Southwest Vacation - New Mexico
First, let me tell you about the day before we left. Tristan had come home from soccer practice Tuesday and complained his eye was hurting. We hoped he was dealing with allergies since they had just cut the grass, and sent him to bed with allergy eyedrops. It didn't feel better the next morning and it looked horrible. His eye was killing him and we wanted to get it checked out by professionals, but were stuck in airports the entire morning. We landed in Albuquerque after a long morning of travel, including a time difference of 3 whole hours. We were all exhausted and starving, having been up since 4am, but it wasn't even lunch time yet in New Mexico. Josh dropped Tristan and I off at an urgent care by the airport and took the other two with him to check in to the hotel. As luck would have it, the urgent care was empty at 1030 on a Wednesday so we were seen right away. Apparently, during his soccer tryouts the day before, he had scratched his cornea. He got it flushed out really well and was given some antibiotic eyedrops to make sure it didn't get infected, but all he could do was wait for his body to heal itself. He was not a happy dude, but he was a champ through it all. To make himself feel better, he made jokes. Told the nurses to "BRING IT OOOOOOON" while they were flushing his eye out, made silly faces, quoted lines from The Office a few times. He told everyone he scratched his cornucopia. So Tristan :)
He was pretty miserable for a few days and looked like a pirate until we got to Flagstaff. FYI - scratched corneas take about 5 days to heal. We got a gel for his eye to help it heal faster at night and put lots of drops in during the day, tried to stay indoors and out of the sun (photosensitivity). He held a tissue on his eye so much he had raw skin all around it. It was not fun, but it thankfully didn't last very long. Anyway... after the urgent care visit, we finally got to eat lunch. We had some good shakes and burgers with hatch chiles at Laguna Burger (all the kids' online friends from the west told us we had to try and it did NOT disappoint!). Josh found out the hotel wasn't ready for us yet. The urgent care visit and lunch gave us something to do while we waited for our hotel room to be ready at 1pm. Well worth the wait with this view :) Thankfully they let us check in early at 1 instead of the usual 3pm.
After check-in and a nap we went to a museum called Explora. Damn near everything was interactive, touchable, and able to be manipulated. It was like the best Agile Learning Center ever. I want to get them to open one out here!! We basically had the entire museum to ourselves because we went on a Wednesday at 4pm, 2 hours before closing time. We could have spent probably 3 more hours there. The exhibits were arranged by concepts, not subjects, and had interdisciplinary exploration options that bridged ideas through art, science, experimentation, manipulation, and design through varying mediums. Example: to explore the concepts of wavelength and frequency we manipulated light and shadow, tuning forks, vibration through water, drawing machines, seismographs, pendulums, gears... the list goes on. There were questions rather than instructions or explanations. It was all about exploration and learning and they encourage all ages to participate. It was a perfect Unschooling resource. I would definitely go back.
After the museum we ate dinner and then went back to the hotel and passed out. Everyone agreed that Albuquerque was a cool looking place. So different from Maryland.
On our way out the next morning we walked Boca Negra Canyon at the Petroglyphs National Monument. Very cool spot... there are petroglyphs everywhere scrawled onto ancient volcanic rocks, not just the ones you walk among in the park. All over the mountains!
We had a cool view from atop the peaks. Looking out you can see the "Three Sisters", which are the ancient volcanoes that still hold spiritual significance for the Native American people. Tristan's eye had had about enough sun so we were grateful to get back on the road.
After Petroglyphs we hit the road for Flagstaff, AZ where our friends and our very first airbnb awaited. We stopped for lunch at Genaro's Cafe in Gallup, NM (so tiny it doesn't have a website). Freakin' amazing food... posole, sopapillas, homemade refried beans with big chunks of pork, pulled chicken, green salsa... drooooool. I also picked up some hand-stamped sterling silver earrings from a vendor that came to the table. Everywhere we ate, everything needed more salt. I guess living so far from the ocean and in the dry dehydration-causing desert trains you to eat less salt, which is a good thing lol. We resisted the urge to salt our foods and tasted the lime and cilantro instead. Delicious.
To Arizona! Our next chapter: Arizona Part 1, the journey to Flagstaff
He was pretty miserable for a few days and looked like a pirate until we got to Flagstaff. FYI - scratched corneas take about 5 days to heal. We got a gel for his eye to help it heal faster at night and put lots of drops in during the day, tried to stay indoors and out of the sun (photosensitivity). He held a tissue on his eye so much he had raw skin all around it. It was not fun, but it thankfully didn't last very long. Anyway... after the urgent care visit, we finally got to eat lunch. We had some good shakes and burgers with hatch chiles at Laguna Burger (all the kids' online friends from the west told us we had to try and it did NOT disappoint!). Josh found out the hotel wasn't ready for us yet. The urgent care visit and lunch gave us something to do while we waited for our hotel room to be ready at 1pm. Well worth the wait with this view :) Thankfully they let us check in early at 1 instead of the usual 3pm.
After check-in and a nap we went to a museum called Explora. Damn near everything was interactive, touchable, and able to be manipulated. It was like the best Agile Learning Center ever. I want to get them to open one out here!! We basically had the entire museum to ourselves because we went on a Wednesday at 4pm, 2 hours before closing time. We could have spent probably 3 more hours there. The exhibits were arranged by concepts, not subjects, and had interdisciplinary exploration options that bridged ideas through art, science, experimentation, manipulation, and design through varying mediums. Example: to explore the concepts of wavelength and frequency we manipulated light and shadow, tuning forks, vibration through water, drawing machines, seismographs, pendulums, gears... the list goes on. There were questions rather than instructions or explanations. It was all about exploration and learning and they encourage all ages to participate. It was a perfect Unschooling resource. I would definitely go back.
After the museum we ate dinner and then went back to the hotel and passed out. Everyone agreed that Albuquerque was a cool looking place. So different from Maryland.
On our way out the next morning we walked Boca Negra Canyon at the Petroglyphs National Monument. Very cool spot... there are petroglyphs everywhere scrawled onto ancient volcanic rocks, not just the ones you walk among in the park. All over the mountains!
We had a cool view from atop the peaks. Looking out you can see the "Three Sisters", which are the ancient volcanoes that still hold spiritual significance for the Native American people. Tristan's eye had had about enough sun so we were grateful to get back on the road.
After Petroglyphs we hit the road for Flagstaff, AZ where our friends and our very first airbnb awaited. We stopped for lunch at Genaro's Cafe in Gallup, NM (so tiny it doesn't have a website). Freakin' amazing food... posole, sopapillas, homemade refried beans with big chunks of pork, pulled chicken, green salsa... drooooool. I also picked up some hand-stamped sterling silver earrings from a vendor that came to the table. Everywhere we ate, everything needed more salt. I guess living so far from the ocean and in the dry dehydration-causing desert trains you to eat less salt, which is a good thing lol. We resisted the urge to salt our foods and tasted the lime and cilantro instead. Delicious.
To Arizona! Our next chapter: Arizona Part 1, the journey to Flagstaff
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