My friends and I cheered as we crossed the state line into New Mexico. We stopped for the night in Tucumcari, New Mexico. The weatherman said the storm was still coming. We went to Denny's for supper , where we all ordered chicken and salads. All those cows made us not want to eat beef for a long time!

The next morning there was ice all over our car . My friends were worried because we were beginning our drive into the mountains, and the weather reports were predicting snow . It was also very gray outside, and foggy. I couldn't see anything out the back window as we headed towards Albuquerque.

The road to Albuquerque was windy and hilly. There were lots of accidents along the way, so we decided to stop early and get a hotel room .

It was very windy when we arrived. We got a room, and we could hear people complaining about the cold temperatures. We decided to see the sights of the city and enjoy it while we were there!

After lunch and lots of pinion nut coffee for my friends (I had hot chocolate), we set out to drive into the city. We crossed the Rio Grande river (which mean's "Big River" in Spanish). It wasn't very big!

After this, we decided to go to Old Town Albuquerque. It is the oldest part of Albuquerque, with many shops and a very old church. This is a picture of the map that a very nice shopkeeper gave me:

There were so many neat and different things to see in Old Town! The church there, San Felipe De Neri, is almost 300 years old. Here is a picture of the church:

This is a picture of me, Blimpie, on the sign of the church.

In another shop, we found some neat things called fetishes. Fetishes are carvings of animals made by Native Americans. And look what I found! A fetish of a spider, just like me! Here is a picture of me and the fetish:

Click here to learn more about fetishes.

To learn more about Old Town Albuquerque, click here.

After a long day of shopping and sightseeing, we headed back to the hotel for some rest. That night, though, none of us slept very well. Carrie read in a book about New Mexico that new visitors may have trouble sleeping in the higher elevations. We all hoped the weather would improve for our drive tomorrow.

The next morning, December 23rd, we awoke and got ready to head out. It had snowed to the north of us, in Santa Fe and further into the mountains. The police had closed many of the roads in and out of Albuquerque. Did we want to stay another night or keep going? We decided to take our chances. The hotel clerk thought we were nuts for checking out of our room.

So we headed south, and as the day went on we saw, sun! The roads weren't icy, they were just wet. We were all excited to see the mountains for the first time . Here is a picture of me and my friend Heather in the snowy New Mexico desert.

After awhile, we decided to stop and rest in a place called Truth or Consequences. I hoped to find some spiders but no, we found a McDonalds instead. And the snow went away! This is a picture that a nice man from Michigan took of me, and Heather and Carrie.

After lunch , we drove on to our final destination - the home of Ian's Grandma and Grandpa in Tucson, AZ.....

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