My launch meeting in early January was at the beautiful Sheraton San Diego Marina Resort. I had a nice view of the bay from my balcony.
We had a choice between Ray Ban Aviators or On shoes. I picked the sunglasses when I registered, but one of my colleagues gave me the shoes too since they did not fit her and were a men's size.
I was not a fan of the Ray Bans since they were gold so I gave them to my mother. They look more feminine than masculine I think.
We had a cool celebration at Coasterra on our last night of the meeting. The company rented out the whole place and had a space theme.
We had a beautiful view of downtown San Diego from Coasterra.
I was able to meet up with my friends in San Diego too on the last night at Ojos Locos.
I left for ABQ, New Mexico the day after getting back from my launch meeting. My layover was in Vegas so I was able to try out the Chase Sapphire Lounge there. I was welcomed with champagne upstairs.
Momofuku does some of the specialty food items at the lounge. The Nori Fries were amazing!
My buddy and I went to Ojos Locos in ABQ after getting in to grab a drink and watch the games.
The next day, we drove to Taos. We stopped at a Blake's Lot A Burger, which is a New Mexico chain, in Taos.
The hatch chilis on the burger were amazing at Blake's Lot A Burger!
We visited the San Francisco de Asis Church first in Taos. This historic church was built in 1772.
The back of the church was really neat.
The inside of the church is typical of what one sees in Catholic churches including the Stations Of The Cross on the walls.
The ceiling of the church was very cool!
We visited the historic Taos Pueblo next. This is the largest of the pueblos in New Mexico.
It was freezing in Taos!
Visitors are allowed as long as paid the admission fee.
I love pueblo architecture. There is no electricity or running water inside the pueblo, and the Indian community can live in these historic buildings. Propane is brought in to heat the homes or for electricity.
We went to the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge after checking out the Taos Pueblo.
This is the Rio Grande Gorge. Yes, that is the Rio Grande River which makes it way south to serve as the border beween Texas and Mexico.
This is the plaza in Taos. It is typical of Spanish style plazas.
We stayed at the Hilton Tapestry collection boutique hotel, Hotel Don Fernando de Taos.
The lobby of the Hotel Don Fernando de Taos was really neat!
We had dinner at De La Tierra at the El Monte Resort that night. I loved my smoked cocktail.
I enjoyed my lamb shank for dinner.
We visited the Taos Ski Valley the next morning. They did not have nordic trails there however.
The Taos Ski Valley was nice however. I think it was better than many Tahoe ski resorts and was cleaner too.
We stopped at Freddy's Steakburgers and Frozen Custard for lunch in Espanola after leaving Taos. The frozen custard was so good!
The drive to Bandelier National Monument was very neat! We went through Los Alamos which is home to a large national lab. It brought back memories of when I worked at Lawrence Livermore National Lab back in college.
The scenery at Bandelier National Monument was really cool even before hiking up to the cliff dwellings.
These are known as kivas and were built by the ancient Pueblo Indians in this area. Kivas are usually under the ground.
Exploring Bandelier is a lot of work! We had to climb into the cliff dwellings like the Pueblo Indians did.
This what the cliff dwellings looked like on the inside. I think they probably stayed warm by lighting fires.
We saw a lot of deer as we explored Bandelier.
There were some petroglyphs also on the rock walls Bandalier.
The climb up to Alcove House was a lot of work, but it was worth it!
There was a kiva up at the top of Alcove House.
I wonder if they lived inside these little cut outs.
Once we got back into ABQ, we had dinner at Sadie's New Mexican restaurant. New Mexican food is spicy and features fried potatoes and beans with green or red sauce. Sopapillas are delicious fried dough that one eats with sugar and honey!
We went to Rudy's Texas BBQ and Country Store the next day for lunch. This location had a New Mexico flag with a roadrunner, which is the state bird of New Mexico.
I love the moist brisket at Rudy's!
Rudy's had Blue Bel Ice Cream too! Yay!
We stopped by Twin Peaks for a drink before we left town. They had a nice collection of higher end bourbons.
The New Year started
off with a lot of traveling as usual in 2026! For those of who do
not know, I left Regeneron Pharmaceuticals in July of 2025 for a very
senior position at a global top 10 pharmaceutical company on their
biologics team as well. In January, we had a launch meeting in
San Diego for our new biologic so I flew out there the second week of
January. Joy went to Hong Kong to visit her family since I was
gone for most of the week. Our launch meeting was fun, and we got
some cool gifts too. San Diego is always a nice place to have a
meeting also. The company rented out a large high end Mexican
place called Coasterra for our final night there, and we had acrobats
perform for us as well as oxygen bars set up. It was a full open
bar too with some great mezcal choices!
The day after getting back from my meeting, I went to New Mexico with a buddy of mine since Joy was still in Hong Kong. It was the long weekend too. My connection to Albuquerque was in Las Vegas. I had enough time to explore the new Chase Sapphire Lounge by The Club by the C Gates. The two story lounge was great! I loved their alcohol selection including the Smoke Wagon bourbon. Momofuku also prepares some of the specialty food items. I got into the ABQ Sunport kind of late so we just went to Ojos Locos to get a drink before turning in at the hotel.
We left for Taos early on Saturday morning. The drive was about two hours as we made our way north. Once we got to Taos, we experienced Blake's Lot A Burger, which is a New Mexico burger chain. They feature hatch chilies on their burgers, and they were really good! We explored the San Francisco de Asis Church which was built towards the end of the 1700s after lunch. Then, we went to the Taos Pueblo which is the largest working Pueblo in New Mexico. We were charged $25 admission to go explore the ancient structures. There is no electricity or running water inside the main pueblo area, but some of the residents use propane to get heat and lighting. It was pretty chili as we went on our guided tour. Our next stop was the Rio Grande Gorge bridge which was a pretty amazing structure over the famous Rio Grande river. Next, we explored the Taos Plaza area and got a drink at a historic hotel. I booked a Hilton Tapestry boutique property called The Don Fernado de Taos in town. For dinner, we went to the Montage Resort. I love my lamb shank!
The next morning, we went to the Taos Ski Valley, but they did not have cross country skiing so we just walked around and took in the mountain scenery before leaving for Bandelier National Monument. After a quick stop for lunch in Espanola, we made our way through Los Alamos to Bandelier, which is home to the cliff dwellings of the Pueblo Indians. We hiked around the park and even climbed into the cliff dwellings. It was super cool! They even had petroglyphs on the rock walls. I was imagining how the Pueblo Indians survived the harsh weather in these cliffs.
After returning to ABQ, we enjoyed some New Mexican food at Sadie's before turning in for the night. The next day, we had lunch at Rudy's Texas BBQ and got a drink at Twin Peaks. It was a cool short little trip to explore the "Land of Enchantment!"
The day after getting back from my meeting, I went to New Mexico with a buddy of mine since Joy was still in Hong Kong. It was the long weekend too. My connection to Albuquerque was in Las Vegas. I had enough time to explore the new Chase Sapphire Lounge by The Club by the C Gates. The two story lounge was great! I loved their alcohol selection including the Smoke Wagon bourbon. Momofuku also prepares some of the specialty food items. I got into the ABQ Sunport kind of late so we just went to Ojos Locos to get a drink before turning in at the hotel.
We left for Taos early on Saturday morning. The drive was about two hours as we made our way north. Once we got to Taos, we experienced Blake's Lot A Burger, which is a New Mexico burger chain. They feature hatch chilies on their burgers, and they were really good! We explored the San Francisco de Asis Church which was built towards the end of the 1700s after lunch. Then, we went to the Taos Pueblo which is the largest working Pueblo in New Mexico. We were charged $25 admission to go explore the ancient structures. There is no electricity or running water inside the main pueblo area, but some of the residents use propane to get heat and lighting. It was pretty chili as we went on our guided tour. Our next stop was the Rio Grande Gorge bridge which was a pretty amazing structure over the famous Rio Grande river. Next, we explored the Taos Plaza area and got a drink at a historic hotel. I booked a Hilton Tapestry boutique property called The Don Fernado de Taos in town. For dinner, we went to the Montage Resort. I love my lamb shank!
The next morning, we went to the Taos Ski Valley, but they did not have cross country skiing so we just walked around and took in the mountain scenery before leaving for Bandelier National Monument. After a quick stop for lunch in Espanola, we made our way through Los Alamos to Bandelier, which is home to the cliff dwellings of the Pueblo Indians. We hiked around the park and even climbed into the cliff dwellings. It was super cool! They even had petroglyphs on the rock walls. I was imagining how the Pueblo Indians survived the harsh weather in these cliffs.
After returning to ABQ, we enjoyed some New Mexican food at Sadie's before turning in for the night. The next day, we had lunch at Rudy's Texas BBQ and got a drink at Twin Peaks. It was a cool short little trip to explore the "Land of Enchantment!"