DAY 19

Albuquerque loves us...

...and thanks to green chiles, tequila, and gifts/blessings from God, we love Albuquerque too.

Let's get right to it. Albuquerque is AWESOME. Since we woke up at like..6 am, we were fed and washed and dressed and packed away by 8. We got to the city just as the small shop owners were opening their stores; we were there to witness the town waking up and blooming with the sun.

We drove to Old Town, which is a historic district of Albuquerque, founded by the Spanish is 1706. There are a TON of local art shops, traditional New Mexican cuisine cafes, and welcoming Albuquerquians who love to engage in conversation and give you God's greatest blessing.

Check out the bracelets above. You may think they were a gift from a lady who was randomly holding up a sign in the town center saying "TELL ME A STORY!" But in reality folks, she was just a messenger from God...who had picked out these bracelets for Nicole and I specifically...and told said woman to deliver them to us. How lucky! (Nic's is green because she's gonna be an environmentalist...and mine says i am LOVED. Hoooray!)

After our gifts from the G-man, we danced in the plaza circle to some banjo-esque music, while numerous people took photos/video of us. That was kinda cool. We continued to shop, buying souvenirs for our families, getting blessed by more store clerks, and trying out some New Mexican food. Apparently the green chile is an Albuquerque staple, so we had to try some.

After we ate, we continued to walk around and talk to people, before it was a reasonable hour to declare... happy hour! After exploring, we ended up back where we had lunch. We sat outside (the temperature had cooled to a modest 90 degrees), ordered some margaritas, and took out our map, figuring out where life would take us tomorrow.

you're so beautiful! (i miss you).

One last thing worth mentioning! While the green chile is known for being baked, fried, stirred, and sprinkled on everything, the red chile is known for being hung on doorways, in order to be dried and turned into a rista. This is both an efficient way to preserve a chili, and has also turned into a symbol of welcoming and good fortune. We saw red chili's hanging everywhere, really giving "The Land of Enchantment" a unique decorative style.