Places We Have Hung Our Hats and Rested Our Boots
These are a few of the places we have lived before
that have shaped us. Click on the name/links below. Some of them no longer work but I am upgrading them and hope to have them back to life in time.
Hereford, Texas (1994-1996) Heart of cattle country. Best Place To Eat: Spanish Inn or the Pizza Mill, depending on your taste at the time. Many of the best steaks in the USA come right out of Hereford, and you can find some pretty good ones at the Sirloin Stockade. But to really experience Texas steaks, drive into Amarillo and go to the Big Texan. If you're really hungry, see if you can eat the 72 oz. steak in an hour and get it for free.
Carlsbad, New Mexico (1988-1994) Beautiful rose beside a lovely lake in the desert. Best Place To Eat: When in Carlsbad be sure and eat at "Danny's Place." The folks who run the place are terrific.
Los Alamos, New Mexico (1983-1988) Place where the atom came to life. Best Place To Eat: The Trinity Sights restaurant in the Hilltop House Hotel where the view is outstanding. You can watch the evening sunset glow on the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and the lights of Santa Fe. Or drive down the hill past Espanola to the Rancho de Chimayo, where the Jaramillo family will give you a green chili dinner so wonderful you'll never forget it! In the wintertime you can smell the pinon smoke and you'll love Northern New Mexico forever! Another nice place in Espanola for great steaks is Anthony's on the Delta. Our favorite "fun & great food" place in Santa Fe, 45 minutes away, is Tomasita's, down by the old railroad station. A truly cosmopolitan restaurant in Santa Fe is the Coyote Cafe, where you will enjoy a unique dining experience and you can rub shoulders with silk-stocking gourmets from New York to San Franscico as well as cowboys from Claunch.
Odessa, Texas (1980-1983) Oil booms and oil busts and great football. Really great football. Best Place To Eat: For Tex-Mex, try Manuel's on 2nd street. Normally the world's best chips and salsa are found there. I recommend ordering the Monterey or the Deluxe Plate. Check out how they make their tacos here. Enjoy! Tell Sam and Bertha I sent you. For steaks, and fun birthday celebrations, try the Barn Door. They've got steak-cookery figured out.
Aztec, New Mexico (1978-1980) Great place to grow a garden and a growing church. Best Place To Eat: The A.&W. Root Beer Restaurant, actually. For a real fine cultured experience, drive a few miles south of town and sink your head into "The Trough". It's a really classy restaurant just a few shades down from "The Sodbuster" in Melrose, Jon F.'s favorite place, next to the "S.& M. Restaurant" (B.Y.O.Whip) in Elida. Aztec is small but oh, my!
Albuquerque, New Mexico (1976-1978) Beautiful, future-feeling city in all seasons. One of the most fun places to go here is up to the top of the Sandia Mountains on the Sandia Peak Tram. Best Place To Eat: La Placada and El Hacienda in Old Town, El Pinto in the North Valley, and that all-you-can-eat fried chicken place whose name I never can remember but everyone in Albuquerque knows on the road to the Sandia Peak ski area. Also the Owl in the NE Heights, a reasonable clone of the world's GREATEST green chili cheeseburger restaurant, The Owl, in San Antonio, New Mexico! We howl for The Owl! O-woooo!!!