Sunday at the Pino Trailhead

We explored one of the many wilderness areas and hiking trails right at the edge of Albuquerque this morning, and while we didn't make it much past the trailhead thanks to heat, a poo'd diaper and general fatigue on the part of all three of us, it was still a fun way to spend the morning.

Funny story:  on the way home, we decided to stop at this meat place we noticed while driving around the area last week, only to discover that it's not a butcher shop in the retail sense; rather, you drive up with a dead, bloody wild game animal in the back of your pickup truck and they smoke it and taxidermy it right then and there for you.  The smoker was even in the front parking lot, which in retrospect should've been our first clue.  That and the guy with the handlebar mustache and Marlborough tee giving us an odd look as we walked through the door.  He did point us to a nice place where we can buy organic meat, however, so all was not lost.  And Anika got to come face-to-face with a gray wolf, which didn't elicit any screams and which will hopefully be the full extent of her wolf run-in experiences.  I feel like this little field trip was the start of a good redneck joke:  "You know you're in the country when...."

And then we went to Home Depot and bought a bunch of overpriced rocks** to put on our patio, as Armando has decided that it's a fairly simple task as far as DIY home improvement projects go.  So far, he's doing a stellar job.  But I'm not posting photos of that until it's done.  Instead, feast your eyes on the gorgeous rocks otherwise known as the Sandias.  I'm still in awe that this is a ten minute drive from our place.

**part deux of our redneck joke:  if you don't want to buy patio rocks at Home Depot, just do what we saw someone doing today on our drive downhill from the trailhead -- fill up buckets with mountain rocks and take them back to your place, tax free!**