Adventures in the Southwest!

This weekend I had the pleasure of going to New Mexico to attend my friend Sam's wedding. Sam and I went to college together, so I was excited to see some of my college friends. We had some down time between the events, so I got to go on some adventures with my buddies. On Friday before the ceremony, we went to the zoo. I was pleased that it was only $2.50 to get in :). I had been to the Smithsonian's zoo in DC several times, but this zoo was kind of neat because I got to see some animals that were native to the southwest. I got to see an American bald eagle, a bobcat, a lemur, and this huge turtle. Apparently there was a jaguar, but I didn't get a chance to see it. Of note, Benjamin Franklin was quite displeased with the bald eagle becoming our nation's animal; he felt as though it bad moral character. He would have preferred a turkey. But I digress. Overall the trip to the zoo was fun though, it was a pretty big zoo considering how small a town Alamagordo is.

 

On Friday afternoon we went to Sam's ceremony up in the mountains. It was incredibly beautiful, there was amazing foliage and views, and Sam looked amazing. The ceremony was simple but elegant; they did their own vows and it suited their personalities. I felt like it was a tasteful and appropriate expression of their love. After the ceremony they had champagne and then they signed their wedding certificate. I offered to counsel Sam as her lawyer. :)

 

On Saturday morning Aliea and I met up with Becca and we went to see a space ship being refurbished. Yes, that's right. The groom's godfather is an engineer and he was working with a team to refurbish an old space ship called the DCX. He told us he was doing it, and invited us to come see. It was definitely a once in a lifetime experience. He told us that the ship was designed by the navy to transport soldiers to different parts of the world, and it was unique in that it could move sideways, vertically and horizontally and go up into space without much difficulties. NASA was against this ship (we think because it wasn't theirs) and they fought to have control over it. When they finally got control, the ship suddenly lost one of its legs and was unable to work after that. The rumor was that NASA did this on purpose; they wanted to melt the ship down for scrap metal after that. Apparently the engineers didn't want that to happen and took measures to stop this. They would move the "melt" stickers to other objects, and a bunch of them took parts of the ship home and stored them in their garage. Lynn (the best man/engineer) said he had a friend in DC who said he had part of the ship in his garage! This ship was unique because all of the parts were from other ships, so it did not cost much to make. Now they are trying to preserve the ship and are reaching out to engineers who had parts of the ship in their garages all over the country. NASA had melted the outer shell of the ship, and they agreed that if the engineers got all of the ship refurbished that they would build a new shell. I would have liked to take pictures but legally this wasn't allowed. So below is a picture of us after seeing the space ship!

After this we went to lunch at Si Senores. The wait staff probably thought we were crazy because we had gone there 3 days in a row. It was a problem, but the food was amazing, OMG. Juice cleanse after this... After lunch we went to a store called "Dollar Boots & Jeans". We were excited at the prospect of dollar boots and dollar jeans, but were woefully disappointed. There were a ton of expensive boots. It should have been called "$100 Boots and Jeans". Bummer.

After our failed shopping extravaganza, we went to the site of the worlds largest pistachio. It was amazing! Haha it was 30 feet tall. I got a picture with the replica. We also got to look at the pistachios growing in the field. Apparently the dry weather is conducive for their growth as there were several farms in the area. We also got to sample some of the wine that they had cultivated as well. I ended up getting some pistachio white wine which was really good. I wished I could have bought more, but getting on a plane deterred me. I also bought a ton of pistachios and pistachio brittle. It was amazing, and looking back on it, I'm a little embarrassed about how much money I spent on pistachios. But really, how often do you go to see the world's largest pistachio?

 

That evening we all attended Sam's wedding reception. Sam looked beautiful, but that was to be expected :) the evening consisted of frequent dancing (including a mass "oppa gangnam style" dance as part of the couples first dance), stunna shades, and a picture of me lecturing a cop. Sadly I can't share the picture online as part of the agreement but it is available upon request. I had an excellent time, and the evening ended with a huge bonfire out in the woods with home brewed beer. It was so relaxing to hang out with good friends and not feel like I had to filter myself.

 

Aliea left on Sunday morning, and I met up with Sam, Suze, Becca, and Elizabeth to go to White Sands National Park. There were a ton of sand dunes which were perfectly white. It reminded me of the Outer Banks in North Carolina...except no ocean. Sam (who is a geologist) told me that a long time ago there used to be a large lake there millions of years ago, but it dried up. It is now the largest gypsum sand dune in the world. Apparently most plants and animals can't survive there based on the intense southwest winds. Overall I had a wonderful time- it was so great to see my friends and be myself without a filter. I hope to do it again soon!

 

 

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