taos and beyond

yesterday all the rangers had the day off, so we all drove to taos to explore the city. we left around 10 that morning and arrived just in time for lunch. we went to eat at a local gourmet pizza restaraunt called taos pizza outback. the pizza there was amazing. you ordered it by the slice, which were almost a fourth of the original pizza itself. i ordered pizza with pepperoni and black olives. it definitely hit the spot. after we ate we went to the main plaza. in the plaza, there were tons of different local shops and cafes. i met up with my parents and sam there and we went looking all around the plaza. sam wanted to find a ring made out of tourquois. we went around and finally found a pretty sweet one. after that sam and i went over to a bicycle shop where i bought a few cycling caps to wear on the trail. i found a green tour de france one and a teal lazer brand one. they are both pretty fly and im pretty excited to sport them on the trail. after we looked around some more and bought some more item, my family met up with thomas and jack and went to a local mexican restaraunt someone recommended to my mom to eat. the food was very good, i ordered a beef burrito covered with red chili. it was a very nice change from what i had grown used too. from there my family and i parted ways and thomas, jack, and i headed to a mountaineering shop that was offering philmont rangers a 15% discount. i didn't buy anything, but it was nice looking at all the high tech gear. from there we headed back to the ranch and listened to music until about 11 then everyone went to bed. after everyone left my tent, i stayed up until about 12:30 talking on the phone.
the next morning i was awoken around 7:20 by my ranger trainer telling me the morning ranger training session had been moved from 8 a.m. to 7:30. i scrambled to get ready and it wasn't a very good way to wake up. for the most part of the morning we went through the different parts of base camp and we given different presentations on how to take care of all the base camp procedures with our trek. the presentations were very boring and repetitive. after lunch we toured waite phillips home on the ranch. the actual house was pretty cool, but the tour guide was really annoying. after we finished the tour i had the rest of the day off. alex and i cleaned out our tent and listened to music. tonight we heard about some party in cimarron where there will be a live dj. i bet it will be pretty crazy.
my first trek i think will be either monday or tuesday. it depends on how many rangers are ahead of me in seniority. im pretty pumped to get back on the trail. i hope i can remember all the skills and information i was taught last week. if i don't, i'll just lie about it and try to sound like i know what im talking about. we'll see.