Early morning Santa Fe - Day 2

Pics of Me in Front of Stuff woke up too damn early today - up before the sun.

 It seemed like a good idea to get up early and check out Santa Fe without the usual people milling about.  That way there was no need to worry about random people walking through my photos or being run over by a car if a picture looked better when it was taken from the middle of the street.  The streets were mostly deserted.

This may have been a great idea if Pics of Me in Front of Stuff had not woken up at 4AM EDT and gone to bed after 11PM MDT yesterday.  There was a statue in town for people who do shit like that.

There were still some pretty sights to be seen early in the morning.

Any time of day Santa Fe is a pretty town.  And after some breakfast Pics of Me in Front of Stuff is heading north to explore Bandelier National Monument.
**** UPDATE: This whole daily update idea fizzled out with my internet connection once I reached Arizona.  Stay tuned for more fun and exciting posts once Pics of Me in Front of Stuff returns to the Garden State.

Santa Fe New Mexico - State No. 33 - Day 1

Pics of Me in Front of Stuff is in a new place and Pics of Me in Front of Stuff decided to go with another new direction following the last post which was reportedly something completely different.  Since Pics of Me in Front of Stuff has arrived in New Mexico it figured it could share a daily update with readers and share the Land of Enchantment's enchantedness in quasi-real team.  That means maybe only a day late.  Let's try to avoid the Hawaii incident in which months were spent chronicling a 1 week vacation to Kona.  Some of my readers felt neglected that their visit to New York City to see the Phillies beat the Mets was not getting the attention it deserved.

He'll be pissed I have not posted about our trip to Washington, D.C. for Opening Day now, too.
The trip did not have an auspicious beginning because Newark and Continental Airlines decided to leave Newark for Houston approximately 30 minutes later than scheduled nearly stranding Pics of Me in Front of Stuff and several other irate passengers in Houston.  The big plane flying in from New Jersey landed at one end of George Bush International while the little plan heading to Albuquerque took off from the other end of the airport.  To compound that, the train system connecting terminals was not working that day and we were all forced to crowd onto shuttle buses.  When my fellow passengers and I had completed our mad-dash across the airport they were shutting the doors and we were initially told by an airline employee we had not made it.  Fortunately, someone higher on the Continental airlines food chain made an executive decision and put the 10 or so passengers from Newark on the plane to New Mexico.  Amazingly, the Official Luggage of Pics of Me in Front of Stuff made it, too.  Interestingly or ironically or some other word that starts with an i and ends with an -ly, following landing in the Land of Enchanment, the Official Rental Car of Pics of Me in Front of Stuff which turned out to be a newer, golder version of the Official Vehicle of Pics of Me in Front of Stuff.

Neither vehicle has accelerated uncontrollably and hopefully neither will.
New Mexico, like much of the Southwest, has a completely different landscape than the green rolling hills of PA and NJ in which Pics of Me in Front of Stuff is based.  Driving in New Mexico feels like driving on Mars just with oxygen and paved roads.

My first impression of New Mexico culture is that they are very proud of their Native American heritage.

Both old

 And new.

The drive to Santa Fe was mostly uneventful. The Official Santa Fe Hotel of Pics of Me in Front of Stuff was the Hotel Plaza Real which is just off the the famous Santa Fe Plaza. 

After a brief walk around Santa Fe was followed by dinner and many Santa Fe Brewery Nut Browns at the Cowgirl Grill.

Reviews from Yelp referred to the place as a Hooter's clone.  That was far from true, the restaurant was just a country-western bar and grill with predominantly female employees in cowboy hats.  There was a great country-western band whose name escapes me.  Luckily, it was a brief walk to the Plaza Real Hotel.  Since Pics of Me in Front of Stuff has been awake for almost 20 hrs.  Time for Pics of Me in Front Stuff needs to pass out for a while. 

And now something completely different ...

Pics of Me in Front of Stuff has never gotten around to figuring out what exactly it is. Definitely not a mommy-blogger, Pics of Me in Front of Stuff has narrowed itself down to either a travel blog or one of those completely random comedic blogs rolling around the internet.  While not a sports blog, Pics of Me in Front of Stuff has been known to delve into sporting events especially those featuring the Philadelphia Phillies. Pics of Me in Front of Stuff went to Opening Day with 30,000 other Phillies fans to Washington, D.C.  Fensty was watching and nobody died. This Guy and T-Rev were there as well.

The Opening Day post will be upcoming.

But first, a little Mets-bashing!  If you have been a baseball-free environment for the past 5 years, the Fightin Phils have been pretty good including 3 straight division titles and two straight NL Pennants and the mantle of World Phucking Champions in 2008. All of this recent glory has come primarily at the expense of the New York Metropolitans and their star third baseman David Wright. Without the Mets epic collapse in 2007 this recent golden age of Phillies may never have come to fruition.  The Mets were leading the NL East in September in 2008 when the Phillies overtook them on their way to World Series victory.  Last year Pics of Me in Front of Stuff watched as the Mets suffered through an atrocious season filled with injury and misfortune.  Pics of Me in Front of Stuff almost felt pity for them.  
And then David Wright went and tried to borrow music from Rocky, THE iconic movie of Philadelphia for his latest Vitamin Water advertisement.

This video combines two of my favorite things:
1. The Jersey Shore's The Situation.  That guy is comedic gold.

2. Making fun of the homoerotic activities of the New York Mets especially David Wright.  In case you missed it, this is not Mr. Wright's first foray into advertising that led to questions regarding his sexuality.

  Should Citi Field just change it's name to The Birdcage?

You may be wandering how any of David Wright's homoerotic activity relates to the video above.  Pics of Me in Front of Stuff is about to school you.  If you happen to be a fan of the Rocky series you know a few things.  The first is that Rocky V NEVER existed.  The second is that if I can change, and you can change, everybody can change...and end the Cold War.  The third and maybe saddest thing is that the hug between Rocky and Apollo at the conclusion of the training montage from Rocky III is one of the least heterosexual moments in any sports movie ever.  Here are the real life versions.

It is not surprising that the Mets go ahead and borrow the least manly thing possible from another proud Philadelphia franchise.  There's a reason the Mets play in Queens!  The Situation is the obvious heterosexual.  The 'Harder, David, Harder' moment may have been questionable but he slides headfirst into a pool full of bikini-clad women and Vitamin Water.  Pics of Me in Front of Stuff imagines Jose Reyes saying the same thing.

You never see what kind of pool David Wright slides into but Pics of Me in Front of Stuff feels it's a safe assumption that the pool is full of semen.  Where else do you think that David got those extra nutrients?