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!

Las Cruces

"Eat dessert first, Life is uncertain" -Anonymous

I would add especially if you are eating sopapillos to the quotes above

We love Las Cruces. Rachael was born here and my parents have always talked fondly about living there. We got up and walked around the corner to Walmart to get some yummy groceries since we were staying in New Mexico for a few days. Avocados there were only TWENTY-FIVE CENTS!!!! And they were super yummy. We got those, tomatoes, cheese, hummus, tortillas, milk, ham and peanut butter and jelly. We ended up making most of our meals in our room with the help of the microwave.

Always in the background are the Organ Mountains. Gorgeous and different they rise out of the backdrop of Las Cruces to constantly amaze. Rachael fell in love with them. New Mexico is actually really mountainous, contrary to my original belief.

After shopping and lunch we headed to Old Messila Village just outside of Las Cruces. It was once a stop on the stage coach line and is famous for people such as billy the kid who used to frequent there. There was a gorgeous old church there that still holds mass and we considered going that evening. We also stopped by a shop that sold Green and Red Chile Pecan brittle. Amazing we had to have some. There was also a shop called Nambe - famous for unique design and a metal that looks like silver but doesn’t tarnish or rust, absolutely gorgeous. All the buildings are built stucco style and there are large bundles of dried red chile peppers hanging from peoples doors and the streets in the old village were cobblestone.

After wandering around Old Messilla we headed down to New Mexico State University to see the Chile Pepper Institute. Along the way I realized that I had lost my favorite glove that Rachael brought me back from Italy. Trying not to freak out we decided to go ahead to our tour of the Chili Pepper Institute and then go back to Old Messilla Village to find it. The institute wasn’t what we expected but it was still really interesting. We were thinking we would go out and see the fields where they grow peppers or something like a farm. Because we are traveling in January nothing was growing so a sweet college student - also named Autumn by the way - told us all about how they grow the chili peppers and how they recently discovered the hottest chili pepper on the planet. Its from India and called a Bih Jolokia - its recently been in the guiness book of world records. She let Rachael and I try a hot sauce and a salsa made with the peppers. It was really hot but yummy, it crept up on you after the taste from the back of your throat. We bought several packets of different kinds of peppers to try and grow in our apartment and some of the sauce to give to steve and sarah.

Leaving the Chili Pepper institute we headed back to Old Messila and split up to find my glove. Retracing our steps I searched in several stores we had made purchases in with no luck. On a whim I went back and checked the parking lot where we left the car and thanks be to God there it was! Rach in the meantime had found a local winery that had live music the next night. On the way back into Las Cruces we passed Lulu’s - this adorable store and we had to stop. They had amazing stuff for the house and fantastic jewlery. I would love love love to buy the whole store. There was a copper ring fashioned into a gorgeous rose and I loved it! Unfortunately it wasnt my size. Rachael and I did buy a pottery bowl for our apartment, we think we will put all our match books or assorted chocolates we have collected along the trip in it eventually. There was also another winery next door that sounded fantastic, serving local wines. We might head there tomorrow night after dinner.

We went from Lulu’s back to our hotel and had dinner before heading out to see a three dollar movie (not quite as good as the 1.50 movie in Raleigh but better than full price) and saw “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” which was really good! I want to see “ the Princess and the Frog” also!

The next day we got up early and headed to the Gila Cliff dwellings. We drove three hours out really into the middle of nowhere but it was BEAUTIFUL! The road was really windy and there was some snow so it took us awhile to get to the monuments. When we arrive at the park we had to drive a few miles from the visitors center and then take a short hike up the canyon to reach the cliff dwellings. They were amazing! built into caves in the cliff, you could see where people lived and how the rooms were divided.

After our hike and the long drive we were zonked. We came back and cleaned up and went to have dinner at my parents FAVORITE restraunt in Las Cruces called La Posta. It was also listed in our Atlas and I think it is pretty infamous. It has been there since the stage coach route used to come through ( at least 100 year) and the food was fantastic. Rach and I split chili con queso, chips and salsa, guacamole salad, green enchiladas, a chili relleno, rice and beans, and a fold taco. SO YUMMMY. Desert followed with an apple empanada and sopapillas. The Sopapillas are so good it is almost unbeliveable. Soft, flaky and filled with honey. We were so stuffed afterwords that we skipped the wine tasting and headed back to veg out and get some sleep.

Tumble Weeds

The drive across west Texas was exactly what we expected stereotypical texas to be. It was fairly flat and dry. When we stopped to get gas somewhere I actually saw a tumbleweed blow across the road. We jammed out to some good country tunes and finally reached El Paso we were having a massive taco bell craving because we had been eating pretzels and peanuts the whole ride. Only for some reason we kept missing the taco bell exits. We passed El Paso and right befor e enterning New mexico we finally found one to satisfy our craving. After that we continued to cruise on until we reached Las Cruces. Our hotel was nice and cozy and we crashed quickly and slept well after driving for ten hours.

EZ tolls and no Alamo in San Antonio

"I love it. It is wild with adventure." – Henry Starr

The next morning we got up to head back to Houston, instead of San Antonio, yes Rachael did forget her shoes. However, thats pretty good considering it is the only the second time we have forgotten something ( Rach had forgotten her jacket in east Texas but we realized it before we got too far down the driveway). On our way back into Houston traffic was thick and we had to yet again pass through the icky tolls. We made is safely through the first toll but as we approached the second one no one would bloody let us over and we were in the far left hand lane of six lanes of Traffic and needed to be in the far right hand lane.

Here are the thoughts running through Rachael’s head
“ So Really! No one is going to let me over!”
“ crappity crap crap I am about to go through the EZ toll”

She says “ Autumn what happens if we go through the EZ toll”
She yells “ Someone let me over!!!!!!!”

(EZ tolls are the express lane - you have a pass with a bar code fixed on the window or something so you don’t have to stop)

As we fly through the EZ toll lane without an EZ toll pass the lights, alarms and sirens go off....

Rachael says “ ohhh my gosh, ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh”

“ I am going to get arrested” and burst into tears

“ Do I need to pull off? Do I go back through the same toll? Do I pay double at the next toll? Autumn I want you to drive, I don’t want to go to jail in Texas” ( the officers have the shorty shorts and the creepy mustaches ewwww)”

Autumn is attempting not to laugh and or worry and proceeds to call our cousin Lisa, whose house we are heading towards. Lisa assures us that though they took a picture of our car they won’t send us a ticket or anything unless we have gone through three tolls ( which we plan never to do!) Rachael continues to drive, we pick up her shoes and set the garmin ( suzy) from then on to avoid tolls even if it adds a bit of time to our trip.

From Houston it took us about 2 and a half hours to reach San Antonio. We set our stuff up in our hotel, which was nice and jumped back in the car so that we can see the missions, and they were AMAZING. Huge, ancient and beautiful. We wandered in and out of two of them and were headed to the Alamo when we realized it would already be closed.

Instead we went and parked in Market square and walked down the main drag to the Riverwalk. It too was interesting walking below street level and seeing an astounding amount of resteraunts and shops. However, they were draining and cleaning out the waterway and so it smelled a bit like sewage.

Rach and I walked back and forth, back and forth, back and forth down the Riverwalk trying to decide where to eat because everything looked so good. We finally settled on Waxy’s Irish Pub. Rach had an amazing lamb stew and I had a portabello sandwich. At this point we were so tired from walking around we headed back to our car and crashed at our hotel for the evening - again watching late night episodes of the Nanny. We have an addiction.

  

    

 

We despise driving in Houston

"Leave sooner, drive slower, live longer." ~Author Unknown

The above quote is something we still have not mastered despite being on the road for three weeks, so it took us forever (as per usual) to leave Lisa's house and head to downtown Houston. We had planned to see some of the museums and parks in the downtown area but it didn't work out that way because of the time constraint.






Instead we visited Rice Village, a shopping center built in the 1930's. Rachael really wanted Indian or Thai and everything was closed between 3-5pm, I guess they know how to siesta for real. We did have some yummy Spanish Tapas with Carmen though, the black bean soup and the potato fritters were really good.

After eating we wandered around this awesome park near the hospital. From there we tried to head to Ashley's apartment which should have been relatively close to where we were. However we kept driving and driving and went through a several tolls. We were looking for a Kroger near her apartment so we could make Ashley dinner. Kroger appeared in the distance and we picked up ingredients for creamy tomato basil soup, garlic bread and carrots. The GPS then took us to a random medical building and we were tempted to blame Suzie for getting us lost. She has gotten confused a few times on the trip. However, when we called Ashley we found out we had put in the wrong address and were on the wrong side of Houston thirty minutes away and consequently at the wrong Kroger. On the way back we had to pay the tolls AGAIN. Just to reiterate we hate driving in Houston.

We finally made it to Ashley's, ate dinner and watched a movie. Poor Ash had to get up super early and work in the morning so we didn't get to visit with her for very long, especially after getting lost. She hugged us goodbye and we decided she needs to come visit us in Portland and next time we are in Texas we will come and see her. Attempting to leave Houston yet again led us on an interesting adventure. More on that later.

PRAYERS! Uganda, Haiti, and US

SO some of my buddies will be going to labor for Jesus and just love on the people of kambala, Uganda. please pray for jonathan, jeremiah, and sarah. I think that they will be livign at the poverty level of the people and trying to go in and profile kids to send the profiles back to the US and get them sponsored. If anyone feels they are in a place to support them financially please post a comment and let me know and I will get you in contact with them, as well as Vintage 21, our church, who is handling all the arrangements. They leave in like a week! Thanks all!

Also remember the people of Haiti in your prayers. Right now they are looking for able bodied medical workers to go in and help with the relief. If you are capable, be in prayer as to whether you are being called to go and serve. If you aren't a medical worker, pray for the community, and just pray, it is the best thing youc an do to help them at the moment.

And lastly for Autumn and I that we would have safe travels. teh Lord has blessed our trip with so many generous and loving friends and family and strangers. We have no complaints and are super thankful to be amking this trip and seeing family and spending time together. we will be leaving for California today and should be in Oregon in 8-10 days. Thanks again for keeping up with us. Love you.

Rach

Let us know what we can pray for ya'll about! we would love to spend some of our car time in prayer for you guys!

Tex Mex

"You don't choose your family. They are God's gift to you, as you are to them."

-- Desmond Tutu

We Left Carmen and Ben's house and headed 15 minutes down the road to meet cousin Lisa. My dad has been talking about his cousins since we were little and Rach and I had such a blast meeting Eva, we were ubber excited about meeting Lisa. We arrived around dinner time. Lisa is so fun and welcoming. We visited and then headed out to grab some yummy dinner at Carino's Italian Restaurant.

 
We came back and swapped old stories, saw some wonderful photos and just visited. Lisa said My dad, Uncle John and Uncle Tim are the gentlest giants she knows (so true). The next day we went to Lisa's church, the pastor was great and he talked about what it meant to live and seek the Lord whole heartedly and to be growing into spiritual maturity. We grabbed lunch afterwords and met up with Sheri, Lisa's aunt. We all went to a starving artist show. Every painting was was 59$ or less. There was a gorgeous one with bright red poppies that I loved but there is no room in our car. The show was in a neat district of Texas called the woodlands. We wandered around some amazing stores and beautiful fountains. Our favorite store was the Z-gallery a contemporary art and furniture store. If I had money I would have bought half the store. Lisa's other aunt Brenda met all of us for Tex Mex dinner at Papacitas.

- AMAZING. Some of the best food I have ever eaten. We all shared fajitas and ate table side guacamole. They had thin yummy flour tortilla chips for the salsa and thick salty chips for the gauc.

*Lisa, Sheri, and Brenda above. They are a riot!

We stopped by sheri's and met her husband and cute dogs on the way back. Her husband has a CB radio as a hobby and has talked to people all over the world. When we got back to Lisa's that night we med her husband David and Zach and Nicole her very cute kids. It was such a good visit. They were generous and hospitable and a lot of fun. We most definitely need to have a massive family reunion of all those remotely related to the Metzgers at aunt Noni's for thanksgiving.

The next morning we left Lisa's to head to downtown Houston to meet up with Ashley. *this is lisa's family's adorable dog poppi..:)