I now own a beautiful purple and black woven wool backpack, purse-sized, with red, yellow and grey embellishments. I'm embarrassed to say it was my Valentine's Day gift, that and the trip, and here I was being picky about the purse and a little miffed about the trip on short notice. It wasn't an auspicious start to a great weekend, but that's what it turned out to be.
Budd had wanted to go to Albuquerque, and I had wanted to go elsewhere, so the talks had stalled, as they say. But when he took vacation to go early and explained his reasoning, I caved and we headed out. About halfway between Gallup and Grants, I suddenly wondered if this was the route the Navajos took in 1864, and said to Budd, "Imagine walking all this way." As we bypassed Grants, we started descending from the high desert, and the snow that had been a constant presence on the ground from the time we left Salt Lake disappeared. Albuquerque was a sunny 50 degrees, which felt like t-shirt weather to us by now.
We got to the hotel in pretty good spirits, even though we had a late start. I went in to check in as Budd had made the reservation in my name, and we made our way around to the correct building, then up three flights of exterior stairs to the top floor. That's when things began to fall apart. Neither of our keys would work to let us in the building! Not wanting Budd to lug the suitcase and laptop back down and back up again, I went for a different door, but found my key wouldn't work in any of them that I tried, so I rushed to the office, where I found a line of 8 or 10 couples. Standing there looking frustrated worked to get the desk clerk's attention, and she quickly re-programmed our keys. Back to the other building, tried two doors, no luck, so back to the office. This time she told me it might be the locks, so when it didn't work the third time, I took them back to Budd, who descended one flight and was able to get in. Unfortunately, there was no interior connection between floors--we still couldn't get to our floor. Finally, we found a door that worked on the third floor, and arrived to our reasonably pleasant room, flustered and exhausted.
Next up was the call to the office to see if the clerk knew whether the casino that was a couple miles down the road had a shuttle. This would free us to enjoy our evening as we wished, without worrying about driving after dark to get home, something that's become a problem for both of us. They did, it was on-call, and she would call it for us when we were ready. "By the way," Budd says, "I've got a bone to pick with you. Half your locks don't work, and you've got a couple of 60-year-olds running up and down stairs with luggage. I was starting to think you owed us an upgrade to a suite." "Let me finish checking this couple in and I'll check into that," she replied. Thirty minutes later, we moved to a suite on the first floor, and now we're really happy (even though most of the locks to the exterior doors still don't work).
The shuttle driver recommends the steak house at the casino, and tells us if we join the Players Club, we'll probably get discounts, plus the casino will give us $20 in free slot play and $20 in chips for the table games. We're on a roll! The steak house turned out to be an excellent choice--the Cajun shrimp and sausage penne with garlic bread was delicious. We head for the cashier's cage to pick up our $20 worth of free chips. Decide to get the slot play out of the way first. Budd's $20 became $22, and mine became $9.
Now it's time for the tables. A tour of the tables indicated this was our kind of casino. Most of the tables were $5 minimum, a must because although I like to play I hate to lose a lot of money. Nevada tables mostly go to $10 minimum or above on weekend nights. Most of these tables were also hand-shuffled, though I saw a few of those continuous-shuffle abominations. Even though the hand-shuffled tables had a six-deck shoe instead of the 1 or 2 decks I prefer, I decided to try my luck, picked a table and sat down to wait for the shuffle as there is no mid-shoe entry. Budd went looking for a different table--we've discovered that the old adage that the table wins together or loses together is only half-true for us. When we both sit at the same one, we lose together.
I should explain that I not only play by the 'book', the set of rules for hitting or staying that is published for the best odds and that is fairly easily memorized. I also have a money-management system that allows me to take home most of the money I came with, most of the time. I seldom win a lot, but I also seldom lose a lot. I just get great entertainment from playing the game. I put out a minimum bet to start, then add a $1 chip to the original bet each time I win, pulling back the winnings. So, if I bet $5 and win, I pull back the $5 chip and add $1. I continue this until the bet is scary (around $10, which takes into account that I sometimes will double-down or split for a $20 bet out of what is usually a $100 stake) or I lose. Then I go back to the minimum and start over. If I win two for every one I lose, I will slowly build up a surplus. If I play long enough averaging two wins to one loss, I can remove my original stake from the table and play with house money until I'm tired, have lost all my winnings, or just want to leave with more than I came with. This time, I was winning three or four to each loss, so it was going pretty well. Budd, on the other hand, lost six hands in a row to start, which left him wandering around watching the action, everywhere except my table. I banned him from there, because I'm just superstitious enough to think he might change my luck. Eventually, the dealer and the mix of players changed, and I lost three hands in a row, my signal to quit or change tables. I went home with an extra $75, plus the $9 from the slots, so I was feeling good. Budd eventually sat down at a different table and won back part of his losses, but wasn't eager to repeat the experience the next day.
Saturday, we slept in, then went in search of a couple of computer parts and a haircut for each of us. Since I can't use the hair dryer here without flipping the breakers, I decided to go ultra-short again. Wash and wear...why did I ever think I needed anything else? We left with matching (almost) haircuts and then went back to the room to get online and find something fun to do. What we found was that there are a couple dozen wineries in or near Albuquerque. One of our favorite things to do is visit tasting rooms, so we mapped out a route and headed for the first one. I can't remember if we've ever been to one before that gives you the glass when you're done, but the first two did. The second one had a knowledgeable sommelier who was showing another couple how and why to swirl the wine and swish it under your tongue. By the end of that one, I was tipsy (it doesn't take much) so the third was dangerous, but we did it anyway--I wasn't driving, just navigating, lol. Then it was time to get some dinner as we had forgotten to eat lunch.
We drove around in circles looking for just the right restaurant. Our GPS, who we've named Bigmouth, had some peculiar ideas about how to get places, so maybe she was winetasting behind our backs. We decided she doesn't know how to do a U-turn, so we taught her by doing several. We eventually ended up at a strip-mall Mexican joint, that had surprisingly good fajitas, hand-shaped tortillas, and decent guacamole. That's all we require in a Mexican restaurant, although sometimes I also judge the fish tacos.
Afterwards, we headed for a nearby club that was advertising a live blues band. They turned out to have a decent sound, something one of the other patrons described as 'chicano blues'. I always like to watch the dancers, and these were having a really good time. At some point, the manager came around with a vase almost as big as she was, out of which she pulled a long-stemmed rose for each female customer.
Except for not getting back to the casino, I had a blast. And to be fair, it was probably better for me to stop while I was ahead, anyway, since I'm saving my pennies for a Sony Reader or Kindle. The obligatory stop at WalMart for groceries and other necessities (water filter, sink stoppers and more jeans for Budd this time) took as long as usual and we were on our way home by 2 p.m. Sunday, late but not disastrously so. Bigmouth had her usual mental breakdown as we left the recommended route for gas and an unscheduled stop at Home Depot. It's sometimes fun to confuse her, as she will start to tell us to go in the wrong direction, and then will say 'recalculating' about six times before twirling the car icon and finally getting it right. Luckily, we usually know more or less where we're going.
I had planned to do some canyon exploration today, but Budd's shoes have worn a hot spot on one of his toes, so that will have to wait for next week. Meanwhile, I plan to see what opportunities there may be in Albuquerque. I remembered it as not much better than Gallup, but it seems to be thriving, and the weather is mild in winter. Who knows? It could be our next home.
And that, folks, was our exciting Valentine's Day road trip.
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