The Colonial Motel...

What's the good of news if you haven't a sister to share it?  ~Jenny DeVries

We decided our last night in Las Cruces that we would no longer be going to Mesa Verde. It was really cold in southern New Mexico and would only be colder the further we headed north. It was disappointing because Mesa Verde was the National Park I was most looking forward to. Instead we decided to make another trip when it is warmer, maybe by train to see the ring of five national parks in Utah and then over to Southern Colorado to see Mesa Verde. We LOVE our National Parks pass and are going to use it to the fullest.

We were supposed to stay with a friend in Albequrque NM on our way to the grand canyon but it fell through and so we started searching for a cheap hotel. I found one online that had really good reviews, was cheap and the website looked amazing. We made reservations and headed on our way. In Albequrque we stopped to eat at Ponchos, a mexican restaurant my mom has raved about for twenty years. She ate there when she was pregnant with Rachael and loved it. We have heard mixed reviews from other people who said the food wasn’t good but we figured it is pretty hard to mess up mexican. Ponchos is a mexican buffet, you go through and get your first round and then you raise a small mexican flag at your table when you want seconds. It was pretty good! The cinammon and sugar chips and the sopapillas ( which were my dads favorite) were the best part. We did raise the flag once for more chips, rice and beans yummm - so full when we left. I had a massive food baby. We took a walk around the parking lot several times in an effort to burn off some of the calories we had just inhaled. I ate twice as much as Rachael so I probably needed to walk twice as far. ( ** seriously don't know where audi puts it. She either has hollow legs or a tape worm named bob who is really hungry. She has the metabolism of  teenage boy.)

** Contrary to Audi's pretty good, i loved Ponchos- their green chile tamales, sopapillas, and cinnamon sugar chips were the best i've had. Seriously normally I am skeptic of Mexican food. I'm just not in the mood unless it's Steve's fish tacos, but this trip has totally redeemed mexican food for me. Papasitos in TX, La Posta in NM and Ponchos in NM.. thumbs up.( and as much as I hate to admit it, taco bell was amazing this trip..)

Our motel was located in Gallup, NM on the way to the Grand Canyon. This town was sketchy. As we drove through the downtown a drunk man walked haphazardly across the street and almost bumped into our car. We looked up at the garmin and our hotel location was only half a mile away, wonderful. It was dark and we were super sketched out at this point.

We pulled up to the hotel and it looked NOTHING like it was advertized. Very Bare and right across from the train tracks. I was unsure about going in, but we decided to at least see a room and check the price again. The lady at the front desk was really nice and when we checked out a room it was clean, dry and neat even though again, it looked nothing like it was advertised. We decided we would stay because it was only 30 dollars a night and we were tired and ready for bed. On the way to our room Rachael saw a creepy man looking at us from one of the other hotel rooms. (** his head was right between the curtains and he just stared at us the entire way to our room.) We hustled into our room and pushed the mini fridge, microwave and chair against the door just in case. ** The pics above don't do it justice, bc i dint take them at night, nor did i take them of the room with thee fridge and such in front of the door.. but believe it.

Here is the link to the hotel:  http://colonialmotels.com/

The next morning we got out of their quickly. As we left town we passed a Days in that was on fire - at least our hotel was not aflame.

Grand Canyon here we come!