The Grahm-Crackers

So I just went to visit my grandma in Aztec New Mexico. She's getting pretty old so I volunteered to help her move in with my Uncle Andy and Aunt Dina. They live in Chama which is about three hours from Aztec. All of this is about 14 miles south of the Colorado border, literally in the middle of Indian reservations and National Forests. Beautiful area but very isolated.

Day 1
After carpooling with my cousin Jessica from Albaquerque we arrive at the High Country Tavern where my aunt and uncle are playing old-timey country with another really good guitarist. It was quite a little happening place. Full of honky-tonks and hunters. It was nice walking into some crazy cowboy bar in the middle of nowhere and having my mom, stepdad, grandma, aunt, uncle, the band, and cousins to greet you. It was fun, there was a guy there who dances with my grandma when she comes to the show, later danced with my mom, and than danced with me. It was a bunch of twirls to almost no rythm. Very similar to meregue or salsa but without a rythm. Later, I was hit on by this guy in full hunting gear. I was sitting right next to my grandma, holding her hand actually. He told me I looked like the executive producer for some good morning program that did a show on them, guys who do elk hunting with bows. I guess that's better than looking like his second cousin he had a crush on once. Very manly men who kept requesting Patsy Cline tunes. There are some good pictures.




Day 2
We go out to my aunt and uncle's new modular home. It was huge. Luckily it was in the middle of nowhere, but next to a national park so I got to go on a morning trail run and listen to the coyotes howl, we could see them with the binoculars. It was beautiful. That afternoon my great uncle Tuffy and great aunt Jenny came over with a medium size cooler full of vodka and seagrams 7/7 and proceeded to kick off the bbq with a vodka and coke bang! Now I know where I get it. We had a bbq with enough steak and chicken potato salad and coleslaw "to feed an army". We also had a jam session. My great aunt jenny was singing back-up. She was so terribly drunk and out of tune uncle Tuffy would periodically stop playing in the middle of the song and proceed to tell aunt Jenny he doesn't need any help singing. That was a nice way of saying don't sing, you sound horrible. I recorded this jam session and as soon as I get it edited we'll post it.




Day 3
We travel to Aztec New Mexico where my grandma's house is. Not much to it. It's the same house that my mom grew up in so it's kind of fun to go there and check it out. My uncle Andy who is a welder has his junk out everywhere. He recently accidentally started a brief brush fire so everything looks burnt, rusty and terrible.

The next couple of days was spent sorting through very old stuff. My grandmother gave me two of my great grandmother's purses and aprons. They're not anything fancy, but it's nice having something old from your relatives.

My drive back to Albequerque was beautiful. More pictures of visit.