i keep a diary

March 05, 2016

Stacy and Liz Get Married in New Mexico

I flew out to Albuquerque to attend my cousin Stacy's wedding! Afterwards, I went up to Sante Fe for a few days.

Saturday, March 5th

ellen, meredith
On Saturday evening, Ellen and I went up to Meredith's to celebrate her birthday!
birthday ˆ ellen ˆ meredith
Mmmm, cupcakes!
birthday ˆ cupcakes

Thursday, March 10th

On Thursday afternoon, I dropped this lil whistle off at Meredith's....
...and headed to the airport.
clouds ˆ nyc ˆ skyline
About to board.
airplane
Made it to the hotel in Albuquerque a little past 11pm local time.
hotel

Friday, March 11th

max, mom
The next morning, I surprised Max who was playing with my mom.
max ˆ mom
max, mom
Played his favorite game: GARBAGE PAIL KIDS!
garbage pail kids ˆ max ˆ mom
Cool view of the hotel lobby from outside my room.
hotel
max
Max getting ready to hide from me! Haha.
max
Later that evening, we went to a steakhouse for the pre-wedding dinner party!
restaurant
amy b, brett, max
Brett, Amy & Max!
family ˆ amy b ˆ brett ˆ max
danny p, jess p, max
My cousin Danny and his wife, Jess
family ˆ danny p ˆ jess p ˆ max
aunt sue, kristi, stacy
Sue, Kristi & Stacy
family ˆ aunt sue ˆ kristi ˆ stacy
All the peoples!
family

Saturday, March 12th

brett, max, mom
On Saturday we took Max to the park...
brett ˆ max ˆ mom
max, mom
...to get some energy out before the wedding.
swings ˆ max ˆ mom
amy b, brett, dad, max, me, mom
Later that evening, we got dressed up and headed to the wedding!
best ˆ family ˆ wedding ˆ amy b ˆ brett ˆ dad ˆ max ˆ me ˆ mom
kristi
Maid of Honor Kristi!
wedding ˆ kristi
aunt barb, stacy, uncle tom
Tom & Barb walking Stacy down the aisle. (My Uncle Tom & Aunt Barb are fundamental evangelical Christians and so we were all really happy that they decided to support their daughter in a same-sex marriage!)
aunt barb ˆ stacy ˆ uncle tom
stacy
I now pronounce you wife and wife!
wedding ˆ stacy
stacy
Congrats!
wedding ˆ stacy
Then it was time for the reception!
wedding
kristi, stacy
Kristi giving her Maid of Honor speech.
wedding ˆ kristi ˆ stacy
stacy
Cake cutting!
cake ˆ wedding ˆ stacy
amy b, dad, max
My dad making Max laugh. ;) (I'm writing this in January 2019, four months after my father's passing and it's nice to see all these photos of him). Miss you, dad!
best ˆ laugh ˆ amy b ˆ dad ˆ max
amy b, aunt sue, brittany, jay m
Found my place at the table o' cousins!
wedding ˆ amy b ˆ aunt sue ˆ brittany ˆ jay m
amy b, kristi
Amy & Kristi
wedding ˆ amy b ˆ kristi
kristi, stacy
Sister selfie!
kristi ˆ stacy
I'd never partied in the Southwest and was pleasantly surprised to see the dancing kick off with some LINE DANCING!
dance ˆ wedding
My Uncle Tom's family is VERY Greek, so after EACH song, everyone would clear the dance floor for a shot of ouzo.
cheers ˆ shots
Which meant that very quickly no one was able to stand in a straight line in the dance floor anymore. Haha.
dance ˆ wedding
dad, mom
Mom & Dad OPA!
cheers ˆ shots ˆ wedding ˆ dad ˆ mom
amy b, brett, me
Three drunk Battjers.
family ˆ wedding ˆ amy b ˆ brett ˆ me

Sunday, March 13th

View outside my window in the morning!
balloons ˆ mountain
That afternoon we headed to the Indoor Shooting Range!
shooting range
brett, dad
My brother and I thought we were going to be all hot shit and outshoot the old guys, but it turns out my Uncle Tom and his brothers all brought their own handguns and PRESSED THEIR OWN BULLETS. They were all crack-shots.
shooting range ˆ brett ˆ dad
Later that evening, we drove out to the mountains around Albequerque to take...
driving ˆ mountain
amy b, dad, max, mom
...the Sandia Peak Tramway...
walking ˆ amy b ˆ dad ˆ max ˆ mom
...up to the mountain top!
mountain ˆ scenic overlook
Snow in the desert! After we came back down, I said farewell to my family...
mountain ˆ scenic overlook
...and drove up to Sante Fe by myself for a few days!
bed ˆ hotel

Monday, March 14th

My Sante Fe hotel.
hotel
Spent the afternoon exploring the town and it's awesome adobe buildings.
buildings
Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi
church
It was filled with lots of these really bright paintings I liked.
church ˆ jesus ˆ painting
Catholics always gotta take things to the next level: Here's your head back, Jesus!
church ˆ jesus ˆ painting
They also had a bunch of Reliquaries containing tooth and bone fragments of Catholic Saints!
relic ˆ reliquary
Pretty neato.
relic ˆ reliquary
They also had a cool fountain the middle of the church with the Four Gospel Symbols. Here are two: The Eagle (Book of John)...
church ˆ eagle
...Winged Lion (Book of Mark).
church ˆ lion
Spent the rest of the afternoon exploring side streets...
walking
...and taking pictures of lots of plants I'd never seen before! (I'll spare you a couple hundred photos of that. haha).
plants

Tuesday, March 15th

On Tuesday, I spent the entire afternoon going through the massive collections at the Museum of Internation Folk Art and the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture.
museum ˆ statue
Definitely worth a visit if you're out there!
museum
Ethiopian painting of St. George.
painting
I liked these little demon guys.
art ˆ demon ˆ devil
Diorama of Christian Heaven & Hell.
art ˆ museum
Day of the Dead art.
museum
Walking the dead back to the cementerio after the party is over. See you next year!
art ˆ cemetary ˆ dead ˆ museum ˆ painting ˆ skeleton
One of the temporary exhibits they had up was Sacred Realms and had folk art from all over asia.
museum
padmasambhava
Right when I walked in, I spotted this gorgeous old thanka of Guru Rinpoche, Padmasambhava(The Lotus Born) from the early 1800s.
museum ˆ padmasambhava
padmasambhava
Padmasambhava is the founder of Vajrayana Buddhism and is responsible for bringing Buddhism out of India and into Tibet. I sing songs to him everyday!
museum ˆ padmasambhava
Just like the Catholics do with their saints, the Tibetans also make use of human relics in their religious ceremonies!
Ceremonial human thigh-bone trumpet! I think it's neat that humans want to save pieces of bodies from humans that are magical and spiritually accomplished.
bone ˆ museum ˆ trumpet
Carved wooden altar.
art
They also had a bunch of paintings done by Lama Gyurme, a Buddhist artist who immigrated to Sante Fe from Tibet!
art ˆ meditation ˆ museum ˆ painting
Loved this OG Homeland Security T-shirt I saw on the way out. Haha.
shirt
After leaving the museum...
driving
...I drove about 40 miles southwest of Sante Fe...
scenic overlook
...past the Cochiti Pueblo Reservation to visit...
driving
...the stunning...
driving
tent rocks
...Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument!
tent rocks
tent rocks
The trail leads into a canyon where you get to walk in-between these huge mountains.
hiking ˆ tent rocks
tent rocks
View from in the canyon!
hiking ˆ tent rocks
tent rocks
Really neat to see that these trees have a good part of their roots above the ground.
hiking ˆ tree ˆ tent rocks
tent rocks
It took me about 40 minutes...
hiking ˆ tent rocks
tent rocks
to hike through the canyon...
hiking ˆ tent rocks
me, tent rocks
...and up to the top of the mountain!
hiking ˆ scenic overlook ˆ me ˆ tent rocks
tent rocks
The view from the top!
hiking ˆ tent rocks
tent rocks
The view of the canyon that I hiked through!
hiking ˆ tent rocks
tent rocks
Had to hustle my way down to make it to my car before the sun set!
hiking ˆ tent rocks
tent rocks
The only noise you hear is the wind and these huge cawing crows.
bird ˆ crow ˆ tent rocks
tent rocks
There are lots of natural caves worn into the limestone that used to be inhabited by native peoples.
cave ˆ hiking ˆ tent rocks
Headed back to Sante Fe!
driving

3 comments

  • jason merhautjanuary 18, 2019

    Hey Brian, I'm a long time follower of this site (I even managed to appear in a couple photos over the years). I read of your father's passing last year and just wanted to pass along my condolences.

  • jonathanjanuary 22, 2019

    Sorry about your Dad, from reading your site over the years he seemed an amazing, fun and caring guy.

  • andrewmay 17, 2019

    Brian, very sorry to hear of your dad's passing. He seemed like a wonderful person from the photos you posted. Hope your family is doing ok.