Greetings, Strangers! I am titling this the "Month of Love," because I am so far behind that I am only going to be able to catch up on the month of February with this post. What I need to do is update with shorter posts more regularly. Yeah, we will see if that happens.

Anyways... February. Let's start off with the weekend of the 8th. We made the 3hr drive to Albuqurque to escape Ros-hell and do some hiking. We were planning on hiking the famous La Luz trail, but after talking to some rangers, were discouraged and persuaded to try elsewhere. They said we would not be able to make it in our every-day sneakers, due to snow and ice, as one of them had attempted it the day before unsuccessfully.

We drove around, as I looked up more opportunities on my "All Trails" app. It listed another in the area (The Sandia Mountains), so we drove up and parked.

Upon exiting our car, it became apparent that this excursion would not be as scenic. There were few trees, and the trail seemed to stretch over the valley instead of up the mountains. We applied sunscreen and set off anyways. I wasn't leaving without some outdoor time.

The trail eventually made it up to the side of the Sandias and continued in it's wake. Being that close to an ariel view was too tempting, so we forfeited the trail in favor of scaling up the mountain's side on all fours. With some slipping and sliding, we managed to make it a decent ways up and stopped to drink some Gatorade and munch on some snacks. I took some panoramics and Spencer snapped some shots with his GoPro.

We had already lost a lot of daytime with our change of plans, so we didn't dally too long. As always, the way down was more treacherous than going up. I thought I might face-plant on to the slippery shale and granite. Spencer was a hero and helped guide me back down and got us to the bottom safely.

Up the mountain we go.

The rock we rested on.

Albuquerque

Headed down.

Guiding me back down the mountain.

Dusty and dirty, we drove off in search of Albuquerque's Natural History and Science Museum, which a client of mine had recommended we check out. We forked over $7 a person and immediately made for the restrooms and washed our filthy rock-climbing hands.

The museum impressed us. Little did we know it's size, so we took our time at each exhibit. We were enthralled with the fossils and the history they revealed. So many had been found in New Mexico, and they were well labeled to show us where and which ones. I think we spent more time looking at dinosaur bones than anything else. We still were, too, when we heard them announce over the loud-speaker that they would be closing shortly. We power-walked over a bit more of the museum, but did not manage to see quite everything, before heading out.

We grabbed some dinner at Vinaigrette in Albuquerque before driving home. Spencer got a bomb-sandwich, and my salad was just okay. His credit card information was stolen that day, and this was the only place he used it. But then again, we suppose someone could have used one of those machines that steal it through your wallet and everything while we were at the museum. It did not stop us from visiting the restaurant again though, the next time we were in town, and ordering two of those bomb sandwiches. Only this time, we paid in cash.

Spencer wanted me to snap a picture of this, because he said he used to play on one of these during road trips. He thought it was hilarious that this is in a museum when he thinks it might still be in his parent's van.

Bill Gate's chair from his office in Albuquerque.

Mars Rover replica

Are we alone? Not in Roswell.

I was fascinated by this Sequoia's lifespan. It lived through the Declaration of Independence signing, the days of Christopher Columbus landing on it's shores, and the first Crusades.

Recent finding. Still being worked on.

These were some funky-looking fish. Spotted Gar are a primitive fish that can still be found in New Mexico.

Dino egg thief!

Gun-cleaning kit.

His feet freeze in the winter time in his boots, so he got some thermal Under Armor socks.

He got me some speed-loaders for my revolver.

Valentines Poem.

He surprised me with chocolate-covered fruit.

In search of dino bones.

Such cool rocks.

So entertaining! Haha.

Spencer's bat-rock. He threw it and it stuck in a cactus.

Carlsbad Caverns

Mountain goat. We saw a couple up there.

Here are some more pictures taken in February.

Geocaching in Roswell. Tiny ammo box.

Spencer made tamales.

Running errands. I was sitting in the back, because there was still glass on the passenger seat that needed to be vacuumed. I was thankful he still held my hand.

Sunday lunch

I love him. He loves Reeses. So I made him "healthy" peanut butter cups. Coconut oil, cocoa powder and organic peanut butter.

I make him food before I go out of town, because I love him.

I flew out of town for work again in February. Skyping Spence.

At the airport. I fell in love with this chocolate smoothie, and have been adding cocoa powder to our smoothies ever since.

My flight home to Roswell was cancelled again, so Spence picked me up in Albuquerque, where I flew in to instead. This was when we went to Vinaigrette again for sandwiches.










We gave up on the laundry machines on our apartment's premises when our clothes started coming out dirtier then when they went in. A local laundromat is now getting our business while we watch episodes of Modern Family and don't realize everyone can hear us laughing.