Day 1: The White Sands of New Mexico

I know how some of y'all love a travel journal and even though I am in the process of posting all of my reviews on TripAdvisor, I am going to share them here, too. If you have zero interest in reading The Miller Adventures during a 4-Day Pass, then pop back over on Monday. It should all be over by then. Until then, each day's post will detail the fun we had and just some of the 700 pictures I took. 


Meet Me at Midnight 
The Soldiers of the 352 were released from McGregor (a training base in the middle of Nowheresville, New Mexico...drive until you see the prison and hang a right...) at 12:01 AM. DivaV and I, along with 2 other wives (MamaBear and Medusa...Medusa does not at all have snakes for hair, but she can do ahmazing things with the mops atop a head and she keeps me dyed and trimmed), had just arrived at the El Paso airport and we were debating whether to drive to McGregor or go to bed. Also, the Ft. Bliss Lodging bar was closed. (It made a difference). MamaBear and Medusa headed to McGregor (after a brief and unfortunate run-in with the Mexican border), while DivaV and I slept until the phone rang at 12:30 (for those of you playing at home, that is 2:30 AM our time). The boys were standing on a corner next to the PX, waiting for a ride back to lodging. DivaV and I had scored the last available room at Ft. Bliss Lodging, so the 4 of us piled into our 2 queen size beds and crashed out until breakfast.

Breakfast at Ft. Bliss Lodging was a carnival of carbohydrates...discouraging if you have just given up bagels, muffins, and cereal in an effort to win a bet. We ate our oatmeal and fruit and started the trip north, to White Sands National Park, about 90 minutes up the road (with a quick stop at Mall of America...I mean, the PX. I have never seen a PX this large. President Bush definitely took care of Texas while he was chillaxin' in D.C.).

Sometimes the Reviews Get It Wrong
We arrived in Las Cruces around lunch time and decided to stop since state parks are not historically known for their world-renowned cuisine. Amidst the chain steak houses and fast food joints, this sign caught my eye:

via Google Images

It is a pecan grill and brewery. Plus their logo was delightfully similar to the Daisy & Elm logo. How could you go wrong with that? Had I paused to read the reviews on TripAdvisor, I probably would have blown it off in favor of a China Buffet or a building that smelled like refried beans...but I didn't. And this time, it worked out. De La Vega's is the one and only restaurant owned by Tom and Jeanine Springer. They use locally grown chilis from Hatch, NM and only the freshest pecans, which are picked in nearby groves. TripAdvisor reviewers simply ripped the place apart, barely granting the restaurant 1 or 2 stars and employing lots of exclamation points in the reviews. I have no idea why. Our stuffed green chilis with ranch dipping sauce were fairly fantastic and I accidentally finished off the green chili butter on the last roll. You have not seen disappointment until you watch a man scrape a knife around an empty butter dish. Lunch was a pecan-crusted chicken salad that would have made the chefs at the Pirate's House in Savannah drool with anticipation.  In addition to the scrumdelicious food, De La Vega's offers the Arnold Palmer Tea...a smooth mix of lemonade and iced tea...a concoction that could be my 2011 Pool Drink of Choice (with just a drop of vodka). Clearly, whatever De La Vega's was doing wrong, they are now doing very, very right.

Look for the Dunes and Bear Left 
White Sands National Monument is 275 square miles of white sand dunes comprised of gypsum crystals. Normally, when gypsum flakes, it dissolves in water and washes out to sea, but because the basin has no outlet to sea, the rain that dissolves the gypsum from the San Andreas and Sacramento Mountains is trapped within the basin. This forms a sand that is harmless to your car's paint job and remains cool to the touch, even during the summer months. The temperature hovered around 80 and I walked the dunes barefoot.

Walking up the dunes proved to be more difficult than it looked. The sand shifted under our feet although it appeared to be packed.

Many fellow travelers were  sledding or even rolling down the dunes, but I was focused on getting the best possible picture of a landscape that is generally impossible to photograph.

Ever practical, Neal wore his comfy and supportive tennis shoes for 4 days while I did my best to look cute in ballet flats. In sand. That lasted approximately 0.2 seconds before they came off and I hoofed it barefoot. At one point, I looked back and caught a glimpse of our footprints. This, I thought, is the perfect representation of our marriage...the boy scout and the free spirit.

All along the way, there were windbreaker picnic tables where you could sit, have a glass of wine and a block of cheese and enjoy the mountains without blowing away or swallowing sand. (No alcohol between 1 February and 1 May, though, due to the underage drinking that was occurring during Spring Break.)

 Entrance into White Sands National Monument is $3.00/person and is good for 7 days. It includes a sunset stroll at 5 PM, which we took advantage of because sunset over sand is romantic. Unless you're in Iraq. Then it's just the end to another day. The stroll was led by a park volunteer who had just returned from an archaeological dig in Alaska. We ventured just 100 yards into the dunes while he told us about the plants, sand, and wildlife. I was only half-listening, though, because the sunset was breathtaking and much more interesting than yucca plants.

 As the sun set behind the Sacramento Mountains, the wind whipped and my feet froze to the "this sand does not retain heat" ground, while Neal's knees knocked together. 

But it was all completely worth it...

There is no better spot to witness a sunset than where the pavement ends.

Friday and Saturday nights were spent at the Las Cruces Hampton Inn and Suites, which is close to every chain restaurant you could hope for, plus Wal-Mart, plus a buffet that looks exactly like a Fazoli's from the outside. I had never stayed at a Hampton Inn and Suites, but it was nice to have a mini-fridge in the kitchen for our champagne and wine, and a couch to sit on instead of just the bed. It met all of my OCD cleanliness standards (even the vents in the bathroom were clean...that's nothing short of remarkable) and it was very quiet even though it is located in a rather busy and congested area of town. The only disappointment was breakfast...where the eggs tasted like pellets and they insisted on serving them everyday. I have yet to find a Hampton Inn that rocks a breakfast like the one in Hendersonville, NC. Breakfast burrito anyone?

Dinner on Friday night was at El Comedor in Old Mesilla. It ranked #1 in area restaurants on TripAdvisor and all of the reviews promised amazing chips and salsa, at the very least.

 

via Google Images

It is hard for me to review Mexican restaurants because, to me, it all tastes the same. Salsa is salsa (although I can tell which is homemade and which is Pace) and an enchilada is an enchilada. The salsa here is fresh, the chips are crispy without being greasy, and the ambiance is very New Mexico-chic. That's about all I remember, aside from the 2 guys sitting next to us who laughed like hyenas and then screeched like crows the whole time. And they were sober.

By 9:30, I was gazing longingly at the bed and by 10:00, I was chasing dragons across the Mexican border and buying margaritas for Geronimo. And, of course, cuddled up to Neal for the first time in over a month.

Wordless Wednesday: When It Is Important to Be in the Left Lane

Ft. Bliss: Been there, done that, don't really need a repeat. Way too close to Mexico for this little white girl from Kentucky. But there was fun to be had just an hour north of the border. The travelogue starts tomorrow!

Champagne Friday: Making Love, Not War

Hello.

You've reached 400 Wake-ups. I'm sorry Ally is not in at the moment. She is cuddled up to this handsome hunk of love and grits for the next 48 hours. Leave a message and she will get back to you when she dries out and cools off (she's at a hot springs resort. What were you thinking??).

Cheers!
Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep.

A Break in the Routine - WW

Just a couple more wake-ups until we're together again for a few short days! As my Papa used to say, "won't be long now said the monkey when he got his tail cut off!"

Sand for Work and Play

I hope y'all had a lovely champagne/sangria/beer/margarita/flavored water Friday and an even better long weekend. And for those of you who had to work yesterday, that is so un-American. Please let your boss know that an Army wife in middle Georgia is giving them the stink-eye rightthisminute.

I just returned from a 4-day trip to Jacksonville to visit my sister, The Queen, and the rest of her Royal Family. My nieces, Repunzerella and Sleeping Booty, kept it exciting with tennis, pool time, a trip to the beach, and a classmate's birthday party at the 7th Layer of Hell (suddenly, I realize why I had to beg long and hard for a trip to Chuck E. Cheese when I was a weeAlly. Because they don't serve alcohol there. But they should. Preferably pure grain.)

A couple of states over, the 352 is completing their field training in a very Iraq-esque environment...also known as the Texas desert. The second half of the deployment train-up is mostly field work, including convoy and IED training, and learning how to do "presence patrols". During Neal's first deployment, he was the convoy commander for many missions from the southern area of Iraq, up to Baghdad, and back. He knows how to run a convoy. And he knows a thing or two about IEDs...seeing as he had to build a model a few years ago for some training exercises in his old unit. I was sweating like an Eskimo in the Sahara until he took his homemade IED, created with some pretty rainbow-colored wires and one of my old Nokia cell phones, to drill weekend. I just knew something ridiculous was bound to happen with a device in the house that could easily be mistaken for a terrorist masterpiece. Neal doesn't half-ass anything.

So, without further ado, a few pictures from our weekend in the sand:

Mickler's Beach is fairly close to The Queen's house, so Saturday afternoon we loaded up the brood and headed to the sand and surf. We look somewhat bundled, but there were plenty of tweens flaunting their tanning bed bodies in skimpy 2-pieces. If it's possible to get hypothermia in 70-degree temperatures, I'm sure someone got it that day.

The 352 focused on IED and tripwire training over the weekend. Same sun, same sand, completely different experience. In this photo, a Soldier locates an "IED" and the rest spread out to secure the area and ensure the safety of everyone close by.

The Royal Family plays a little football on the beach. Sir Murph, the family dog, looks on and wonders how he will fit that ball into his mouth.

During a "presence patrol"...named so because they are intended to demonstrate the unit's presence in an area, Soldiers walk carefully, scanning for IEDs, tripwires, and other gifts that insurgents have left for them in the field.

On the beaches of Florida, the sand stays where it is supposed to be...on the ground, waiting for children to come and build sandcastles or bury one another. Mickler's is all-inclusive, open to families, dogs, and horses, it appears. (These are actually hoof-prints. We saw several horses with riders strolling up and down the waterfront.)

In Texas, however, sometimes the sand blows and swirls, and causes a great deal of discomfort. A sandstorm blew in over the weekend and gave the 352 their first experiences with the exfoliated esophagus. The first of many. This photo also prompted the following conversation between me and Neal:

Neal: Yeah, we got a sandstorm today.
Me: Oh, that's cool. How did they do that?
Neal: What do you mean?
Me: Well, that's just so much like Iraq. How did they get all that sand there?
Neal: They imported it.
Me: silence
Neal: suppressed laughter
Me: You're messing with me, aren't you?
Neal: It's the desert. How do you think they got it there?
Me: You're an ass.

His last 2 train-ups were in the North American arctic. I think all units deploying to the Middle East should complete deployment training at Ft. Bliss....especially since they went through the trouble of importing the sand and all.

Sangria Friday and Some Friday Funnies

Attention, ladies and gentlemen,
We interrupt this Champagne Friday to bring you Sangria Friday, in honor of the fact that as you read this, I am kickin' it at the big sister's house, sipping on something fruit-soaked. Please tune in next week, when we will return to your regularly scheduled Champagne Friday.

Also, I have hit bottom on the Google Images of champagne + military, so I'm exchanging my hijacked (not the same as hacked. As of this week, I know all about being hacked) Google Images of champagne for random photos of Neal's first tour in Iraq. He has approximately 2 photos from Kuwait. By the time he had arrived at Camp Arifjan, Big Brother had already landed and put the kibosh on photographing the joint. But there are photos from Iraq. Lots of them. So, each week we will kick off Champagne Friday with one of those. Starting with...

After reading Wednesday's WW post, many of you commented on A) how tight the living quarters are for our troops and B) the plastic mattress covers. So, let me first say to observation (A) that if you think that's tight, check out the tents that Neal lived in when he first got to Iraq in 2004, as demonstrated in the above photo. Not exactly the Holiday Inn. That's not even the Super 8. That is La Sardine Suites. He doesn't miss the tents.

And regarding the mattress covers...somehow I had not noticed them in the picture and now every time I look at that photo, that's all I see (so, thank you for that). I asked Neal if he was allowed to remove it prior to bedding down that first night. His concise answer was "no". In fact, if you are caught removing the plastic from a mattress at Ft. Knox, you will be fined. Apparently, the Army is a wipe-it-down-and-go kind of clean. I wouldn't survive 4 minutes. That's not self-deprecating. It's honest.

Next in the Sangria Friday Festivities, I would like to give a big shout-out to my girl, Kay, @ The Van Gogh Cafe, who blogged this week about her fiance, who confused polenta for placenta...I mean, during a conversation...not during an Italian meal with a grain side dish. But I let a snort loose on that one.

And 3 cheers to my husband who, during one of our last conversations before he left, said "Well, I guess that would be true. Metamorphologically speaking..." (Yes, WordCheck, I realize that is not a word). And when I couldn't stop laughing, he realized his mistake. Let's try that again and drop that whole end part, shall we?

Lastly, the following news release was in my hometown newspaper this week:

Miller going to Iraq
Army Reserve Capt. Michael N. Miller is deploying to Iraq to serve in support of Operation New Dawn, formerly named Operation Iraqi Freedom.
The captain, a watercraft operator with 25 years of military service, is regularly assigned to the 352nd Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, Macon, Ga.

 Can we just back up to the part where it says "The captain, a watercraft operator with 25 years of military service"? This is like that game, Which One is Untrue?. He is a captain. He does have 25 years of military service. However, the closest he has ever come to operating watercraft is ripping through the waves on a jet ski during spring break in college. My husband does not operate watercraft. He has never operated watercraft. But I can't decide what's funnier...that somehow this nugget of untruth ended up in our city's newspaper or the word "watercraft". Just say it 5 times and try to do it with a straight face. Go ahead. I'll wait. 


That is all. 
I hope y'all have a rowdy or relaxing weekend, depending on your age bracket. Luckily, I straddle a couple so I get a little bit of both. 

Cheers!

Drive 45 Minutes and Hang a Right - WW

The men and women of the 352 have relocated to their new digs and training facility. Since you can't find it on a map, I'm not going to say where, exactly, but still uncomfortably close to the Mexican border. Here are just a few photos from the new joint.

 

Happy Wed-Nes-Day!