Snapshots: Away I Go

Friday was the day of my annual Mom's Day and Night Off. I choose a day after New Year's Day and before school starts again, book a night at a hotel in a city about 100 miles away, and take myself off for about 24 hours.

This year, in addition to booking the hotel room, I also booked an appointment with a massage therapist in this city. I thought maybe it would help with the muscle tension that led to my debilitating pinched nerve a couple of weeks ago.

Obviously, one session was not going to fix everything, but the massage therapist was very knowledgeable and pointed out some places in my body that were contributing to my problems and that I would never have considered. She also pinpointed those so specifically that it reeealllly hurt later in those places, but that was okay, because I could just take a bath whenever I wanted. Which I did.

Other things I did . . .

I got a slice of pizza and a salad for lunch at this place that also has an arcade. I was not tempted by the arcade, however.

I walked around the plaza where the hotel is located, going in to some of the antique shops. 

The only thing I bought was a five-dollar book: An American Childhood, by Annie Dillard.

While I was in that shop looking at the books, the older guy who owns the shop was listening to the most awful, ridiculous "news" headlines at full volume on his phone. And then he answered a phone call on speaker (!), which meant that I could hear clear as day his friend telling him about the "weird" stuff Mary is getting involved in with some group that led to Mary trying to kill this friend more than once.

Ummm.

I figured a quick exit was prudent at this point. Thankfully, he asked his friend to hold on the phone while I paid for my book, so I didn't have to listen to anymore of that bizarre conversation. I jetted out of there, all the while shaking my head and laughing internally. Such a colorful place, New Mexico.

Exhibit B of Welcome to New Mexico:

It's a . . . tombstone? In a median in the middle of the plaza roundabout?

This was what I saw as I was sitting in the bar eating my dinner. I didn't recall seeing it before, and I asked the bartender about it. She had no idea what it was. I did some online searching, though, and I think maybe it's a memorial for the guy who carved the big wooden statues of the saints that are in the plaza. He died in March of last year, so I'm guessing this is his memorial.

Or maybe he's really buried there. Anything is possible in New Mexico.

Anyway.

One of my favorite things about this hotel is that it has books all over the place. In previous years, I've had a bookcase full of books actually in my room.

Not this year, unfortunately.

That's okay, though, because there are also little collections of books in the hallways.

Totally random ones.

After much searching, I finally found one I would actually read while I had my vodka and soda in the hotel bar.

I did not read while I was eating this, because that sandwich required both hands to manage.

Another thing I like about this hotel: Real Keys.

Also, pretty mirrors. Hi!

After I ate, I watched a movie, took a bath, and went to bed. Which is pretty much what I always do. 

The next morning I got my coffee from the hotel lobby, checked out, and entered the fray at Walmart for grocery shopping before heading home. Not the most gentle re-entry to the real world, but necessary.

There you have it! My (gadabout) life, snapshotted.