Christmas Vacation

It wouldn't be a Katie vacation recap if it wasn't mostly self-portraits. First, we left Denver the day before a huge snow storm hit Colorado. We had clear skies and dry roads all the way down to Santa Fe. Driving for extended periods can make me a little nuts....

We almost ran out of gas as we pulled into town...good thing it's mostly downhill as you drive into Santa Fe. We checked in to our beautiful hotel. I just love places that not only accept dogs but provide treats and staff that fall all over your cute little boxer boy. The hotel was only a block away from the historic center of the city which is so cool. At Christmas they light up the whole square and all the adobe style buildings are lined with luminaries...so cool.

The next morning we went to breakfast at our favorite place in town and the ear doctor humored me by letting me take pictures in front of this cool wall of ironwork.

We all piled back into the truck and pulled into the ear doctor's grandma's driveway just as the sun was going down. They had dinner ready and waiting for us...including my favorite vermicelli salad. It's so good and I ate about a pound of it while I was there.

Between eating and talking the time flew by and before we knew it, it was Christmas morning. Roscoe boy greeted us all decked out for the occasion.

One of the funniest moments of Christmas morning was when my mother in law pulled this beauty out of her stocking. It's a nylon sleeve with a design that you slip on your arm to look like a full sleeve tattoo. Seeing my mother in law all tatted up was HI-LARIOUS!

We spent the time at grandma's house relaxing, eating and we went to the movies almost every single day! Awesome!

After the festivities we packed back up and started the drive home. We were truckin along when we noticed signs for the world's best preserved meteor impact site. That sounded like something to see, so we turned of the freeway to check it out. We drove up to the visitor's center and were getting really excited about seeing the big hole in the desert...until we found out that the admission was $15 per person! Crazy! We decided that was outside out budget...but were still pretty disappointed.

The trip from Denver to Arizona follows the old Route 66 most of the way. Every time we went through a town in the song we couldn't help but bust out in song.  When we got to Winslow, AZ we wen a little crazy, because not only is it in the old swing song, but it's also featured in a song of one of our favorite groups...the EAGLES.

Here the ear doctor is standing on the corner of Winslow, AZ. He's such a fine sight to see. And there's a girl over there in a flat bed ford slowing down to take a look at him.

Self portrait of us and the girl in the ford...

We pulled into our beautiful hotel in Albuquerque and there was some mix up about us bringing out dog into the hotel. I guess someone hadn't noted that we'd need a dog room and they were all filled up. I was scared that we'd have to find somewhere else to stay. Luckily, they decided to upgrade us to one of their beautiful suites. I can't recommend this hotel highly enough.  The next day we walked around Old Town and saw the beautiful church that's been continuously operating for 300 years! It was so awesome.

The last stop we made was to a mormon battalion monument in the middle of nowhere New Mexico.

We were so lucky to have such great weather the whole drive and be able to spend so much time with our family. That's one holiday for the books!