.

Excellent, thanks!


Todd

[finkenst]

i miss NM.

[Buccaneer]

One more thing I forgot, take the drive up to Santa Fe Mountain where the ski resort is at. Last time I was there, they had a local chef cooking on a large outdoor grill.

[JeeberD]

Originally Posted by CraigSca

Umm....don't the Dodgers have their AAA affiliate there? Maybe you can go see the next Franklin Stubbs.

Hey man, Franklin was a STUD the one season he played for the Astros...

And yes, the Isotopes (that's really thier name) do play in Queerque. Also, eat anything and everything that contains green chile. New Mexico (especially Hatch) is famous for their green chile, and it is the food of the gods...

[MizzouRah]

I might have to walk.


Todd

[Ksyrup]

Why not cab it? I know it'll cost you out-of-pocket, but the short-term loss seems to outweigh the long-term loss of a job (if you're really worried that might happen) - or at least, having to repay your company for the cost of sending you out there.

[MizzouRah]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

Why not cab it? I know it'll cost you out-of-pocket, but the short-term loss seems to outweigh the long-term loss of a job (if you're really worried that might happen) - or at least, having to repay your company for the cost of sending you out there.

Well, I had parts to carry and my cell phone died today. Ahhh... I'm so tired... all went well at rent-a-wreck and I appreciate everyone's help and thoughts.


Todd

[mauchow]

I used to live in Albequerque, but that was 20 years ago when I was 2-4 years old. I can't suggest anything. Maybe you can visit the playground I used to play at!!!11!

[tucker342]

You guys are making me really hungry...

[MizzouRah]

I had a fat steak at Texas cattle and steer or something like that. T'was very good, although I didn't have lunch today.


Todd

[sterlingice]

Way back when I was just a little bitty boy living in a box under the
stairs in the corner of the basement of the house half a block down the
street from Jerry's Bait Shop... You know the place... Well anyway,
back then life was going swell and everything was juuuuust peachy...
except of course for the undeniable fact that every single morning my
mother would make me a big ol' bowl of sauerkraut for breakfast.
Dawww!! Big bowl of sauerkraut!
Every single mornin'! It was driving me crazy.

I said to my mom, I said, "Hey, mom, what's up with all the sauerkraut?"
And my dear, sweet mother, she just looked at me like a cow looks at an
oncoming train. And she leaned right down next to me, and she said, "IT'S
GOOD FOR YOU!" And then she tied me to the wall and stuck a funnel in my
mouth and force fed me nothing but sauerkraut until I was 26 and a half
years old.

That's when I swore that someday, someday I would get outta that
basement and travel to a magical, far away place, where the sun is
always shining and the air smells like warm root beer, and the towels
are oh so fluffy! Where the shriners and the lepers play their ukuleles
all day long, and anyone on the street will gladly shave your back for
a nickel!

Wacka wacka, doo doo, yeah!

Well, let me tell you, people, it wasn't long at all before my dream
came true. Because the very next day, a local radio station had this
contest to see who could correctly guess the number of molecules in
Leonard Nimoy's butt. I was off by three, but I still won the grand
prize. That's right, a first class, one-way ticket...

to Albuquerque!
Albuquerque!

Oh yeah. You know, I'd never been on a real airplane before, and I gotta
tell ya, it was really great... except that I had to sit between two large
Albanian women with excruciatingly severe body odor. And the little kid in
back of me kept throwin' up the whole time. The flight attendants ran out of
Dr. Pepper and salted peanuts, and the in-flight movie was Bio-Dome with
Pauly Shore...and, oh yeah, three of the airplane engines burned out, and we
went into a tailspin and crashed into a hillside and the plane exploded in a
giant fireball and everybody died. Except for me. You know why?

'Cause I had my tray table up
And my seat back in the full upright position
Had my tray table up
And my seat back in the full upright position
Had my tray table up
And my seat back in the full upright position

Ah-ha-ha-ha. Ah-ha-ha. Aahhh. So I crawled from the twisted, burnin'
wreckage, I crawled on my hands and knees for three full days, draggin'
along my big leather suitcase and my garment bag and my tenor saxophone
and my 12-pound bowlin' ball and my lucky, lucky autographed
glow-in-the-dark snorkel. But finally I arrived at the world famous
Albuquerque Holiday Inn where the towels are oh so fluffy! And you can
eat your soup right out of the ashtrays if you wanna. It's OK, they're
clean.

Well, I checked into my room, and I turned down the A/C, and I turned
on the SpectraVision, and I'm just about to eat that little chocolate
mint on my pillow that I love so very, very much, when suddenly there's
a knock on the door. Well, now, who could that be?

I say, "Who is it?" No answer.
"Who is it?" There's no answer.
"WHO IS IT!?" They're not sayin' anything.
So finally, I go over and I open the door, and just as I suspected,
it's some big, fat hermaphrodite with a flock of seagulls, haircut, and
only one nostril. Oh, man, I hate it when I'm right.

So, anyway, he bursts into my room, and he grabs my lucky snorkel, and
I'm like, "Hey, you can't have that! That snorkel's been just like a
snorkel to me."

And he's like, "Tough!"
And I'm like, "Give it!"
And he's like, "Make me!"
And I'm like, "'kay!"
So I grabbed his leg and he grabbed my esophagus, and I bit off his ear
and he chewed off my eyebrows, and I took out his appendix and he gave
a colonic irrigation, yes indeed, you better believe it. And somehow in
the middle of it all, the phone got knocked off the hook. And twenty
seconds later, I heard a familiar voice. And you know what it said?
I'll tell ya what it said!

It said, "If you'd like to make a call, please hang up and try again.
If you need help, hang up and then dial your operator.
If you'd like to make a call, please hang up and try again.
If you need help, hang up and then dial your operator."

In Albuquerque!
Albuquerque!

Well, to cut a long story short, he got away with my snorkel. But I
made a solemn vow right then and there that I would not rest, I would
not sleep for an instant, until the one-nostrilled man was brought to
justice.

But first, I decided to buy some donuts. So I got in my car, and I
drove over to the donut shop, and I walked on up to the guy behind the
counter and he says, "Yeah, whaddaya want??"

I said, "You got any glazed donuts?"
He said, "Nah, we're outta glazed donuts."
I say, "Well, you got any jelly donuts?"
He said, "No, we're outta jelly donuts."
I said, "You got any Bavarian cream-filled donuts?"
He said, "No, we're outta Bavarian cream-filled donuts."
I said, "You got any cinnamon rolls?"
He said, "No, we're outta cinnamon rolls!"
I said, "You got any apple fritters?"
He said, "No, we're outta apple fritters!"
I said, "You got any bear claws?"
He said, "Wait a minute, I'll go check."

"No, we're outta bear claws!"
I said, "Well, in that case... in that case, what do you have?"
He says, "All I got right now is this box of one dozen starving crazed weasels."
I said, "OK, I'll take that."
So he hands me the box, and I open up the lid, and the weasels jump out
and they immediately latch onto my face and start bitin' me all over.
Oh, man, they were just goin' nuts! They were tearin' me apart! You
know, I think it was just about that time that a little ditty started
goin' through my head. I believe it went a little somethin' like this:

DOH! Get 'em off me! Get 'em off me! Ohhh! No, get 'em off, get 'em
off! Oh, oh God, oh God! Oh, get 'em off me! Oh, oh God! Ah,
AaaaaaahhhhhhhhhOhhhhhhhhhh!

I ran out into the street with these flesh-eating weasels all over my
face, wavin' my arms all around and just runnin', runnin', runnin' like
a constipated wiener dog. And as luck would have it, that's exactly
when I ran into the girl of my dreams. Her name was Zelda. She was a
caligraphy enthusiast, with a slight overbite, and hair the color of
strained peaches. I'll never forget the very first thing she said to
me. She said, "Hey, you've got weasels on your face."

That's when I knew it was true love. We were inseparable after that.
Aw, we ate together, we bathed together, we even shared the same piece
of mint-flavored dental floss. The world was our burrito. So we got
married, and we bought us a house and had two beautiful children,
Nathaniel and Superfly. Oh we were so very, very, very happy, oh yeah.
But then, one fateful night, Zelda said to me, she said, "Sweetie
pumpkin? Do you wanna join the Columbia Record Club?" I said, "Woah!
Hold on now, baby! I'm just not ready for that kind of a commitment!"

So we broke up, and I never saw her again
but that's just the way things go

In Albuquerque!
Albuquerque!

Anyway, things really started lookin' up for me, because about a week
later, I finally achieved my lifelong dream. That's right, I got me a
part-time job at the Sizzler! I even made employee of the month after I
put out that grease fire with my face. Aw yeah, everybody was pretty
jealous of me after that. I was gettin' a lot of attitude.

OK, like one time, I was out in the parkin' lot, tryin' to remove my excess
earwax with a golf pencil, when I see this guy Marty
tryin' to carry a big ol' sofa up the stairs all by himself. So I-I say to
him, I say, "Hey, you want me to help you with that?" And
Marty, he just rolls his eyes and goes, "No, I want you
to cut off my arms and legs with a chainsaw!" So I did.

And then he gets all indignant on me. He's like, "Hey, man, I was just
being sarcastic!" Well, that's just great. How was I supposed to know
that? I'm not a mind reader, for cryin' out loud. Besides, now he's got
a really cute nickname - Torso-Boy! So what's he complaining about?

Say, that reminds me of another amusing anecdote. This guy comes up to
me on the street and he tells me he hasn't had a bite in three days.
Well, I knew what he meant, but just to be funny, I took a big bite out
of his jugular vein. And he's yelling and screaming and bleeding all
over, and I'm like, "Hey, come on, don'tcha get it?" But he just keeps
rolling around on the sidewalk, bleeding and screaming, "Aaaahhhh!
AaaaahhhhOhhhhh! Aaaaahhhh!" You know, completely missing the irony of
the whole situation. Man, some people just can't take a joke, you know?

Anyway, um...um...where was I? Kinda lost my train of thought.

Uh, well, uh, OK, anyway, I-I know it's kind of a roundabout way of
saying it, but, I guess the whole point I'm tryin' to make here is...
I HATE SAUERKRAUT!

That's all I'm really tryin' to say. And, by the way,
if one day you happen to wake up and find yourself in an existential
quandry, full of loathing and self-doubt and wracked with the pain and
isolation of your pitiful meaningless existence, at least you can take
a small bit of comfort in knowing that somewhere out there in this
crazy ol' mixed-up universe of ours, there's still a little place

called Albuquerque!
Albuquerque!
Albuquerque! (Albuquerque!)
Albuquerque! (Albuquerque!)
Albuquerque! (Albuquerque!)
Albuquerque! (Albuquerque!)

I said A! (A!)
L! (L!)
B! (B!)
U! (U!)
.... querque! (querque!)

(Albuquerque, Albuquerque, Albuquerque, Albuquerque)
(Albuquerque, Albuquerque, Albuquerque, Albuquerque)
(Albuquerque, Albuquerque, Albuquerque, Albuquerque)
(Albuquerque, Albuquerque, Albuquerque, Albuquerque)
Al...buquerque!
*burp*
heh heh heh heh

[MizzouRah]