Desert Wanderings
by Ronnie D. Miller
Well here we are in 2009. I hope everyone had a great Holiday season. For those of you who traveled I hope your flights were on time and your hotel beds soft.
And speaking of traveling, I thought I would share my holiday travels with you. We were able to squeeze in two destinations over the school break. We left Lubbock on Christmas morning and drove to Monahans to spend a few days with my parents out on the ranch. It was a perfect time with family and friends. We spent days exploring unending pastures, looking for Native American arrowheads and building fence. Yes, that’s right. Dad put us to work immediately. It was great to get back to my roots though and I was incredibly proud of all the work we accomplished. We worked hard, laughed a lot, ate too much and remembered what the “good” life is really like.
Following our swing through Monahans, we hopped on a 737 and headed to Albuquerque. I had booked us 4 nights at the Hyatt Tamaya resort and was greatly looking forward to the rest and relaxation. We arrived on New Years Eve and picked up the rental and headed out.
The Hyatt Tamaya is basically located between Albuquerque and Santa Fe. It is near the little town of Bernalillo. The nicest thing about the resort is that it is out in the middle of nowhere and has multiple walking trails. The other great thing is you can almost reach up and touch the stars they seem so close. Our favorite nature walk took us down to the Rio Grande where we were able to sit and listen to the water rush by.
The resort offers a plethora of activities including horseback riding, nature trails, campfire cookouts, pottery making, arts and crafts and even hot air balloon rides. My natural fear of heights precluded us from taking part in the latter option.
We spent a full day in Santa Fe and the weather was perfect. I was very happy that I was able to escape without spending my life savings. We also spent some time in Albuquerque and picked up an antique Navajo rug from the 1930’s. It now adorns a wall in my living room. We filled up our suitcases with a few more home decorating items and then headed back to the resort.
By the way, if you are ever in Bernalillo, check out the Range Café. The Turkey Wrap and the Blue Corn Enchiladas were absolutely amazing. Oh, one other thing. I really like the Village Inn. It is kind of like an IHOP, just better. We ate there three or four times.
The trip was over way too quick and it was time to get back to Lubbock. We headed out on January 4th and beat the snow! It started coming down just as we were boarding our plane.
"Across the Pond" on the QM2
