Travel Log Day 2 - 11/16/2011

Mmmm Coconut Cream Pie.

Well as soon as we had gotten set up in Flagstaff, we were off again.  We awoke at our normal time, 5:30 in the morning and waited impatiently for the clock to strike 6:00 so we could get breakfast.  While breakfast was  rather mundane, it was warm, free and the kids ate a lot.  Just like that we were off.

We left with full coffee cups, and a small prayer for well behaved kids.  Having never driven further east than Flagstaff before this was new territory.  The drive was mundane, and straight, really really straight.  We started the kids without any new toys or movies and just bid our time.  Sure enough an hour or so into the drive they were getting antsy, so we revealed a little secret, they had brand new sticker books we put in their "distraction" bag.  The boys were over the moon, a brand new Lego and Star Wars sticker book from Costco.  Even Eva got in on the action with a Sesame Street sticker book.

Our goal was to see how far we could get without stopping, ideally only for lunch.  Sure enough about an hour from Albuquerque, Eva was beyond hungry and couldn't take it.  We stopped and I made her a quick PB&J sandwich and got the boys re-situated with toys, drinks and snacks and pushed through to Albuquerque.

Once there we wanted to save some money, let our kids stretch their legs and eat some lunch.  So to Costco of course.  We had our usual fare, pizza, a turkey sandwich and some drinks, total cost 10 bucks and we were all satisfied.  We ran around Costco, doing our usual thing, but this time we let the kids linger for nearly 30 minutes just looking at books, which is easily their favorite part any Costco run.

We left Costco, gassed up and were on the short road to Santa Fe, as the two cities are so close to one another I thought we would merely be arriving in the center of town, but in my attempt to get a good deal I booked the nicest hotel in "Santa Fe" not thinking there would be much sprawl, and I would be wrong.  If I thought I was booking a hotel near downtown I was sorely mistaken as I booked at the brand new fancy Hilton which doubled as a golf course, spa and casino, oh yeah it is also 15 miles North of the wonderful downtown plaza.  Vowing to make the best of it, we arrived, and the hotel was beautiful, to add to it at check-in the lady took pity on me and the brood running around and upgraded us to a suite, though not a 1 bedroom suite, a much larger room.  It was perfect.

When some friends had heard we were going to Santa Fe, they immediately told us to eat at "The Shed."  Sure enough this was mentioned by three separate people, so while not a Triple D (Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives) establishment, it is definitely locale fare that we should make an effort to get to.  I called them and of course they were full for the night, and stand-by was an hour wait, which is not possible with our kids, the next night looked the same, so we were out.  I went with my stand-by Triple D theme and came up with Harry's Roadhouse.

While I can't say I was blown away with our dinner, a skirt steak and a green chili themed burrito, their margarita was incredible, and I am not a fan of anything with tequila.  They also had a local micro brew on tap which was very good.  While the dinner did not knock our socks off, the dessert was flawless.  I had easily the best piece of coconut cream pie I have ever had, and I even got to share it with my son Sean who picked it.  Drew had a huge chocolate chunk cookie and Eva turned down all the sweets, and dinner for that matter.  Cristina took all the kids to the car while I waited to pay, and then something serendipitous happened, a couple sitting next to us started talking to me about my family.  Theodora and Zach, who had a boy they thought about Drew's age, turns out they were right.  They were Cristina and my age and started chatting, I told them about being on a road trip and looking for really great food, and without prompting Theodora asks if I am in town another night, because if I am we really should go to "The Shed."  I was awestruck for a moment, and then I told them we tried but couldn't get a reservation, and we would try to drop in for lunch if the crowd goes down but waiting in line for an hour isn't really an option for us.  This is where things got real incredible, turns out Theodora is related to the owner in some way and told me she would call for us, and have a 5:30pm reservation waiting for us.

What a way to end our day, some nice food, a chance meeting and my kids slept all the way back to the hotel, which is good since the hotel was a ways out of town.  Miles driven 400 miles, and we didn't even need to put on a movie, a very smooth travel day.