Back to Albuquerque

What, you might ask? A return trip? I haven’t been here recently for work, that’s for sure. I only say “Back to Albuquerque” because I used to live here. A whole six years ago. And it was really fun coming back here for work.

Last time I was here for work, we were busy and didn’t even stay a night. I flew in a Beechjet with Big Boss to take delivery of an Eclipse jet used for my former company. It was a neat day, and I got to visit with wonderful people who had been a great help to me over my year working as Customer Care at Eclipse Aviation. But it was all a whirlwind of activity, and before I knew it, we were back on our way home.

This trip, however, meant a longer stay. I left my house around 6:00 AM on Monday morning for a half-hour drive to Williams-Gateway Airport in southeastern Mesa. Our airplane was in the maintenance facility at Embraer for a tire change and a few software updates.

It looked beautiful as I picked it up from the hangar on the west side of the airfield. We then flew it for a whole ten minutes to Scottsdale to pick up some folks for our day’s work.

 

Is took just under an hour to arrive at Albuquerque Sunport International. My ears were acting kind of funny and were a little harder to equalize pressure as we descended. Luckily, since Albuquerque is 5,300 feet above sea level, there wasn’t much of a difference from our cabin pressure to the field elevation. My ears were a great indicator of what was coming just a few days later…

We borrowed a free crew car to grab some lunch. Authentic New Mexican food…oh, how I’ve missed you. When we got back to the airport, we decided to get a rental car for the week. We were to be here through Saturday morning, and it didn’t make sense to be without transportation.

Monday night was a lovely evening spent with friends. I know some very cool people in town, and I am tickled that they wanted to eat dinner with me! Though I saw them just four months ago during my visit to ABQ, it was great to catch up with them and their busy lives. We ate at a new Asian kitchen, and I tried some new foods that I wouldn’t normally try. Peer pressure is an incredible thing, isn’t it?! Dinner was delicious, and I feel so very blessed to know such good people.

Tuesday morning, I hit the road on foot. I walked back to Nob Hill from my hotel to see some usual sites. I ate lunch at the historic Frontier Restaurant, right across the street from the University of New Mexico. I purposely grabbed a seat by the window to watch people as they left campus. Verrrrrrry interesting folks in Nob Hill, Albuquerque.

Then I continued my walk down Central Avenue. This street is known for its, um, colorful nightlife. So I made the most of it and grabbed a Cold Stone ice cream. Oh, how I love ice cream. It made me all warm and fuzzy inside. After making me cold and shivery inside, of course.

I hurt my Achilles heel when I was training for my first 5K last fall, and it has given me constant trouble ever since. My heel is what led me to head back to my hotel about three miles away. It was a long walk with pain literally nipping at my heels the entire time. Silly heel.

Wednesday morning, I awoke with a tickle in my throat. I felt sluggish and kinda puny. It didn’t stop me from meeting some friend for a nice lunch. You can’t really go wrong with a Tower of Onion Rings, right?

 

Since I had the rental car for the afternoon, I wanted to check out my old hood. I went to my dollar theater to see a movie. It was fun, except my whole body was aching at this point. It was hard to sit for two hours through a movie that wasn’t that great.

Just another mile up the road on Montgomery Boulevard let me to my first encounter with TJ Maxx. This was the very store that changed my life forever. It is still my favorite place to shop, and it all started at this location. Though it was fun to visit the exact store where it all began, I was really starting to feel awful by now. You know I must be sick if even TJ Maxx isn’t fun!

After a quick drive-by (not that kind) of my old apartment, I made the long drive back to my Sheraton Hotel near the airport. Where I wouldn’t leave for the next three days.

 

I was one sick kid. There is really nothing worse than being sick on the road. Luckily, I didn’t have to fly until Saturday. And I don’t think I would have gotten out of bed for any other reason.

I was medicated with what I had in my suitcase. Note to self: refill that thing with current meds! And then on Friday, a teddy bear and piece of chocolate pie was delivered to my room from my local friends. If that doesn’t show how awesome they are, nothing does. It made me cry, and also made me feel a little better.

 

Saturday morning was really hard for me, since I knew I didn’t feel well enough to get out of bed. I was worried about my ears hurting during the flight, and swallowing with my sore throat was just plain miserable.

The flight was bumpy, thanks to a cold front moving through entire southwest United States. We dropped off some passengers and then flew over Sky Harbor to Williams Gateway again for some scheduled maintenance.

We’ve been gone so much these past two months that even three days spent in maintenance is heaven-sent. They will get lots done before we fly again this week.

Meanwhile, I am still sick.

Sick enough that I went to an Urgent Care facility yesterday. It was a waste of my money with no help given except a prescription gel mouth pain reliever for my sore throat. The only downside is that I can’t get it down to where my throat hurts since it can’t be swallowed!

I woke up crying at 3:00 this morning because my throat was hurting so badly. It’s nice to be home where a loving Hubby can try to help me. Man, I’m blessed. He is so wonderful.

And I am proud to relay that the ice cream IS indeed helping my sore throat. I thought it would…

The week was off to a great start in my old hood, until I got sick and spent the majority of my stay in bed at the hotel. I was able to catch up with friends and miraculously avoided getting any of them sick. I’m just glad to be home for a few days to try to knock this out once and for all.