Back to the Land of Enchantment

In mid March, Elizabeth headed back to Albuquerque for the last six months of her internship. She and Lee drove across the country again, following the same route as they did last spring. The trip was mostly uneventful, although they narrowly missed a severe tornado outbreak in Indiana and Missouri. Elizabeth is working 30 hours a week while finishing up her masters classes. She will transition to 40 hours per week once her exams are finished. She is doing really well - found a gym, hikes and rides on the weekends, and enjoys her work. It's hard to be sad that she is so far away when she's so happy. 

I can't believe that Lee got all of this into her car. It must have been quite the game of Tetras.

We don't have a set time to speak, but she usually calls us about something funny.

Visiting her fellow intern in El Paso and checking out his lab at UT.

First time everyone answered their phones at the same time for a family FaceTime.

Elizabeth's Excellent New Mexico Adventure

Elizabeth had a fantastic summer in New Mexico. She did difficult and interesting work, made a ton of friends and really fell in love with the southwest and all that it has to offer. She fulfilled a life long dream, taking weekly horse back riding lessons, and spent a lot of time hiking and enjoying the great outdoors.

First day of work.

Her friend Sophia visited and they spent the weekend on a ranch in Colorado.

Apparently, New Mexico has monsoon season. Who knew?

Elizabeth's 21st birthday present from us was a hot air balloon ride over Albuquerque. She had to get up before dawn to make it happen, but it was worth it. 

The interns

Presentation of her summer long project.

New Mexico - Odds and Ends

Some odds and ends from our family time in New Mexico:

It was 43 degrees when we left Hartford and 96 degrees when we landed in Albuquerque. 

I love O'Hare.

Really wish they had these on the east coast.

Lee and I stayed a really cool, historic hotel in downtown Albuquerque.

White Sands National Park

New Mexico has two national parks and with both of them about the same distance from Albuquerque, we had to choose only one to visit while we were there. White Sands won, of course! We got up super early on Sunday morning and made the three hour drive there, making it early enough to beat most of the crowds and so that it was not too hot to enjoy. We hiked a few different trails and took in all the beauty, checking another national park off of our list.

6am start, armed with Starbucks.