Albuquerque, Day 3

What I'm reading: On Danger's Edge, by Lise Fuller

What I'm writing: Edits for my August release, Starting Over.

Awoke with leg muscles reminding me of yesterday’s walk. Breakfast, then back to the room while my husband went off to the board meeting, which was in the hotel.

The hotel spa definitely provided a pampering break. My deluxe pedicure: “Feet and legs are deeply cleansed with papaya and pineapple enzymes while imputities and dead skin cells are gently polished away. A revolutionary caviar, lemon and chamomile mask is applies, leaving skin visibly brighter and supple. A full pedicure is performed."

When I got there, I was offered water or tea (I chose mango chamomile) and a brief wait in the ‘relaxation room.’ I settled into the massage chair, the receptionist placed a lavender scented heated wrap around my neck, and I let the tech do her thing. That ‘mask’ mentioned above includes 10 minutes of plastic-wrapped feet in heated booties while you do—absolutely nothing. When it was over, I took my “I’m Really Not a Waitress” toenails back to the room.

The wind was so strong yesterday, they took the flags down. Windows rattled, and the whistling sounded like horror movie sound effects. The conference provided University vans to shuttle people to and from the icebreaker, and will run daily. Maybe someone realized the 1 kilometer (0.6 miles, give or take, for those metrically challenged), from hotel to campus, which was the distance published in their program, was actually more like a generous mile and a half. We ran into a bunch of my husband's colleagues, and I met a lot of new friendly faces who liked my "Will Sell Husband for Chocolate" tee-shirt.

Trials and tribs of the hotel life, in no particular order:
Hearing train whistles until well after you want to go to sleep.
Different selection of TV channels – no ESPN2, so no French Open Tennis.
Sharing a bathroom – something we haven’t had to do in 10 years or so.
Broken electrical outlet (but repaired within a reasonable amount of time)
Less potent hair dryer.
Hotel boasts wireless internet, but it’s not in all the hotel rooms yet, so I’m anchored to the desk.
Desk chairs are not office height. Sitting on one of the throw pillows from the sofa, but it’s still not quite right.
Changing the fridge settings to keep the ice cream solid meant the bottled water we bought froze.
Different bed – at home, we have a tubular waterbed system, so very little motion is transferred when one person turns over. Here, every twitch resonates through the mattress.

On the plus side:
Great breakfasts are included.
Free booze at night is included, along with prickly pear lemonade and jumbo cookies, plus the ever-present tortilla chips and salsa.
Someone else cleans the bathroom.
Someone else makes the bed.
Someone else deals with dinner.