Let me just say that Downtown Albuquerque is amazing! You don't even feel like you are in NM! We got to the Hyatt and they parked our truck while we checked into our beautiful room. We then walked just a couple of blocks down to Central, which is a pretty happening street - especially on the weekend! So many great restaurants and clubs! The lady at the desk, when asked by Colin what she suggested for dinner, said Tucanos Brazilian Grill right away. The funny thing about that is that Colin had eaten there a couple of times on business trips and really wanted to take me there, so off we went!
Wow! What an experience! If you have never eaten at a Brazilian Grill before, and if you like meat, I highly recommend it. The servers are constantly bringing large skewers of meat around for you to try. Prime Rib, pork loin, brisket, sweet and sour chicken, white fish in mango sauce, turkey wrapped in bacon, filet mignon, sausage...proteins galore! Everything was so yummy! They also bring grilled veggies and grilled pineapple. The pineapple was my favorite - it was marinated in a brown sugar/maple glaze. So great!
It was so much fun! After dinner, we just enjoyed walking downtown together for a while. What a perfect evening.
The next morning we walked to the Gold Street Cafe, recommended by the hotel concierge, for breakfast. It was just one block further than Central. I had pancakes that literally melted in my mouth! So great! Afterwards, we walked a little further to a huge Farmer's Market at a park there. Colin had seen it earlier that morning on his run. It was very nice. We bought homemade blackberry pies for my Gramma and Colin's parents who were dogsitting for us. :-)
We then went and did some shopping before meeting Jeff and Joy at the Hilton at 1. After checking into our cabana rooms, we spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out at their very nice pool, eating pizza from their pool grill, swimming and just visiting and enjoying each other's company. I had been looking forward to a lazy afternoon poolside for a long time!
That evening Colin had made us reservations for the Melting Pot - a fancy fondue restaurant we have always wanted to try. While we were getting ready there was a knock on our door and a hotel employee delivered this:
Chilled champagne and strawberries with chocolate, raspberry marmalade and crushed pistachios to dip them in! So yummy and romantic!! Here are a couple of quick pics (taken from our ironing board, lol) of Colin and I before dinner:
It was then off to the Melting Pot. Both couples chose to go all out and try the 4-course meals which was nice because we got different things and shared. We also did the 4-course wine to go along with it and that was fun to try new wines. There were burner-type things on our table and the first course was a cheese fondue course. Colin and I chose the spinach artichoke cheese and Jeff and Joy chose a spicy fiesta cheese. The server brings all the ingredients out, combines them in a pot and places them right there on the burners on the table. He mixes them and within a few minutes, it is melted and ready to dip. We had a huge platter full of 3 types of bread cubes, carrots, cauliflower and broccoli and granny smith apples to dip and eat. It was soooooo yummy! Both cheeses were great!
The next course was salad, which was great too. The third course was the main course and in the pots on the burners he mixed up a marinade-type thing with oil, broth and different spices. We did a carribean flavor in ours. Then he brought a platter of raw meats - beef, chicken and shrimp. You cook it yourself by placing it in the boiling broth for a couple of minutes! Talk about a fun dinner.
Finally - it was time for the 4th course which was DESSERT! I had to take a picture of this:
In one pot we chose melted milk chocolate mixed with peanut butter and the other we had melted dark chocolate mixed with sea salt. The platters had strawberries, bananas, cheese cake, rice crispy treats, brownies, graham cracker covered marshmallows and chocolate covered marshmallows, all to dip in our chocolate! Yum! Yum! It was our favorite course - of course! :-)
It was a great dinner - so much fun and we were stuffed! Can't wait to do it again.
We then hung out downtown a little longer and then drove back to the hotel. Sunday morning, we had a nice breakfast at one of the hotel restaurants and then did a little more shopping before heading back home.
Thank you to Jeff and Joy for meeting us there and thank you to Colin for planning and organizing! I love you so much. A "grownup" weekend was just what we needed!
That's about all we did that first afternoon and evening. Well, and the kids made a "cousin sandwich":
MONDAY:
That evening when Colin got home and we were all watching tv, Jayce climbed into his lap with her blanket. Next thing you know, jealousy reared its ugly head and there was Cady-Bug on the other side! It was too funny! Here he is with the 3 healthy kids:
They ran off a lot of energy and had a great time with eachother...
Free tickets!!
We played for a couple of hours...
I made a chicken and rice casserole for dinner and we ate dinner outside on the patio, but then I had planned to roast marshmallows and make s'mores as the finale to our time together. Colin got the fire going in our fire pit and we all gathered around and waited for it to be just right!
It was a very pleasant evening. So nice that little Trev asked if we could do that everytime they came to my house, to which I replied, "Well, of course!" :-)
Then Gramma and Papa arrived by 10 and whisked them all away to Mimbres where they stayed through yesterday and then headed to Albuquerque to a hotel to finish out their special time swimming and going to the children's museum there. It sure was quiet on Thursday after they left! Too quiet! This is Day #6 since they've been gone, and while I am sure they aren't missing me too much, I sure am missing them and ready to have them home. My mom is usually good at taking photos of their summer time together, so I will post those soon.