We all woke up early because Charlie woke up at 6:30 am (he is the early bird in our group). We slowly packed everything up and said goodbye to the Blue Swallow Motel with all its 1940s charm. We headed to the most adorable 50s style diner called „Kix on 66“ where we ordered decaf coffees, pancakes, eggs, bacon and hashbrowns. It was absolutely delicious. We sat in a booth and watched out as rain trickled down the big windows. Across the street was the roadrunner inn with a billboard stating, „Give the bird to the interstate.“
We finished up brekkie and headed on the road again. First stop was The World’s Largest Pistachio monument on a pistachio ranch located between Alamogordo and Tularosa. They had so many different types of Pistachios to try from Garlic to Ranch and had a claim to fame for the best Pistachio Brittle. We looked around the gift shop and ended up heading off to find some lunch. We found a little family owned burger place that was known for their Jalapeño Burgers. We both ordered one. The table was sticky, the place was small but the people kept coming in the door. You filled out the sheet of paper yourself telling them what you wanted to order and then give the paper to the cashier. They brought out our food and we were not disappointed. The burgers were delicious. Spicy but not too hot. Charlie ate his hotdog and most of my sweet potato fries.
We finished up lunch and headed to our next destination of the day: White Sands National Park. When we arrived, we lucked out because we didn’t have to pay the $25 entry fee. We drove in and at the beginning of the park, it was white sand with many desert shrubs and plants living in the desert. The further you drove back into the park, it became more and more white sand dunes with wide open space for so many people to find a spot. Miles and miles of sand. Thomas and I both remarked that it looked like snow. We explored the sand with Charlie, took some family photos and then slowly headed for the last leg of the journey: to Truth or Consequences.
Again, we almost ran out of gas. The gas light lit up as we were about 10 minutes away from our town. We made it to Circle K and filled up the thirsty Mitsubishi with unleaded and then headed to check into the Sierra Grande. When we walked in you could smell the fresh spa like tranquility that the resort seemed to offer. That feeling was quickly broken by Charlie who stampeded through the door like a bull let loose from his ring squealing and squawking, happy to be free of his car seat restrictions. We unloaded all the stuff and settled in, figured out the nearest spot to eat dinner and headed there with Charlie’s toot toot. Our resort is near the local police station so Charlie lit up when he saw all the „Neeno cars“ parked outside. We found the local pizzeria and sat a table. Charlie was so tired and hungry, so he was on full throttle. We ordered as quickly as possible to get the show going. About 10 minutes later two steaming hot pizzas arrived straight out of the oven and a bowl of broccoli for the little man. We completely chowed down. It was the best pizza everrrrr. I loved mine. We finished all the pizza, and headed back to the resort. We still needed to buy milk and beer for my boys (respectively) We found both, headed back and put Charlie down for the night. He loved the big bathtub and swam around like a fish in the tub. He went down without a fight. I think he liked the idea that we were all sleeping in the same room. Thomas and I had a soaking appointment at 8:30 pm in our own private hotspring. It was 105 degrees so a little too hot for the baby but I stuck my feet in and that was relaxing. We finished the soak and made a Lemon ginger tea to take to our balcony while Thomas took a New Mexican beer. We laid on our lounge chairs and looked up at the stars while discussing which direction our life would take in the future. It was a nice way to end the busy day. Charlie was fast asleep in the room and we soon joined him.
