We spent last week at the Adobe Zen House in Taos, New Mexico.  Andrew’s parents took us, Andrew’s sister (Molly) & her husband (Brandon) for a family vacation. 

The house was better than I could have imagined.  With the 6 of us there was space for everyone to have plenty of room to relax and not feel on top of one another.  That said, it was also nice having a house because we got to spend the entire week together as opposed to being separated in 3 hotel rooms.

Here’s a tour of the house.

This was our bedroom for the week.  It was so open and airy and I fell in love with the wood plank ceilings throughout the house.

There was also a zen garden in a center courtyard with a sandpit to rake.  And it had a retractable roof. 

Andrew’s dream is to have a courtyard in our house one day.  He loves them.

One of the bathrooms had a bidet, which we spent the entire vacation making jokes about.

We usually started each day with toast + cheesy eggs & bacon for breakfast.  Towards the end of the week I switched it up a bit and did toast with eggs + bacon & toast with pb + banana.

This was my first time cooking on a gas stove for an extended period of time.  I’m happy to report that I’m now over my fear of cooking with gas and want a new stove!  We currently have an electric one at our house and I’ve been scared of gas stove cooking ever since I set a dishtowel on fire while working in a restaurant kitchen.  Whoopsies.

When Andrew asked why I wanted a gas stove I said, “because it’ll look pretty in pictures.” 

A couple mornings we went for a walk or got in a quick circuit workout before going for a hike later in the morning.

Walk morning…

Circuit morning…

I bet Andrew that he couldn’t touch this beam…and then he did.  And then I tried and totally failed.  That is the highest I can jump, which is kinda a bummer.

Then we found some heavy rocks to squat…

And then Andrew squatted me, which is as fun as it looks.  He did a couple jumping squats with me on his back.  I was sure we were gonna end up injured…but we didn’t:)

Then we’d have a snack before heading out for a hike. 

We did four hikes that ranged from 30 minutes to 2 hours.  Nothing too intense, but it was nice to get out and breathe in the fresh air.  But you guys…the fresh air was so DRY.  Coming from Houston where most days it’s 85%+ humidity it was a change for us.  It hurt to breathe in my nose…so dry!

A friend we met while hiking.  He even has an emoji!

On to the food.

Lunches included…

Chilaquiles + black beans + eggs + a tortilla.  I know it doesn’t look so impressive…but this was my favorite meal of the trip and was from this place, which we stopped at when traveling from the airport to Taos.  The green chili salsa on the chilaquiles was SO GOOD.  Pretty sweet and just a little spicy.  I have no idea how they made it.  It tasted like nothing I’d ever had before.

Guacamole appetizer.

Sopapilla stuffed with chicken + cheese + green chili salsa.  Served with black beans & rice.  I’m not a fan of rice with Mexican food.  I never eat it.  I feel like it’s just a filler that gets in the way of all the delicious things (i.e. chips & guacamole).

Chicken sandwich + sweet potato fries at Taos Mesa Brewing (We went to trivia night here too.  I’m sooo bad at trivia.)

Leftover homemade pizza & a salad.  Served with La Croix mixed with no sugar added Welch’s.

Sometime after lunch an afternoon toddy time would ensue.  I ended up getting sick during the last two days of the trip with some kind of cold, so then afternoon toddy time turned into afternoon hot tea time.

Then some lounging/jacuzzi-ing/reading/ipad-ing/blogging/cake making would take place before dinnertime.

The cake we made was a dump cake.  You just dump in a can of crushed pineapple, cherry pie filling, and yellow cake mix.  Then top with some pecans & butter and bake for ~50 minutes and voila…dessert!

Dinners included…

Dinner Day 1: Grilled chicken thighs + coleslaw + baked sweet potatoes

Dinner Day 2: Steak! With baked potatoes and salad

Dinner Day 3: Andrew and I made homemade pizza!  The crust kinda turned out funny.  I think it was due to the altitude.  We made three different versions.  This one was an asparagus-bacon-spinach-arugula-fontina-romano pizza.

Dinner Day 4: Fajitas!

Dinner Day 5: Grilled chicken thighs + baked potatoes + salad

It was a great trip!  Excited for another trip coming up next month!!! And it’s to my favorite state.