Parked in the Kitchen: Ranger Review: New Mexico Edition

As some of you may know, we made a road trip to Arizona the first week of January to take Chris to the Seasonal Law Enforcement Training Program at Northern Arizona University. Before anyone gets too excited, we must bring it down a notch and tell you that Chris was injured during the first week of training...and was hurt badly enough that he had to come home. Who knew you had cartilage connecting your ribs to your breast bone? FYI: It's in your best interest for that to stay attached! We were devastated by the news and are trying to regroup. He's back at home to rest and heal. Instead of focusing on that sad story here, let's talk about our visit to New Mexico on the way to Flagstaff. I suppose it might not be considered a "visit", as it lasted less than 24 hours, but we managed to goof around a bit.
After spending a night in Albququerque, we headed to Petroglyph National Monument, which is located on the west side of the city. It's interesting because the monument is surrounded by subdivisions and suburbia, which is something that we didn't expect. Our first stop was the visitor center...to get our passport stamp, of course.

The VC had exactly ONE exhibit...why have more when you can have a bigger bookstore?

Wish we had one of these at my park...might keep morale up a bit.

Suburbia

Seriously? Metal clips, people?

After our short hike to see some of the petroglyphs, it was time to hit the road. Our plan was to stop at Petrified Forest National Park before reaching Flagstaff that evening. As we headed west, our stomachs told us we'd have to grab a late lunch before making it to the Arizona state line. We stopped in Grants and took a look around.

Grants, New Mexico is....well...pretty depressing. Wish I could say something nicer, but we all know I'm not always nice. We exited on business 40 so that we could go through town...on Route 66. I immediately thought of Cars and Radiator Springs. It's like someone rolled up the carpet. Most of the buildings were in pretty rough shape and the businesses were closed. One thing that caught our eye was a Blake's Lotaburger. We had seen several across the state. So, I quickly googled it on my phone and discovered it was a New Mexico chain. A sense of urgency set in...we were almost to Arizona...we had to try Blake's before leaving New Mexico! My Blueberry told me that there was a second Blake's location in town, so we motored on...and were there in a jiffy. It's pretty sad how excited we got a the thought of a locally owned burger joint.

I approached the counter and found something unique on the menu...green chilies. Excited, I asked the associate at the counter if they were spicy. She looked at me blankly and said, "not really". Hmmmmm. This is exciting, I thought....can't get green chilies on a cheeseburger in Oklahoma. So, I had her add 'em on. A green chili cheeseburger, fries and drink for me.

Chris ordered a hamburger, onion rings, and drink.

I arrived at our table to report to Chris how excited I was about my green chili cheeseburger. As we got all set up at the table, he just kept looking at me like he didn't quite get what had just happened.

Chris: First of all, why were you asking a local if the green chilies were spicy? Of course she isn't going to think they're spicy. She lives here. You don't DO spicy.

Lauren: I know. I got really excited. I've never seen green chilies on a cheeseburger before. I hope they're okay.

Chris: Should've thought of that before you ordered them.

Chris watched as a labored through my special cheeseburger...every spicy bite...and shook his head. Unfortunately, we both thought the burgers were just average. They didn't have a LOTA...get it, lota?...flavor. The fries and onion rings were also just average. So, next time you are in New Mexico, just don't get too excited about Blake's. We're glad we went local, but may not go back again. Sorry, Blake.

As we got back onto I-40 I mentioned to Chris that my green chili cheese burger might not have been a good idea. I began to wonder when and if it would, well, come back to haunt me. Chris also looked concerned...