Today was zoo day!

Honestly, I can’t remember the last time we went to Albuquerque and didn’t go to the zoo.

I think it only happened once.

Maybe on a quick balloon festival trip?

We ordered room service for breakfast: pastries and coffee.

Suspiciously, the basket of pastries goes less and less far the more kids we have…

K’s favorite animal was probably the hyena.

H’s favorite, the lion.

However, neither of those aminals were the talk of the trip.

The talk of the trip was the gorilla.

Why?

Well because the gorilla was the first animal that we saw after the flamingoes by the front gate.

Are flamingoes the token by-the-entrance exhibit of every zoo?

So we were marveling at how big the gorilla was, and we were about to move to the next exhibit.

And then it happened.

The gorilla tilted his head to listen to another animal in the next exhibit, stood up on two feet, and pounded his chest as he let out a short roar.

Roar? Does a gorilla roar?

Growl? Maybe, bellow?

I am not even sure.

K was mesmerized by nearly everything until she got tired.

We stopped in the cafe for a rest like we always do but all the drinks and chips that we order had been switched out for healthy food by some crazy person.

We ate our own food and then left.

You girls both rode the carousel and K made it around almost 3 times before she started crying and mom had to hold her.

We left and drove around for awhile so you girls got a chance to rest in the car.

Back at the Tamaya, we had a late lunch and hung out in our room.

And H, later that day, you somehow found a way to convince mom to go swimming in 55-degree weather.

Of course, K was furious she was not allowed to go too.

We snacked for supper and crashed into bed.

I love you.

-Dad

Well, we didn’t have anything planned today.

So, of course, we ended up at Frontier for breakfast.

After breakfast, we were at a loss about what to do.

But before we left, mom did discover a new love for Frontier’s unsweet tea.

To give you two girls time to rest in the car, we decided to drive to the top of Sandia Crest.

To get there:
You take I-40 back east towards Texas.
And get off at the Tijeras exit, that will take you north on Highway-14.
About 10 miles down Highway-14, you take a left on 536, Sandia Crest Road.
536 will take you all the way to the top.

Now that you have the directions, you are golden.

We, of course, forgot the correct exit and argued about where we should have turned.

It was 55 degrees or so when we stopped for gas at the corner of Highway-14 and 536.

But as we started the climb up the mountain, I noticed something.

The temperature was falling fast.

About three-quarters of the way up, mom also mentioned that she forgot your winter coats back in our hotel room.

All any of us had were our fleeces…

There was snow still lining the roads and by the time we got to the top of the mountain, the car was reading that it was 25 degrees outside.

Before we could get out, it started snowing.

We took a cute video of all of us acting ridiculous in the front seat.

It was so cold, so we left the car running when we got out to see if either the gift shop or cafe were open.

Naturally, H insisted on going to the edge of the parking lot to touch the accumulated snow.

They both were open, but the lookout point on top of the ridge was closed.

We asked why when we got into the cafe and the woman behind the counter told us that people kept falling down on the ice.

While we were looking out of the big bay windows, we noticed a group of about 5 or 6 people working together catching birds.

It was the most curious thing.

They had some type of net strung up outside to catch them and they were transferring them into soft little mesh bags attached to a long stick.

On the way back to the car, one of the ladies in the group was explaining the bird’s background to a small group of onlookers.

On the way back to the Tamaya, we stopped to try Blake’s Lotaburger and got takeout.

We parked and mom went inside to get the food right as a sandstorm hit.

As is our natural right on vacation, we did S’mores again later that evening.

Mom and I opened the doors up and sat on the balcony as you kids ran back and forth.

I reheated Buca spaghetti for K with the help of a lady front desk.

And we watched The Karate Kid (2010 version) as we fell asleep.

I love you.

-Dad

Everyone stayed up so ridiculously late last night, we, thankfully, woke up late.

It took us forever to get out the door, but we finally made it to Frontier Restaurant for breakfast.

Mom and I love the breakfast burrito – and everyone likes the cinnamon rolls.

K managed to point at a picture of John Wayne and say “Pop-pop” about ten times.

Then she pointed at a picture of a nappy looking nun driving a bumper car and said “Da-da” about ten times.

With our blood sugar levels maxed out, we drove down Central to Lousiana and shopped at ABQ Uptown for an hour or so.

I say we shopped.

I pushed yall around in the stroller, and mom shopped for kid clothes…

K, I think you waved at nearly every single person we saw.

It was approaching noon, so we leisurely called the hotel to request a late checkout.

And I think for the first time ever – we were told no.

So with haste, we made it back to our room before 12:00, packed up our stuff and left.

By then it was time for lunch.

And, thankfully, next up was our usual stop at Buca di Beppo.

You kids were so tired you barely made it through lunch and fell asleep as we got you into the car.

We headed to the Tamaya to stay there for the rest of our trip.

Shortly after check-in, we got a kit at the front desk and did smores on an outside fire pit.

It was cold outside – so as any father would – I picked up K and tried to get her as close as possible to the warm air.

The problem is that it was windy too.

The wind changed, the flames shifted, the fire danced around K’s face, and mom yelled at me:

“Is she ok?! Did you singe her eyebrows?!”

Everyone was fine.

We watched movies after we got back to our room.

I have a note here about mom being grumpy later that night – but I don’t even remember what it was about at this point.

Happy Anniversary to us!

We were all in bed by 8:30.

I love you.

-Dad