Vacation - Albuquerque

After leaving Ogden, I drove south to Moab while Greg napped, since he planned to be up early and hiking in Arches National Park Friday morning (and I planned to get some much-sought-after shut-eye)...  After the long hours on the remodel project, it was definitely nap time!  We had lunch at the Moab Brewery (the first in our tour of the Brew Pubs of the West - the beer is good, but the root beer is divine!) and then we headed further south to Farmington, NM.  We only stopped briefly, to pick up M, and then continued even farther south - ending in Albuquerque.  It was after 10pm when we finally arrived, but dad was waiting up to spend some time with us and chat for a bit.

The Main Event for us on Saturday (aside from the wonderful time spent with family) was the Scavenger Dash put on by Sierra Adventure Sports.  They have these competitions in several cities throughout the US, and we were lucky enough to be in town to participate.  It's like the Amazing Race, on a local scale.  You get clues, have to solve puzzles, and participate in challenges all within a 4-hour time limit.  In the process, you get to see parts of town you might never have been to otherwise.

 We were originally going to be two teams, but that didn't work out.  I convinced M and Greg that I would stay behind, do a little blogging, then maybe head back to visit with Grandma until they were done.  Yeah... none of that happened.  I was reading my book, minding my own business, when suddenly I was swept into being part of the pit crew for our team.

 Between Todd, Jason, Aaron and I, we were able to help M & Greg get to all but one of the destinations, and our team returned just shy of the 4-hour deadline.  There's a picture of them finishing here and here.  We all had a blast!  The event was hosted by Kelly's Brew Pub (2nd brewery of the tour), and that's where the awards were given.  If you have a chance to go there, you should really try the Award Winning Creamy Green Chile Chicken Soup - it's spectacular!

 

While they arrived last, they actually placed 19th out of 22 teams - probably because they completed more pit stops.  There were 12 total and the team that correctly completed at least 11 tasks in the shortest amount of time was declared the winner.  Looks like there's another Scavenger Dash in Albuquerque next October, and one in Seattle next September...  Hmmmm...  =)

The stay in Albuquerque was a short one, but it was particularly nice to see Grandma and Dad.  Amy and I made cookies on Sunday - some for the road, and some to leave.  It's always fun to cook or bake with people, especially family.  I don't know exactly what it is - maybe the bonding and sharing in addition to preparing food for someone else (and I do love to feed people)...  anyhow.  It was pleasant and relaxing and invigorating and soul-filling all mashed together into those chocolate chip and the white chocolate chip macadamia nut coconut cookies (we made two flavors).  I wish it didn't take so much time and money to go down to visit.  I'd go see them more often.  At least we have some new memories to sustain until the next visit.

Endings and beginnings...  The end of a short, but lovely, visit in Albuquerque signals the beginning of our adventures in Farmington.  So we headed north.