We got up fairly early the next morning and began the drive to NM. It was a pretty easy trip until we hit Socorro. That is when we hit the storm. Albuquerque doesn’t rain much and snows almost never. This storm dumped 26 inches of snow in the NE. 14” on average through the city. The roads were closed from Albuquerque to TX, AZ, and CO. You can go south if you want to get out. Apparently Angel Fire had 50” of snow. The mayor came on and asked people not to come. You know you are in trouble when the mayor of a ski resort is telling you not to come skiing. Albuquerque still had roads closed 3 days later. And all of that was still nothing compared to Denver.
We met up with Zach and Ian for dinner in Albuquerque while we planned our next move. To my surprise, Ian showed up with his friend Cleo. Cleo and I have a habit of meeting in far flung places. A Seattle friend, last time I saw her we were in NYC. She was with her sister Devoney. After dinner, they all headed off to the Rev Horton Heat concert and we went to find lodging. We ended up staying with Jay’s uncle up in Cedar Crest. His uncle, Chuck, even took us out snow plowing the next morn. If I had laid odds on things I didn’t expect to be doing on this trip, I would have bet heavily against snow plowing. But it was a nice way to pass the morn, cruising around sketchy mountain roads, plowing, trying not to get stuck.
After plowing we headed into Abq for breakfast. When renting the car, I made sure to get an AWD vehicle. Thinking it might be useful in Taos, in case we wanted to go up to the mountains or we got some snow and had to get through the canyon. I had no idea how necessary it would be come. We had a ford escape, I guess they make a hybrid model too. That little fucker was great in the snow. I could hardly even make it slide. Saw people stuck and helped people get going all over town but we could get anywhere in the escape. Maybe it is just the first traction control car I have driven but I was quite impressed.
We made it down the mountain and met Ian and gang at the Flying Star in the Nob Hill neighborhood. Nice neighborhood actually. It became our neighborhood for the next couple of snowed in days. We got a hotel a couple blocks away. Good location, Ian lived around the corner and Zach not too far away. Most of our snowed in time revolved around this area and it offered enough to keep us interested. The flying star was our breakfast spot for the whole time, which was good b/c it was a great café/restaurant with a nice feel. I wouldn’t mind having one of these in my world.
Since Abq was shut down, we decided there was little to do but drink so we hit the bar and spent a cozy day warming up in an Irish pub nearby. Really didn’t accomplish much but hanging out chatting. It was pleasant enough to be an accomplishment in itself. Eventually we got dinner and retired to Ig’s for more of the same. Tough day.
Enter New Year’s Day. We probably could have made it up to Taos but it was still iffy and we had to be back the next day for Jay’s flight anyway. It felt like we were really just going to drive up for the party at Matt’s house and then turn around and return. I like those guys and all but a 2 hour commute for the party was a bit much.
We made a good day of it anyway. Went over to Zach’s and played with his 360 for a bit, that is a pretty system. Got Big Tom to come out and we all went to shoot some pool. It was good to see Tom. He has a new daughter to attempt to balance out his 2 boys. Everybody sounded like they were doing well. Shot pool for a while and then Ian showed up and announced we had dinner plans. A friend of theirs was going to make an Indian feast. Hmm, that is valuable green chili space that is being wasted but it is hard to pass up a home cooked meal.
As a side note, other than that meal, I think I was successful in having green chili in every meal in NM. Ian kept asking what I wanted to eat and I kept telling him that was a dumb question. I have to get my season’s fill of green chili, I have no room to waste on anything else.
Back to New Years. Just before dinner, we got word that Devoney, who was supposed to be flying out, had her flight cancelled again. We couldn’t leave her stranded in the airport for New Years so we swung by increased our party by one.
It was about this time that one of our party started really getting loaded. I knew he was in trouble when somebody handed him a wine sized bottle of a (Russian?) stout. One of those gourmet type, 11% jobbers. He tipped back his head and drained the whole thing in one burst, complete w/ overflow spilling down his chin. Uh-oh, here we go… Just after dinner, he fell into a snow pile. When I asked him if he fell or dove he replied “I don’t know”. Now I have been out w/ him before and knew that all would be ok but I think the rest of our party was a bit sketched out by the whole scene. Ahh well, it’s New Years.
After dinner, we headed back to our neighborhood and dropped the car off at Ian’s. W00t, now I can start drinking! We called a cab to go to the club and hung out for a second waiting for it. It actually came quite quick. On our way down the hill though, in this old rear wheel drive cab, the cabby hit the breaks and mutters, “Uh oh!” Heh, not really what you want to hear as we slid towards an intersection. He managed to pump the breaks a bit and get us stopped on the still very icy roads.
So next stop was Pulse. Ian and Zach have a history with this club. They both worked there. I guess it is the preeminent gay club in Abq. I have ended up there a couple times with them. Tonight, I was feeling a bit low energy so I had my reservations. Once we got in and started dancing though, I realized that this was a good call. Good vibe and a lot of fun was had, with one minor bump.
About 15 minutes before midnight, we were walking from the hip-hop to the house room. I don't think there was any specific incident, maybe just the loaded look was enough. In any case, a big bouncer comes up and grabs our loaded one by the head and tells us he is too loaded to be in here. “Give us 10 minutes through the new year”, I ask. “This is not negotiable!” is the reply as he drags my buddy out by the head. Fucker. Ig was the only one of our party in sight so I told him to stay and I would go take care of this.
We found each other outside the club and started heading back towards the hotel, looking for one last new years drink on the way. In this way, new years passed. 5 after 12, we stopped in a really strange little local bar and had a new years toast. We hung for a short time before we went and poured him into a bed in a nearby hotel.
Back to the club, I decided that with all the timezone jumping I was doing there was no real reason for me to be stuck in mountain time for new years. I decided I had just as much claim to pacific time as mountain time and I got back to the club about 10 mins before my new years. Happy new years! We danced for a few more hours in to the night. A random night truly but all and all a good night.
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