New Mexico 2023 Part 2
Welcome back to part two of our trip to New Mexico! If you haven’t already, you can read part one here!
Monday - Farmington
During the day, Chris went to work and I hung out at the hotel. Sometimes when I tag along, I drop Chris off at work and take the car, but this particular work location is a little complicated so I spent the work days at the hotel, reading, writing, napping, and watching TV.
For lunch, we went to a local place called Pocketstone Bakery and Cafe and it was a great little place. Chris had a reuben with jalapeño chips, I had a turkey and swiss sandwich with sea salt chips, and I got an apple cinnamon pecan muffin to take back to the hotel for a snack later. We really liked our sandwiches and the cafe was a nice size with plenty of seating.
Monday was our 15th Engagement Anniversary. When we were dating/engaged/newly married, we went to Outback Steakhouse for almost all of our special occasions. And since there was an Outback Steakhouse across the parking lot from our hotel, we decided it was the perfect way to celebrate our anniversary.
Tuesday - Farmington + Durango, CO
Chris went to work and I stayed at the hotel again. I did manage to drag my tired self down to the complimentary breakfast this morning and got an egg and swiss english muffin which was really good. I was nervous though so I also got oatmeal, cereal, and yogurt just in case the egg sandwich sucked. It looked like I had just been grocery shopping in the breakfast area, and to be honest it would have been handy to have a bag to bring my loot back to the room.
We had lunch at Dad’s Diner. Chris had the 2 egg breakfast with bacon and pancakes and I had a chicken club sandwich with curly fries they make in house. It was really good. I loved my sandwich and the pancakes were good. Solid lunch.
Chris had a lot of computer work to do in the afternoon, so we went to Encore Coffee for him to work and me to write. The latte was good and I was glad I could get it in a real mug instead of a paper cup.
After Chris finished work we took a drive to Durango, CO, which has such a cute downtown. We had dinner at Carver Brewing Co. Chris got a beer flight with Lightner, Haunted History Hazy DIPA, Big Bike DIPA, and Pedal Power Pale Lager and I had the Raspberry Wheat Ale to drink. We both decided on a burger to eat, Tatanka (Colorado Buffalo, Hatch Green Chiles, white american cheese and garlic aioli) for Chris and Rodeo (Black Angus beef, Applewood bacon, cheddar, caramelized onions and BBQ sauce) for me. We really liked our food and the beer. We would eat here again.
Wednesday - Farmington
We had breakfast at the hotel before Chris went to work. We got lunch at Slim Chickens, a chicken tender and wings place chain. I had the Chick’s Meal (three tenders, fries, dipping sauce, and Texas toast) and Chris had the Chicken and waffles (big waffle with three tenders, butter, and syrup on top). It was pretty good. I tried the Slim Sauce and was not a fan, so I just used ketchup. They also had a few flavored iced tea options that sounded good, but I didn’t see them until after I already got coke.
After lunch Chris had some computer work to do and didn’t need to go back to the jobsite so we worked from Durango Joe’s Coffee, a local coffee chain. My latte was decent, but Chris didn’t like his drip coffee. Womp Womp.
After work was done, we drove to the Four Corners Monument to see where Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah all meet. The views on the drive were breathtaking and included Shiprock. Shiprock is a volcanic neck, a term I’d never heard of before, and is kind of all by itself, so it’s easy to spot.
We were the only people at the monument, probably because it was winter, 30 min before it closed, and super windy, but it was cool to have the place to ourselves. We took pics with the official four corners, and then with the spot that google maps says is the four corners spot, just in case.
I wasn’t feeling too well when we got back from our adventure, so Chris picked up Chili’s for dinner because it was next to our hotel.
Thursday - Farmington
We had breakfast at the hotel again, the breakfast sandwiches were surprisingly good at this hotel.For lunch we went to Pancake Alley. I had an omelet with pancakes and Chris had a club sandwich. We loved the bacon and the fries were perfectly crispy. The pancakes had apparently been ranked top 10 in the country at some point, but honestly they were pretty basic diner pancakes.
During Chris’s lunch break we also got some doughnuts from Johnny O’s Spudnuts to have as a snack or dessert later. They sell potato flour doughnuts, hence Spudnuts. They were really soft and good, without being overly sweet. I would definitely go to this place on the regs if we lived near one.
For dinner we ate at The Chili Pod. I had chicken fajita tacos and Chris had a combo platter with a taco and tamales, plus he got an order of bacon wrapped jalapenos, because this trip unexpectedly became all about trying every piece of bacon in the state. Their salsa was a little too spicy for my delicate palate, but our meal was good and one of the better places we ate in Farmington.
Friday - Farmington + Aztec + Durango, CO
Today Chris just had an afternoon meeting and a few last things to finish up from his week on site, so we left the hotel around lunchtime and went back to Dad’s Diner to get some food. We both had the chicken club because I liked it so much when I had it on Tuesday.
After lunch we headed to the Aztec Ruins National Monument. What an incredible place. I cannot even begin to understand how people were able to build such large structures, with no modern technology, that are still partially standing today. Like how?!
I got excited when we saw the bar warning sign, because I love bats, but we didn’t see any. Sad day. In happier news, I think this is an example of the first ever built ins, and I’m here for it.
We headed back up to Duragno, CO again because we were so charmed with it on Tuesday night.
We stopped by Animas Chocolate & Coffee for some fancy chocolates. We got a box of 9 and they have a QR code on the bottom of the box that takes you to their chocolate menu with pictures so you don’t have to remember what each piece is. So smart.
Then a buck walked right by us on the sidewalk while we were parking, so that was wild. Literally.
For dinner we went to Steamworks Brewing Company in Durango. It was a busy night at Steamworks, there was a little over an hour wait to be seated.
To drink, Chris ordered the giant ass beer flight with samples of Kenny’s Pain Pils, Colorado Kölsch, Steam Engine Lager, Lizard Head Red, Third Eye P.A., and Conductor Imperial IPA Nitro. I went with something a little more reasonable, and had a pint of Sultan of Stoke IPA.
About an hour after we ordered our food the manager came out to apologize that our food was taking so long and comped Chris’s beer flight.
To eat, Chris had the Cajun Penne Pasta and I had the Bacon Royale burger with fries. The pasta was very spicy and the grilled chicken on it was grilled really well. My burger was not cooked how I ordered it and the bacon was barely cooked, so definitely not how I would have preferred, but I was hungry so I just took the bacon off and ate half of the burger.
As we were finishing up our server noticed my burger wasn’t cooked how I had ordered it, so he gave us 50% off the burger. So even though it took about three hours including waiting for a table and my burger was less cooked than I prefer, everything was taken care of kindly and quickly. If we visit Durango again, I’d give it another chance.
Saturday was an airport/plane day. We flew from Albuquerque to Providence with a layover in Atlanta for week two of this work trip. The bathroom near baggage claim in Providence was one of the fanciest airport bathrooms I’ve ever used. It had fresh flowers and live plants, plus almost full height stall doors.
