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›comments[6] ›all comments ›post #308 ›bio: katie ›bio: victoria ›perma-link ›12/23/2005 ›16:07 ›archives ›first post ›that week |
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Art Colony: New Mexico report Friday, December 23, 2005 › by victoria  Whew...it has probably been the longest gap between posts ever for me. You have probably been making bets that I've died or fallen off the train somewhere in Colorado...which would leave you disappointed since I'm here in Los Alamos, N.M. The weather here is beautiful--about 50 degrees and sunny--which makes me happy not to be in poor Milwaukee, which (the last I heard, talking to Robin) was 13 degrees below zero, freezing rain/snow, etc. ANYWAYS, our train trip here was way too long. The 2 hour train between milwaukee and chicago was fun (as it always is), but then we had to wait 3.5 hours in the Chicago trainstation for our "Southwest Chief" train, which was delayed. Plus the waiting areas were abnormally crowded, so Biff and I spent most of our time reading STAR and other trashly celeb tabloids trying to ignored the screaming babies, crowded density, etc. Waiting in line was a joy (not)--there were these 2 doofuses which skipped us in line, some guy stepped on Biff's art portfolio, we were standing in front of the STARBUCKS machine, that kind of thing. When we finally did get on board, we were so relieved just to be in our seats that we didn't notice Skyler, the small baby sitting behind us. (name has not been changed). Skyler was a rambunctious tyke. His grandma hadn't packed enough food for him, so he woke up at 3 AM in the morning and was screaming his fool head off. Needless to say, I didn't get a lot of sleep and I discovered that I harbor deep resentment against small children who scream and kick the back of my seat for 20 hours... The train was also carrying people who were very ill and coughing and snarking all over me & Biff. (*This becomes important later). I hate eating on trains but somehow forced myself to eat breakfast & procure an outrageously overpriced muffin and orange juice for Biff. The train went through the great plains at night, but we were going through Colorado in the morning. It must be the ugly part of Colorado because it was all grey, the way I imagine it must look in, um, Limbo. Towards the afternoon, things started to get nicer because Skyler and his family got off the train (yay! and there was much rejoicing), and we entered New Mexico, which is very beautiful. I threw up at 2 P.M in the train toilet because being on a train too long does that to me. It was very embarrassing. I hate eating on trains...I will never eat on a train again. Please remind me not to ever eat on a train, even if people say that I have to. Finally we got to Lamy an hour late, at 3 PM--praise the Lord! because I was hoping no one would discover that I had thrown up in the Amtrak toilet--and we get off the train and Biff's aunt (whom we'll call...hmm...Christine, that's good) was waiting for us there. She drove us through Santa Fe--which is an obscenely cute state capital, my gosh, all the little adobe buildings make it clasp-your-hands-together-and-smile-cute--and stopped at LADA burger so that she and Biff could grab some food. I was still feeling green so I had a pepsi and a cigarette, which was a mistake since People in New Mexico are really hating on smokers. REALLY HATING smoking. I think it has something to do with the awful fires that ravaged Los Alamos 5 years ago--that would be enough to give me fire phobia right there--but they look down on smoking with a withering glance that makes you want to hide. Eeep. Anyways, then Christine drove us up to Los Alamos, which is 7,000 feet above sea level so we've been fighting altitude-whatever for the past few days, I'm feeling fine now--and it's just gorgeously pretty here. It makes me think a lot of Italy in some ways. I met Biff's grandma, who is really nice, and we settled in. Of course, I had to get an awful cold from that train trip. Blargh. I've basically gotten over it today--and none of my bitching/moaning about being sick is allowed here, so I've been a trooper about it-- and now poor Biff has gotten some kind of sore throat. I hope he gets better, I've been making him lots of tea and cooking and stuff. They don't have hardly any stores or places to hang out here, which is really weird. I guess that's something that Milwaukee has in abundance (but here they have nice weather, which is something Milwaukee does NOT have, bless its filthy humidity-filled-stinky-atmosphered heart). I'm also missing Robin and Jill & I hope they are doing well... Other than that, I think it's going to be a good Christmas. I'm supposed to meet the rest of Biff's New Mexico relatives on Xmas, so that should be fun/interesting. :) |
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