Days 6 & 7: Roller Derby and Driving To Albuquerque

Rock and Roll hipsters--women all--have revived the art of flat track roller derby competitions. Now in nearly every city across the country, crazy tattooed babes don helmets and knee pads and knock each other around while they have wheels strapped to their feet. My friend Dave's awesome girlfriend Deni is one of these crazy women, and is a team member of the Tucson Saddle Tramps. Sadly, she hurt her knee recently and couldn't actually play at the game we went to on Saturday, but it was a blast to watch anyway. Dave is an announcer, and he's awesome, and his band the Bricktops played the half-time show (I took Tori over to watch Dave play and she kept pointing at him behind his drum kit and saying "Dave! Dave! Dave!" It was very cute.).

We made just to the end of half-time before Tori began rubbing her eyes and we headed back to the hotel. We had a great time, one made better by the fact that I am starting to feeling slightly better with the help of the drugs (thank God). We all hit the sack and got up in time to meet Dave for breakfast and take Tori to the playground before packing her into the car for the long drive to Albuquerque.

I've been so excited about coming back to the city of my birth. Tucson, as beautiful as it is, made me miss it more, oddly enough. Being in a desert that's not, you know, MY desert, felt so odd. Tucson's color palette is just so different. It's basically all khaki--green and tan--which is why, I think, the sun is so much brighter there. It's all so reflective. In New Mexico, everything is just a bit darker, and reflects just a bit less.

As we headed out of Tucson, the landscape started changing immediately. Literally ten miles out of the city, the Saguaros (and the palm trees) disappeared completely and were replaced by dried grasses and other cacti. The further east we went, the more color began creeping in to the desert, and by the time we stopped for lunch in Lordsburg, New Mexico (where I had the best chili I've had in, oh, forever) the hues I'd longed for in the mountains and deserts of Arizona were finally beginning to appear; the gold of the plants, the purple-gray of the stone, the blue-gray of the sage, but mostly what I'd been missing was the red clay. The red that is so definitive of New Mexico--ranging in shade from pale peach to salmon to pastel pink to brick red to bright orange--it appears and disappears on nearly every hillside, and it is what makes New Mexico beautiful. When I spotted the first patch of deep red clay slowly appearing along side the highway, my teeth literally ached with the beauty of it. To some people it's just a patch of dirt, but to me it's the color of my blood.

I am finally back home.

We decided to take a, ahem, shortcut--a side road to skip going south to Las Cruces and wound up taking a beautiful detour through the Gila National Forest. The road looked direct on our crap-ass map, but turned out to be treacherous and windy, and often required speeds of less than ten miles an hour to navigate hairpin turns with terrifying guard-rail free sides with deep, deep drops. It was truly breathtaking, and it reminded me of how beautiful the New Mexico mountains are (and how deeply forested they are too), but Charlie was a bit white knuckled by the time we finally spotted the interstate again (he kept asking if I could see anything over the side, like, oh, say a Denny's; as an East Coast boy, he's not used to such long stretches of no signs of civilization).

By the time we stopped for dinner it was already getting dark, so we arrived in Albuquerque in darkness, so I will not get to see my beloved Sandia Mountains until morning. I may not be able to sleep.

Tori was wonderful in the car, especially considering it was nearly seven hours that she was stuck. She took two naps and is now sleeping peacefully in our stunningly lovely hotel suite (oh, the joy of having two rooms!). Tomorrow we head up to Santa Fe to hook up with my sister and her daughter, and have a little family reunion. I'm so excited! Tori gets to meet her family! Photos will abound.

Comments

[Debby]

Cecily- I am a South Jersey girl who moved to LA right after college. Almost twenty years ago I spent about a year in New Mexico over the course of 4 work trips; 3 mos to 6 mos, mostly Las Cruces, some Ruidoso, and El Paso (like LC much better than EP). That area grows on you. I haven't been there since '94 and am seriously considering a long weekend.

Have some sopaipillas for me! CA has some great Mexican food, but nobody has sopaipillas.

[Christine]

I'm enjoying your road trip posts! Your story of the Gila Forest reminded me of our trip home (I'm in WA state) from Las Vegas. We went through this mega-national park whose name escapes me, but those hairpin turns and lack of barriers was just about the scariest thing I've ever done! My husband wanted to drive and I kept saying NO NO, I need to! I think I would've had a heart attack if anyone else had been driving.

Let's just say, if I was going to plummet to my death over an embankment, darnnit, I'd better be the one behind the wheel!

Can't wait to see what Sister Cecile looks like! :)

[Carla Hinkle]

Those photos are fantastic. I have spent very little time in NM but that "accidental" side trip you took was amazing.

Not to get all mommy drive-by on you, but does Tori's car seat fit her? Those straps look awfully high.

Enjoying the travelogue ...

[Dave]

Sorry about the detour thing... when I drew the map in the playground dirt it all looked so easy. Have fun in NM!

[Kez]

You want red dirt, come to Australia. Got plenty of it here :)

I travelled through the US in 1999 and you really do have the most visually stunning and diverse country. To stand in a baking desert and look up to see snow capped mountains was awesome.

Love your descriptions, Cec. You are managing to convey both the physical beauty of your place of birth as well as how it is making you feel just wonderfully.

[Sarah]

I love the posts and am so excited for you to be in New Mexico again. I also miss you guys so fucking much.

And also, I must insist on VIDEO!!!!! Please, please, please?!?! :-)

[Bettina]

Your trip sounds great, glad to hear you feel better by now.
I spent a year in Albuquerque as an exchange student in 06/07 and have only the best memories. Since coming back, all I ever do is comparing colors here with colors in NM. Had a view of the Sandias from my little apartment and it was the first thing I saw each morning. Driving up to Jemez Springs on the weekends to go on a hike to one of the natural hot springs up there was a definite highlight! or just a roadtrip/camping trip on the weekends to the Gila Forest, White Sands or Carlsbad Caverns... Miss those times!
Enjoy while you are there (especially the food, ever been at the Laughing Lizard up in Jemez? They have a nice patio with a view of the red clay you love so much)
Just a little bit jealous of you, hopefully I'll make it back there one day, if only flying to the US from Europe wasn't so expensive SIGH

[Chickenpig]

There is nothing like coming home! You sound so incredibly happy :) Have you ever thought of moving back? I'm sure Tori was so good in the car because there was so many new and beautiful things to see. I can see why Charlie was white knuckling it. The ground seems a looooooong way down off the road. Have a wonderful day tomorrow! And it's great to hear that you're feeling better.

[Ally]

Welcome home! I really enjoyed my first trip to NM last year and we already have plans for a family vacation to Santa Fe when Jamie's a little older.

[jenn]

Cecily,
Your descriptions are so vivid and beautiful that it's making me long to see New Mexico, a place I've never really had any great desire to visit. There's nothing like going home, is there? What you describe feeling is a lot like what I felt when I returned to the New England of my childhood after twenty years out West.

YAY, TORI! What a trooper...she's really getting the hang of this traveling thing!

[Melessa]

I've taken that same "shortcut" myself. I lived in Tucson when I was younger and drove to Albuquerque regularly. You've made me quite homesick with your posts, but in a good way. (The more straightforward, but far less attractive, shortcut is Deming to Hatch. Just so ya know...)

[Amie]

Wow, the way you talk about your home makes me want to go there!!! It sounds incredible...glad you're starting to feel better and have a good trip!

[Melissa in TN]

I am enjoying the heck out of your vacation. I love your descriptions and the photos. Keep 'em coming.

Hope you continue to feel better. Be safe!

[Am]

Cecily, I have traveled that road many times. I love New Mexico. My hippie dad moved down there a few years ago and married a fantastic woman. They live in Silver City now and used to have a house up in the Gila wilderness. It was a beautiful, crap-your-pants drive and then we had to ford a river in the rental car to get to the actual house. They sold the house after being rained in for over a month once!

Anyway, thanks for taking us on your trip with you. Have a great time in your hometown too.

[Another Heather]

Yay, you're in Albuquerque! The weather is so gorgeous this week, too--perfect vacation days! I'll have to remember to keep my eyes peeled when I'm out and about--I wouldn't want to miss a Cecily Sighting. ;)

Are you taking Tori to Explora? She would loooove it.

[JuliaKB]

You make me want to visit the desert. And I am soooooo not a heat person.

I hope the mountains are as beautiful as you remember, and your family reunion is everything you could hope for and more.

[Miss W]

Ah...this post has me itching for the southwest! My grandparents lived in Silver City, NM from the time I was 5 until I was 18. I spent every summer there. My uncle lived (lives) in Santa Fe, so we drove through so muh of the state. And you are so right about the richness of the colors...how the desert there feels different than the desert just one state over. And though I didn't live there (except for my 3rd grade year, which was split btwn NM and Phoenix), it feels like *my* desert, too.

[Amanda]

Now I'M home sick!! I was born and raised in Farmington, NM, less than 3 hours northwest of Albq... and have lots of family there, who we'd go visit regularly. I now live in TX and miss NM landscape so much. As I get older I appreciate, and long for, it more and more.

Your description really does the beauty justice. I LOVE catching the first glimpse of the Sandia Mountains from the plain or car when we visit now (we always go through Albq.) to me, they mean home!!

Have a wonderful time... please post tons of pictures so I can live vicariously through you!! :)

[anne]

So glad you're feeling better! Also? I'm looking forward to more photos. I can't believe Tori is such a big girl now. She's just gorgeous.

I never chimed in on the hair thing, but I wanted to say this - your hair looks lovely!

[Anna]

It sounds like you're having a great time. I'm jealous. Stuck in school and an internship until June. It's funny that someone mentioned Tori's carseat straps, because I was about to post that your photo reminded me we have to fix our son's carseat so the straps come out from above his shoulders. I'll re-read the manual, but my understanding is once they're forward-facing, the straps should come out above the shoulder, rather than below.

[Sheri]

Oh how I am adoring these posts of your trip! Thank you for sharing each detail and bringing us along for the ride. I can not wait to read aboput you and your sisters reunion adn see photos of the day. Glad you are feeling better. Keep those great posts coming.

[Emily]

Wow, it sounds really amazing. So glad you guys are having a good time and feeling better. The pictures are fantastic.

Cecily obviously already knows this, as it is her seat, but Tori's straps are correct. In a FF seat the straps must come out at or above the shoulders even if it means the straps start up by the ears. Actually you can put a much smaller kid in a FF carseat set up for a bigger kid without any trouble.

RF, the straps must be at or below the shoulders.

[Roxanne]

Oh, man! I wish I could do roller derby. I'm too scared, though. They're so kick-ass!