August 13, 2011 - Albuquerque

We drove out the driveway at 5:15 a.m. just as it started to rain.  Sure, we leave town and it rains!  Jay was Champ of the World as he drove for two hours in a downpour.  Finally the sun came up and it just sprinkled for another hour.  Props to Jay!


We stopped in Amarillo for a quick bite to eat and then continued westward.


We arrived in ABQ at 2:30 local time, checked into out hotel and rested for a while.  Yes, I watch a lot of Food Network and Cooking Channel and a few months ago, the United States of Taste [I think] did a show on fries.  One of the segments was at Lumpy's Burgers in ABQ.  Since it was filmed in the kitchen, I had no idea what to expect.  Here it is:

You walk up to this window, pick up a brown paper bag with the menu printed on it, make your selections with a crayon, choose your potato [either Idaho or sweet], put the potato in the bag, hand it to the cashier with the money and wait ten minutes for your name to be called.  Seating is outside, thankfully under a "shelter" of some sort.  Our name is called - well, Jay's name is called.  He retrieves the bags.  Here is mine:

Yes, that's grease on the white bag from the fries.  This is what's inside my bag:

No, it's not paleo/primal; yes, it was HUGE; and yes, DE LISH!!!  Neither one of us could finish our meal.  But it sure was a fun experience and I even bought a T-shirt!


So, then we came back to our hotel where they offer FREE WI-FI.  Okay, not so much.  I called the desk and asked if the internet was working - he said "it's working perfectly."  I told him it wasn't working in our room and he said he'd check it out.  I called back after 10 or 15 minutes since it still wasn't working.  He said he'd check.  I threw up my hands and went to Plan B.  I'd bought an AT&T Air Card JUST IN CASE and I'm so glad I did.  It works like a champ.  I'll probably use it again tomorrow and perhaps even at The Tickle Pink as sometimes their access isn't speedy.


So, there's our first day.  Jan emailed me - she and Bob are from Austin - letting us know that they're there on the deck of The Tickle Pink and it's 61 degrees!  Ah, hopefully, we'll be there Monday afternoon.


Ciao for now!