spring break, phase 1 complete

after a few days of pure leisure, we drove up last wednesday to ABQ to pick up alex from the airport followed by an immediate drive back to old el paso to pick up ben. went home to cruces for a late dinner and a drink at el patio, which was short-lived because we had missed the jazz band.

woke up the next morning and went on a hike in soledad canyon, in the organ mountains. there was a threat of rain which never materialized, and in fact the skies opened up mid-hike. did a bit of rock scrambling and the boys had lots of fun throwing rocks.



decided to forego a trip to white sands in favor of camping that night at faywood hotsprings. didn't realize that we were driving straight into a severe weather warning in effect until 430am, got there at dark with some dark clouds looming overhead. despite this, we quickly set up camp and hopped into the springs. we lucked out because it only sprinkled a bit, and we spent several hours soaking and drinking in a couple different tubs. unfortunately, we didn't get any photos of that place, due to the darkness.

we woke up early-ish the next day and headed over to city of rocks to play around on the boulders. again, the guys were bouncing off the rocks and burning off some boyish steam. we did stop for a catnap:



we came back to cruces that night and headed out to chope's in la mesa for some sloppy mexican. then we went for a pitcher at high desert and brought home a growler. we watched eddie murphy's delirious, also a boyish activity.

next morning, we were lazy and joe cooked breakfast. the guys checked out the farmer's market, coas bookstore and then joe's studio. went to andele's for more mexican and stopped by old mesilla. then we hit the road for albuquerque, and got to the hotel just as the sun was setting. stayed downtown and went to the nob hill neighborhood for pizza and home-brewed beer. a local tipped us off to a pub called 'two fools' just down the street. after a few drinks we returned to the hotel. had to get up at 6am the next morning to drop alex off at the airport and then head to el paso to get ben to the airport by noon. had an interesting conversation with ben about religion on the ride home. got back to cruces and slept a lot, and watched 'in the mood for love' (very good, by the way).

overall we had a great time...thanks to ben and alex for making the trek down here. looking forward to phase 2: san diego, which begins wednesday night.