Sandia Mountains

A few weeks ago we were playing in our neighborhood park around sunset when Brent pointed out the gorgeous red Sandia Mountains. From what I understand, on windy days the dust in the atmosphere causes the sun to turn the mountains bright red

 As I was ogling the view I overheard a dad explaining to his son that in spanish sandia means watermelon and that the mountains earned their name from their evening show. 

Well that was a far cooler reason than we had assumed. We thought it was named after a native american tribe that lived in the area years ago, not that there actually was a sandia tribe; we just assumed. 

The next day we decided to go on en evening hike and see how it looked up close as the mountain turned red. It was a bit of a tricky hike because we wanted to be high enough on the mountain to really see the change but we needed to be able to get back  get back down before we lost daylight. 

Even with that setback we decided to go for it and just stick to a straight forward easy path. The hike was beautiful and as the sun lowered the whole mountain, including us, turned a lovely watermelon red.

It was one of those moments that every time I think back to it I have the same peaceful contentedness I felt at that time wash over me. I think we have all had memories like that, simple moments that stick with us for a lifetime.

We got a little lost in the moment and ended up having to jog back down the path,

As we drew near to the car we were greeted by glittering city lights below us. What a beautiful and fulfilling way to spend the last few hours of a day! The desert is packed full of little delightful surprises.

We keep meaning to go back but the evenings are getting pretty chilly around these parts so I am not sure we will make it happen. I am really glad we got to see it up close at least once though. Sometimes it really is the small things that are the most magical.

                                                                     Much love <3

City Exploring

“The hard part isn’t the first step, or the second step [on the way towards your goal]. It’s the 5th, 6th and 7th steps when you’re in so deep you forget why you took that initial step in the first place. The middle of the tunnel, when you left the light behind you but you can’t yet see it in front of you either. When you have to trust that whatever ‘insane’ notion came over you to take the first step is still worth it now that you don’t see where it’s headed anymore. That’s the hard part of doing something big/great. It’s when you’re halfway up the mountain and you’re too far up to turn back but you can’t see the summit camp yet.”
- The Frenchman

       We have officially be in New Mexico for three weeks today. Those three weeks have been filled with so much, so much adventure, so much new, so much scary, so much laughter, so much sadness. At this point if I had to say what I look forward to the most I would say getting into our rhythm as a family. A week ago, heck two days ago, I would have told you that I didn't think we had a rhythm anymore, that we left that behind in Florida with our house, our other car, and all the people we love. But today I feel it. Like a breath of fresh air I feel the kids starting to settle, my emotions evening out, and Albuquerque beginning to feel familiar.  I am so grateful. Now, if we can get through this last move into our forever rental (until January ;) this weekend I will do a victory dance!

      I've said it before and I'll probably say it a whole lot more, I love the mountains. We all really love the mountains. Anytime we have a spare couple of hours you can usually find us with our hiking shoes on exploring some open space. It is really quite lovely and comes very close to making this emotional roller coaster of moving a family across the country worth it!

There are so many hummingbirds here right now!

We decided to try something different last weekend and we went to explore another part of the city. Albuquerque offers a day pass that will get you into their BioPark zoo, aquarium, and prize winning gardens. They even have a train that will take visitors from the zoo through downtown to the aquarium and gardens. We took an entire eight hour day (whew!) and visited all three places.

They had a lot of animals that we don't have in Pensacola which is understandable considering this is a much bigger city. The Zoo was really big and it was very educational! Although, I had to finally come to terms with myself about how much I really don't enjoy zoos. It is not as much a moral issue, I know zoos do a lot of great things to help animals, it is just about personal preference. My preference is to not go to a zoo again for a long long time. Luckily, my family is on the same page as me, as interesting as we found the zoo the aquarium and the gardens stole the show. 

The kids area of the gardens began with a beautiful castle

Then it moved into a life-sized fruit and vegetable exhibit

everything in the kid's garden was meant to be climbed and explored

the small details are what really made the garden amazing

there was a huge garden train that meandered through a section
 between the kid's garden and the butterfly garden

these beautiful flowers are all over New Mexico!

the pond was beautiful and the greenhouse had several different themed gardens
based on different climates.

Cool plant in the arid garden 

Brent loved this butterfly garden

Mediterranean garden

the healing garden was my favorite part

Why, hello handsome.... 

We both loved the rocks in the herb garden

the entrance to the Japanese garden

there are also a lot of Jack Rabbits in NM

they even built a waterfall

and very interesting paths through the foliage

the Japanese garden was very peaceful

this is a working farm that supplies fresh food
to a restaurant on the grounds of the garden

the original farm house that they leave open for people to tour

this part definitely had us dreaming of owning our own land one day...
I think it probably makes everyone have that same day dream ;)

walking the path back to leave the gardens

the dragon guarding the kids area

The only thing we regretted about the day was spending so much time in the zoo and getting so little time in the gardens. It is not surprising at all that National Geographic voted it in the top 5 gardens in the country. The aquarium was small but really nice. They had a great Gulf of Mexico exhibit that made us feel right at home! We had a great day and we were completely exhausted by the end of it. Albuquerque really is just one of the coolest towns I have visited. It is hard to stop exploring because there is always more to see!

Until next time,

The Brown Family <3