A Great Date!!!!! Mmmmm!

 

I keep meaning to post the rest of our date from when Ranchman John and I went to see the Lipazzaners 2 weeks ago. He keeps asking me about it, and well….

Time just keeps slipping….slipping…slipping into the future.

We bid farewell to the handsome Lipizzaner Stallions.

They were taking a well deserved rest.

After the show, some nice folks offered to take a photo of us.

And Ranchman John took a photo of me.

Then we did some letterboxing nearby.

About 4 years ago we placed a letterbox out on the mesa near a new subdivision called La Mariposa. Apparently this location has been very popular and I’ve had to replace the log books three times because they’ve gotten filled up, even though I made the logbooks with at least 25 pages. It’s really fun and interesting reading back over the logbook pages to see where all of the letterboxers have visited from.

This is the sculpture near the letterbox location.

And afterwards we drove back to Albuquerque.

You can see the Sandia Mountains in the distance. That’s where we live.

It was a very windy day. The vistas didn’t go on forever because of all the dust.

You can just see the Santa Ana Star Center Event Venue in the distance (in the center of photo), where we went to watch the Lipizzaners. Rio Rancho plans to call that sparsely populated area, planted in the middle of nowhere, it’s downtown. I’d say they have a while to go before it’s any kind of downtown.

But you never know. When we lived in northern Rio Rancho, we built our house across the road from a Dairy Farm. There were less than a hundred homes around us. We had to drive at least 10 miles to do any kind of shopping.

This is actually near where we used to live.

But just 10 years later, we were surrounded by thousands of homes, an Indian Casino, a grocery store, restaurants, even a Starbucks, and across the street, the Dairy Farm was replaced by a Walmart Superstore.

That’s progress for ya.

Bleh.

Here’s the Santa Ana Star Center zoomed.

 

There’s the Indian Casino that we used to live less than a mile from. Our neighborhood was directly across the road from the Santa Ana Indian Reservation. (I’m so glad we moved).

 

Ranchman John and I rarely ever manage to go out together, just the two of us, by ourselves…..no kidlets. So, it was a rare treat to not only go see the famous Lipazzaners together but also to then enjoy a delicious dinner together, too.

Wanna know where we went?

We went to the Texas Roadhouse Grill!....in New Mexico! lol!

And Oh. My. Goodness!!!! Yummy!

Check out how windy it was that day! I thought the flags might blow away!

We almost didn’t stay because the parking lot was so crowded that we ended up having to park way up on the top of a dirt hill and then had to walk down to the parking lot.

But we ended up only having to wait about 15-20 minutes. And it was sooooo worth it!

First they bring out baskets stuffed full of their fresh, warm, yeasty, homemade rolls.

They are To. Die. For!

As an appetizer we shared one of those onion ring blossom thingies and it was tasty, especially the zesty horseradish dip (not usually a fan of horseradish, but that dip was divine!), and then I had a delicious fresh salad (they make their own dressing and I had honey mustard…yum!)

Ranchman John said, “Hurry up and take your picture. I want some of those right now!” lol!

All the while I was blissfully sipping on one of the best frozen Margaritas I have ever had! It was their signature Texas Roadhouse Margarita mixed with Grand Marnier and Triple Sec…and wow! Let me tell you, they don’t water down their drinks. And they aren’t skimpy either. No sir!

I have been dreaming of that delicious margarita ever since. Good thing we don’t live too close, or I’d be in serious trouble! lol!

For our main course, we each enjoyed a delicious sirloin steak…a rarity for us as we don’t eat much red meat…mostly because it’s pricier. We chose to have our sirloins smothered with grilled onions and roasted green chile. Mmmmm!

And I had the best mashed potatoes ever! I could have seriously ate a huge bowl of just those heavenly, creamy, flavorful mashed potatoes and drank that fabulous frozen Margarita and been happier than a pig sprawled out in a cool mud puddle on a hot summer day!

By this time, I think I was moaning in ecstasy! Ask Ranchman John. lol!

And you can bet that we were stuffed like two happy pigs after we finished our meals! We even brought home leftovers to share with the kidlets. *grin*

Speaking of kidlets……Notice the wooden bead “Daddy” necklace around Ranchman John’s neck. Jen made that for him and he refuses to take it off. Awwww!

And on the way out of The Roadhouse Grill I had to take this photo of someone’s truck bed.

Have a look inside…..

A stroller, a bottle of water, a deer antler, and a bale of hay.

You won’t see that sort of stuff in a typical big city restaurant parking lot. lol!

Sure hope y’all enjoyed hearing about our fun date night. If you’re ever able to come visit New Mexico (and me!), I’ll take you to the Texas Roadhouse Grill for a steak dinner and margarita, and we can sit and moan in ecstasy together. lol!