Travel

My peeps and I stopped by some cool places on Saturday night in Albuquerque, New Mexico (of all places). 

They call New Mexico the “Land of Enchantment.”  I have never been so sure what they meant by that –  and who are “they” anyway?  I grew up in New Mexico, and I never felt that enchanted.  From as early as I could articulate it, I insisted on living elsewhere.  I’m not trying to come down on the place, I swear.  I know, there are many merits to living in the high desert, I’m sure.  The skies are blue, the air is clean, the mountains and plains are breathtakingly beautiful at times, yada yada. 

I guess it just never grew on me.  At the age of ten, I begged my mom to let me move to Pontiac, Illinois to live with my grandmother.  For some reason I saw more chance of excitement in Small Town USA  then I hoped for in The Land of Entrapment (a name created by those of us who lived there our entire lives).  But my mom (of course) would have none of it. You were trapped there because you either wanted to be there, or because, well, for some reason you just couldn’t seem to get outta Dodge.

So, this past weekend, Fred the Wonder Chicken and I ventured out to the desert to pay a much needed visit to my beautiful mother, Nereide Frances Padalino (her real name).  She had a stroke last year, and is still in rehab, recovering.  I was a little sketchy on traveling back to town on my own, because, well – for one thing, the last few times I’ve gone, the accommodations were not all that comfortable (I couldn’t stay at my mom’s house, because other siblings had moved in to help out, and the places I ended up staying were either unfamiliarly uncomfortable or I froze to death – thanks Wackie – ha ha!). And for two, frankly, I’ve lost touch with most of the friends I knew growing up, or they moved away long ago, so there was rarely much to do on visits with my mom out of the social picture. The remaining sisters and brothers in town were all leading their own busy lives, and it just always seemed to be an exhausting prospect to have one – more – sibling come to visit, than it was an occasion to get out and do things.

This time was different.  FWC and I stayed with my girl Prissy and her dog Skimpy.  If you are new to my blogs, welcome!  I am so glad to have you!  But you should know that everyone here, aside from me, has an alias, even “Prissy’s” dog!  I’m all about protecting the identities of those I write about! 

Prissy and Skimpy live in a beautiful loft-style condo overlooking the sprawling beauty of Albuquerque.  It is most beautiful at night, when the view of the city lights is unparalelled. 

We arrived to town, and here is what we did and where we went:

Wii Bowling. On Friday night, after dining someplace nice, FWC and I unloaded our bags at Prissy’s only to find she had just bought and installed the Wii in her living room, with her big screen plasma tv.  BONUS!  We played Wii Bowling and drank wine and tequila (FWC and Prissy drank the tequila – I couldn’t stand the stuff) until 3 o’clock in the morning.   

Zinc Cellar Bar.  On Saturday, FWC and I tooled around after visiting my mom.  We bought ourselves some tasty cigars (mine was White Chocolate Truffle Irish Cream flavored!  ha ha!), and then got ready for our big Saturday night.  We started at Zinc Cellar Bar.  This place was cool!  The upstairs housed its fine-dining restaurant, while the basement – the Cellar Bar – was a venue for some of the southwest’s greatest eclectic bluesy musicians.  It was also the setting for FWC’s first introduction to my crazy, zany family.  What a fun evening that was.  We drank wine, shared appetizers and listened for a moment to the blues band they brought in for the night.  Of course, FWC was a hit with everyone.  They all wanted to touch his feathers (HA). When everyone else left, FWC, Prissy, my brother Odee (named after the cool purse company he has – Odechala – where they make purses out of very cool cigar boxes) and his adult son (my nephew) determined we were not quite done for the evening.  So we moved on to the next happenin’ spot. 

Below are some of the family, with FWC sandwiched in.  Prissy is at the forefront, then my little nephew, me, FWC, and my brother Odee.

Here is a nice shot of the Cellar Bar:

Imbibe.  We didn’t want our evening to end so early, and we certainly didn’t want our brand new cigars to go to waste, so we walked next door to the popular cigar bar, Imbibe.  It had a really cool atmosphere, and big screen tv’s so we could watch the final four games that were on that night.  We sat at the bar, sipped cognac and B&B, smoked our yummy cigars, and hob-nobbed with the rest of Albuuquerque’s elite. 

 The outside of Imbibe, shown below – shows what is very common architecture in this part of town called Nob Hill.  It is a traditional Southwest adobe, with some neon accents:

Here is one side of the bar at Imbibe (there are two rooms).  I never realized how the inside of the building is kinda cigar shaped!

I have to say, it was FUN, and dare I say it?  I left Albuquerque feeling just a little enchanted.  Yup.  Me. 

Just goes to show, perceptions and feelings – no matter how strong – are not always accurate, nor are they permanent. 

Stay tuned next week kiddies, when I bring you some news from the glitzy side of life in Hollywood.  I’ll be dishing on my backstage frolicking at my first ever Bruce Springsteen concert.  The Boss can’t have any idea what’s in store!  Hee hee!

Have a sunny and spring-ish weekend everyone! 

Love you people!  Mmmmmmmphhhuuuhhhhh!

xoxo,

Ms. Cheevious

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