Happy birthday, kidlet. It's hard to remember back 40 years ago, that we had no way to know ahead of time if the baby was a boy or a girl. I was sure hoping for a boy, and when he was born I started shouting "itsaboy, itsaboy, itsaboy!" and Rich down the hall heard me. I've been going through a lot of pictures, and it's fun memories!

Rich took his half out of the middle of the bed, so I didn't get much sleep.

Bernadette doesn't have the keys yet. Grrrrr.

Santa Fe, New Mexico. 341 miles, 2.5 miles walked, 8 caches: the New Mexico Natural History Museum, no Merci Boxcar (sulk) and the Tune Up Cafe (as seen on Diners, Driveins, and Dives).

I woke up too early, and couldn't get back to sleep because Rich had taken his share of the bed out of the middle. With a maple bar for breakfast, we were on the road by 8. I drove the first 80 miles and decided I'd better stop. One thing I saw on the way was big eroded rock piles with antennas on top... looked like they'd been spiked like a memo spike.

Billboards: "Indian Ruins Indian Rugs." "Indian Ruins Indian Jewelry." Somebody stop that Indian! I saw "Baldwin for President 08". Huh? I just looked that up, and it turns out it wasn't Alec (gag me) it was Chuck, running on the Constitution Party ticket.

We stopped at the rest area at the border, and got into New Mexico at 9:35. Mountain time, so our first cache of the day, in Gallup, was at 11:20. I love New Mexico, the scenery, the architecture, everything. Lunch was in Albuquerque (and really about time at 1:35!) at Furr's, which turns out to be a buffet. I had a piece of fried chicken, potatoes and gravy, and spinach. We weren't expecting a buffet, but I would go again.

Then the wonderful museum. There are dinosaurs out in front, sculpted by David Anderson. We got in free because of our ASTC membership, and then the fun began. Stan is a T-Rex in the lobby, and upstairs there's a Seismosaurus (BIG bronty type) and Saurophaganax (T-rex type). When I got into that room and saw them, I was gobsmacked. GORGEOUS.

We spent two hours there. I bravely did NOT buy the chess set. Then we got a cache, then went to look for something I saw on roadside America, a shoe tree, then went looking for the Merci boxcar on the state fair grounds. A long drive in traffic, and the fairgrounds are closed with a $4 charge to park and a graduation. I wanted to be sure to get to Santa Fe in time for the cafe, which I thought closed at 7 (it's actually 10), so we didn't try to get in. Off to Santa Fe where the chile relleno was every bit as good as promised (on "Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives" and the staff and other guests were friendly. It's a definite hole in the wall you have to be looking for. You'd never stumble on it by accident.

Two beds tonight, so I should get some sleep!

Tincture of Lawlessness, George Will:

the Obama administration, judging by its cavalier disregard of contracts between Chrysler and some of the lenders it sought money from, thinks contracts are written on water.

Hasta la Vista, Arnold!