Work: Albuquerque & St. Louis

Our most recent workshop for work was in Albuquerque. I gotta be honest, not my favorite city (had a few near death experiences on those roads) but this trip improved my overall opinion (at least a little). The fun began with a 3 hour layover in Phoenix, which of course meant Lunch at Cafe Rio with Friends. Love making the most of my time.

It was so great to catch up with the Armstrong girls. Seriously family, we just have a good, good time together.

The best part of lunch though was meeting this little sweetheart (yes, even better than the pork buritto), Ms. Brooklyn Gapinski. She even let me hold her. Awwww....

Now, that's just precious.

Well once we got to Albuquerque, I pretty much ate the entire time- nothing new to those of you that know me well. But a big bonus of the weekend was the my Uncle Russell was also in Albucrappy (as he calls it..haha) for work! He took me the The Standard Diner, which was featured on Drive Ins, Diners & Dives. It did not disappoint and we had a great dinner, laughing it up.

Later, my colleagues and I hit up Old Towne Albuquerque and ate some authentic Mexican food.

The Sunday night of our trip, one of our Commissioners booked us all a big dinner up at the top of Sandia Peak and so we had to take a tram all the way up. It is in fact the longest tram ride in the world! A whole 20 minutes...it turned out to be quite an adventure!

ET, Marissa and I gearing up for the tram ride.

A view from the tram. It really was a gorgeous ride.

Another shot.

Albuquerque looks pretty good from this distance.

Yeah, it was a tad windy from the top. Haha.

That's pretty dang high in case you were wondering.

Well as you can gather from this shot, we weren't in the best of moods as we waited to take the tram down. The wind had gotten so out of control that we were unable to take the tram down for 2 HOURS! We had to sit and wait and at one point they were going to make us ride the ski lifts down the other side of the mountain! It was about 30 degrees outside! We opted to wait it out and eventually made it off the mountain, but not before seveal colleagues began to flip out...they will remain nameless...haha.

After Albuquerque, I was able to come home for a few days but then I headed to St. Louis to visit a couple of schools. I hadn't been to St. Louis since I was kid, so my colleague, Augie Favazza (who's from St. Louis) showed me the sights.

You gotta admit, the Arch is pretty incredible.

Augie's family's place. It was some of the best Italian food I've eaten since Italy. No joke. Delish.

We hit up Ted Drewe's a local custard place. A girl can't pass up dessert.

All in all, I'm still enjoying work, especially when I get to see things I'd never have caught on my own. And of course, the greatest blessing of them all, meeting up with family and friends all over the country just never gets old. I really do have a fantastic job!