Over the hill and to thru the woods to get home and get packed for our trip!

Greetings from Albuquerque New Mexico - and yes, before you ask, we do know about that big left turn!

The Grandma & Grandpa donated an old car to the chi and I for use this spring. They drove it to the ABQ, and we flew in tonight to drive it back to Oakland over the weekend. It is basically 2 days of driving on short, cold winter days, but even so, the Southwest is very beautiful, and I know the chi loves driving just for the heck of it.

I myself put ABQ in my top 5 favorite American big cities. It really is its own thing, kinda in the middle of nowhere, very much a one-of-a-kind, and still largely one of the better kept secrets. My history here is kinda spotty, though I can say for certain that this city has - so far - the last word on the latest and greatest in nephew production. Indeed, it is here that my sis Ellie gave birth to her first child a few years back. As it turns out, she is with child once again, but she likely won't be giving birth here in New Mexico this time since she lives in Japan.

While she WAS here, she hipped me to some swingin' spots the kid and I are going to be visiting. We are going to certainly have breakfast at Frontier. We will likely take a cinnamon roll with us just because we can! Such good living! We already visited the city's newest doggie park, which is open til 10pm and has lights! Sadly, it was empty since we flew in late and arrived almost right at 10, and it was quite windy and cold to boot. I hope tomorrow finds the joint jumpin' a lil' more. I suspect it will.

I would love to visit all 11 of ABQ's doggie parks, but we gotta get home. Much needs to get done back home and we just don't have time to live the life of idle leisure at which we otherwise excel. We have scouted out some other doggie parks along the old Route 66 for us to visit tomorrow, and I have no doubt, no matter what we find, the kid and I will be certain to get our kicks!

As always, as soon as we have a chance to share our road conquests, I will be sure to do so. For those of you keeping track at home, NM is Boomie's 17th state and tomorrow, Arizona will make 18*. Not bad for a 4-year old, 5-lb homebody chihuahua no?

Barring us missing that big left turn her in Albuquerque, we will check in with you again tomorrow y'all! Vaya con dios, my darlings.

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BoomBoom's state count to date is: Texas (place of birth), CA, OR, NV, ID, UT, WY, CO, SD, MN, WI, IA, IL, MO, KS, NM, and OK.