Return to Black Canyon and a visit from Dean's parents!

Because we're determined to wring out as much as possible from our stint in the Southwest (and because of the fact that I am absolutely incapable of passing up a good coupon), we made another trip to the Black Canyon of the Gunnison in Montrose, Colorado at the end of October. I found a coupon for a hotel - excuse me, a hot springs resort - that we never would have been able to afford otherwise, and we got to spend a weekend in Colorado pretending that we were a young wealthy couple from Albuquerque who had decided to spend a weekend at a resort on a whim.  Given the fact that I shamelessly marched in carrying a rice cooker and packs of instant ramen (eating out every night gets expensive!), I don't think we fooled anyone. Oh well.

Our favorite part of the room was our private porch overlooking the San Juan mountains. Thankfully, this time they weren't entirely snowed over, so the drive was a lot less nerve-wracking.

We got up the next morning to drink our coffee on the porch and watch a truly glorious sunrise.

It gets REALLY cold that early in the morning when you're in the mountains. 

Then we made our way to Montrose to do the remaining trails at the Black Canyon that we were snowed out of last time.  What a beautiful place!

Two of my favorite things: the Black Canyon and Dean!

The rest of the day we spent splashing around in the hotel's ritzy hot springs/pool, and contemplating the awkwardly placed window in our room that looked directly into the bathroom.

Looks like their interior designer called in sick the day they did windows. 

We had it all to ourselves!

Dean and I decided this definitely fell under the category of a "Laurie-and-Reuben kind of hotel."

The last day we spent hiking outside of Ouray, Colorado, a tiny little place tucked right in the middle of the San Juans. We did the Bear Creek Trail, named after the waterfall it wrapped around, and was one of the coolest hikes we've ever done!

Bear Creek Falls

 The only bad part of the trip was that after said beautiful hike, I thought it would be a good idea to take my hiking boots off in the trailhead parking lot and leave them there. We didn't even realize they were missing until we got back to Albuquerque. Oops...

But our fun didn't stop there - we had one weekend to recover from our trip to Colorado before the Hayes came to Albuquerque! We took them on a whirlwind tour of all our favorite places in New Mexico: Chaco Canyon, Santa Fe, and White Sands.

Our first stop were the Pueblo Indian ruins at Chaco Canyon - heaven for a couple of anthropology majors like me and Dean, with some beautiful desert hiking included as an added benefit.

 The weather was constantly shifting all around us - we got to see rainstorms falling a few miles in every direction, but we were lucky enough to avoid being rained on.  Lisa got a great panoramic shot of us against the clouds, and the double rainbow that emerged when we reached Pueblo Alto!

 

 

On Saturday we went to Santa Fe and spent the day on the Plaza, shopping and watching Texas A&M pull out a surprise win against Alabama at the Blue Corn Cafe.  We had dinner at La Casa Sena (thanks to Laurie and Reuben for taking us there the first time!) and then had to head home to get ready for the next big day!  Early the next morning we dragged them down to Alamogordo to go see White Sands National Park. I'm going to make these pictures obnoxiously big to show off how cool the landscape is.

White Sands or Antarctica?

  

Displaying my usual grace. 

We had such an amazing weekend, and were so happy to have some folks from home come visit our new stomping grounds.  It was such a fun treat, but now that they're gone we miss them more than ever.

Useful Things to Do With Guinea Pigs

As most of you know, Dean and I recently became proud parents.

...to a pair of baby guinea pigs, at least. 

We named them Pacha Kutiq (the grey one) and Tupaq Yupanki (the brown one), after Incan emperors who ruled in Peru in the 1400s.  For anyone who's fearing for the names of our future (human) children, don't be too scared - the worst that can happen is that we end up with a Jim-Bob 세종대왕 Hayes.

To keep them from getting too big-headed, we call them Tupi and Pacha for short. 

 

 

 

As we've adjusted to keeping pets together, we've learned that there are lots of useful things that you can do with guinea pigs that the pet store may not immediately recommend to you.  

For those of you planning to become guinea pig owners anytime in the future, here is a helpful list of things that your new pet can be used for:

1.) A tasty snack.

2.) A study buddy.

 3.) A purse pet (additional plus: you can take him shopping! A guinea pig can't say, "Well, actually, you DO look fat in that dress.").

4.) A healthy, albeit hairy, beverage.

5.) Musical inspiration/ someone to bite you every time you play a wrong note:

 

The list goes on, but we're about to play some guinea pig tennis (they're surprisingly aerodynamic little creatures), so we'll have to cut it short there. 

Duckasauraus Rex

Albuquerque, in an amusing attempt at creating the illusion of biodiversity in the middle of the desert, has a little park in the center of the city called "Tingley Beach" that consists of a cluster of foul-smelling, man-made duck ponds.  While the park itself is kind of dismal, anyone who knows either me or Dean can understand its irresistible appeal: BIRDS. And lots of them!  So today we braved the 103 degree heat and the Albuquerque sun to commune with some ducks (and get rid of some Triscuit that had been sitting in our pantry for about 5 months now).

We quickly divided the birds into 5 major categories:

1.) The omnipresent Canada geese:

"Hi. Give me that Triscuit or I'll eat your fiance."

2.) Assorted cute ducks:

We named this one Pato. He followed us around and hid behind us whenever the geese got too rowdy.

3.) The Duckasaurus Rex (we had no idea that the scariest of the birds was yet to come):

This was right before he tried to eat my whole hand.

chomp chomp

4.) THE KNOBHEAD, truly the most terrifying of all God's creatures:

The Knobhead approacheth...

THE KNOBHEAD CONTINUES APPROACHETH-ING

The Knobhead, displeased that I've run out of Triscuits, sizes me up to decide whether I would make a good dessert. 

After trundling up to us and eating all the rest of our Triscuits, the knobheaded duck started to hiss and shake uncontrollably, bobbing its head up and down.  It looked like it was having some kind of duck-seizure.  Maybe it was some arcane display of duck dominance, but when it decided to reach down and take a chomp at my toe, we figured we should move to a different pond.  It seemed unfazed when we got up and tried to shoo it away, so I decided to put an end to the duck terrorism and started running directly at it, which finally made it retreat back into the water. Looks like the people aren't the only aggressive part of Albuquerque...

Oh, and of course, the 5th category of bird: "Other."

Hurr de durr I'mma piegon y'all!

Stories From Behind the Desk Pt. 1

I am one of the few lucky people who actually greatly enjoys her job.  I have the world's best boss, not to mention co-workers, and I'm actually learning cool new things on a daily basis.  That being said, the office where I work can sometimes put me in contact with some very... interesting people.  Today, for example, I had this gem of an interaction:

I was steadily working on a project and typing away furiously, buried behind my computer.  I was aware of some clients milling around the lobby, but wasn't paying much attention to them until a question directed at me brought me abruptly back to earth:

"So, honey, is your husband white?"

I looked around wildly, trying to see if the middle-aged woman standing in front of my desk was addressing me, or perhaps someone invisible standing directly behind me.  When I realized this incredibly random query was, in fact, aimed at me, I tried to answer as tactfully as possible.  "Well, I'm not actually married yet, but yes, my fiance is white.  Is... there a reason why you ask?"

She gave me a look of surprise.  "Well, it says here your name is Rebekah Bennett.  I just figured you must have married into the name Bennett, since you're clearly of Oriental descent."

I gaped at her for a moment.  Frantically, my brain ran through a list of potential comebacks:

Should I take the tack of the Self-Righteously Angry Politically Correct Snob?

 

I am SO OFFENDED by your racial insensitivity... I'm writing to my congressman. 

Or maybe the Militant Redneck Who Just Happens to Have Epicanthic Folds and a Penchant for Kimchi:

 Listen, lady, my daddy's family has been in Tennessee for nigh on 10 generations, and anyone who thinks otherwise can answer to the Walther PPK in my purse.

Or even the "I So Sorry... I No Speekidy Engrish!"  angle.

This one kind of speaks for itself.

I ended up just telling her that I did, in fact, come by my "white" last name honestly, and that only half of my ancestry could be traced back to the Hermit Kingdom. Maybe next time I'll unleash one of my inner personas... but then again, I would like to stay employed.