We visited to New Mexico and Arizona over Spring Break this year. I really love a good road trip and had been looking forward to this one for months. It does my soul good to get back to the desert southwest at least once every year or so and it had been too long since our last trip.
2019 
2008
On the way out we drove about 12 hours straight through to Grants, New Mexico on the first day. On Day 2 we visited the Ice Cave and Bandera Volcano about 30 minutes outside of Grants. We’d actually been there before on a road trip we took when the boys were little. So when I recognized the lava cave along the side of the trail I snapped a picture of the boys in it. After we got home I found the picture of them we took in the same spot back in 2008! The ice cave is pretty neat with ice staying frozen inside it even on the hottest summer desert days continuously over something amazing like the last 3,000 years.
Then we drove into Arizona to stop at the Painted Desert and Petrified Forest. The younger boy didn’t remember visiting the spot at all on our earlier trip in 2008. So we went through the whole area and I tried to learn how to take selfies. Next time I’m just handing the phone to a teenager.
We stayed in Flagstaff for a bit to ski at Arizona Snowbowl (something the younger boy loves), visit the Lowell Observatory (something the older boy loves), take a hike and see some cliff dwellings up close at Walnut Canyon National Monument (something the husband and I love) and eat at Salsa Brava to sample their famous salsa bar.
We had originally planned to travel up to Utah to show the boys Bryce Canyon and the Arches then head back east through the Colorado mountains on this trip. But with the record breaking late winter storm and bombogenesis that covered a good part of the central US, that didn’t happen. Instead, when the heavy snow started late on Tuesday in Flagstaff, we packed up quickly and changed our route to head back east on a more southern path. The path back didn’t matter to me, the entire US southwest is where I feel the most me – where I feel grounded and I can breathe again. So anytime I get the chance to share any part of that area with the boys, I’m happy. The older boy is starting to think about colleges and wants to visit one or two in that area. I’m thrilled with that idea!!
The change in plans meant that we had a whole day to explore Albuquerque. I love that town! We tried to do something everyone would love. The aquarium and Rattlesnake Museum (full of live snakes) for the boys. A yarn shop for me (I got flustered by all the beautiful yarn in the shop and forgot to take a picture inside. It is a really great yarn shop with lots of friendly knitters and great yarn choices. I definitely want to stop in there again sometime when I have more time). A local brewery for the husband. And Petroglyph National Monument for all of us.
I mostly finished a hat design and the sample hats in multiple sizes for it on this trip. And started a new sweater design. I love road trip knitting. But I need to figure out a better work space in the car.
As always, I’m so very glad we went and made those memories together. And I’m also glad to get home and get back into our normal.
