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Road Trippin’ (Part One): Texas & New Mexico

By Anna ⋅ December 7, 2011 ⋅ Post a comment

One of the countless reasons my sweetie rockkks is he pulls out all the stops sometimes. Take, for example, my belongings sitting in storage for 2+ years (I threw my stuff in a storage unit just before I relocated to Memphis). Even before I officially moved in with him, Chip suggested we pick all of it up (argh, two storage units…. in two neighboring states). I just barely got the chance to unpack when we’re westward bound, driving half-way cross-country in a rental. The primary task at hand was easy enough: Go and get my stuff, then head back home to Texas. We’d have close to one full afternoon of f-u-n by showing him my stomping grounds in San Diego, but other than that, we’d be on the road the rest of the time. Let’s just say things got *interesting* once we arrived in San Diego.

Since I knew which interstates we’d be taking to Cali… I made a list of restaurants I wanted to try (known for their baked goods, of course :p) in a couple of cities we’d be passing through. I pretty much disqualified any restaurant outside a 15-minute radius of the interstate.

This mini-van held up pretty well during our week-long adventure
We had stopped at the rest area near Sonora, Texas to fill our travel mug…and snap pics!

I was pretty impressed with some of the cool features like a sliding door on both sides

There’s the black travel bag storing our clothes (believe it or not, we shared it) and cooler filled with drinks (not that kind :p)

We purposely chose this type of vehicle because of the available cargo/floor space
The back seats can fold into storage wells then covered up (as shown)

We hadn’t yet figured out these middle “foldable” seats can be compartmentalized under the floor too, LOL

Isn’t the gear shifter cool?

Both remotes actually serve as the ignition key too (the Panic Button area gets inserted first)

So while the mini-van was photo-worthy, this rest area (near Sonora, Texas) was too!

Look what supports the picnic pavilions…wagon wheels!

Maybe I’ve seen one too many *boring* picnic areas, LOL

Passing Downtown El Paso on I-10

We had just crossed the New Mexico state line

And a minute later, a welcome sign

We pulled up for dinner here at Si Italian Bistro & Bakery in Las Cruces
It was the 1st restaurant on my must-try “list”

From the looks of it, it used to be a house

Chip’s salad…

…And his entrée, Lasagna Napoletano

Ah, there it is!
Made with three cheeses and homemade meat sauce

Dave’s Favorite Pizza (my order)

Homemade pizza sauce, pepperoni, salami, Cremini mushrooms, black olives, and oven roasted tomatoes…mmmmm
Didn’t want the hot green chile

Chip was jonesing for this Red Velvet Cake long before his salad arrived
That’s the risk of “reviewing” dessert display cases before dinner :p

Chocolate Mousse Cake
Dark chocolate cake with a thick layer of chocolate mousse in the center, frosted with dark chocolate, and piped with chocolate mousse

We had anticipated staying overnight in Las Cruces, but realized during dinner, we were ahead of schedule. With Chip feeling under the weather since the night before, we had to press on to stay ahead of the curve. I made the command decision to continue driving until it was necessary to find lodging for the night. Chip eventually felt okay to take over driving the last hour and a half to get us to Tucson. Little did we know (at the time) how much adrenaline rushes would be a key factor during this road trip.

Deming, New Mexico
Loooooove the mountains in the distance