Independence Day

I spent most of July 4th on the open road. The changing landscapes from California to New Mexico kept me entertained and made the drive pass quickly.

I ate my extra salad for lunch in Petrified Forest National Park, thanks to my second year of having a National Park annual pass! Seriously worth it.

Around happy hour time, I arrived in Albuquerque and met up with my friend and his girlfriend at Marble Brewery. If you’ve never been, Albuquerque has a lot of great breweries surrounded by beautiful pink mountains and a balloon festival that I someday hope to attend.

It’s also extremely hot. It wasn’t too awful for visiting, but I have no idea how anyone would do outdoor exercise or go for a jog there in the summer. My friend Laura and I cooled off with some outrageous hot dogs and gigantic margarita buckets. The next day, I filmed a video to capture my hangover for posterity.

The game was awesome, even though we missed most of the action by showing up after the the first inning when ALB scored 7 runs. Oh well, the stadium itself was impressive, game or no game. On one side, you could watch this incredible sunset; the other side held views of the Sandia mountains.

After an all-American fireworks display, we romped around the city for a bit before calling it a night. We came home to find Baby Zia waiting for us with her own hotdog: