I used to believe that gaming meant only using a console, handheld, or using a PC. This summer, when I stayed in Winona, I discovered a cute little gaming store called River Quest.
My roommate got a job working there, so I was in the store at least once a week or every other week. I got to know the owner, who is one of the coolest guys in the Winona area. I was opened up to a world of a different type of gaming.
I’m creating a Bucket List of Board Games that I haven’t played yet, but I intend to. I will sticky this to the front page of the Gaming Section and I plan to update it as I play new games. Also, I hope to post a review on some of these board games especially the ones with the strikeout through the name. In the meantime, enjoy my bucket list! Also, feel free to comment with various board games that I can add to the list.
Critical Role dropped some major news to fans as they launched their own streaming service. Beacon will be Critical Role’s streaming service where fans can subscribe to unlock exclusive content and discounts on future merchandise. When I found out about Beacon, I activated my free trial. I wanted to share my initial thoughts about Beacon and whether the cost is worth it.
Before Beacon‘s launch, I was watching Critical Role on YouTube since I didn’t have Twitch. While watching on YouTube works, there is a delay between when Critical Role streams their episodes and when the episodes are available to watch on YouTube. Their main campaign streams on Thursdays late at night and I don’t have the bandwidth to stay up till midnight to watch the full episode as it airs. Additionally, YouTube has ads every thirty minutes which lengthens the time it takes to watch an episode of Critical Role. With Beacon, I can watch each episode with no ads and the episodes will be available immediately. For me, this has made watching Critical Role so much easier.
With Beacon, Critical Role created its own Discord server for fans to connect. The Discord alone is worth the monthly cost of Beacon. When I signed up for the trial, there were about 6,000 members, now it’s up to almost 12,500 people in Discord. I have talked to several other fans about other TTRPG systems, cosplay, and other geeky interests that expand beyond Critical Role. It’s been a great way to connect with the fandom and chat with others with similar interests.
While I do like Beacon, I do want to be up front about some bugs I experienced recently. The first is Beacon didn’t keep track of where I left off on an episode. Since Critical Role‘s episodes are hours long, it’s annoying to have to remember what time stamp I left off on. I will say that this has been fixed on my end and is no longer an issue for me. Another thing I noticed was how there isn’t a progress bar on each episode. For example, when I log into Disney+, there’s a purple bar below the episode showing me that I finished watching the episode. To my knowledge, I’m not seeing this within Beacon. As a completionist, I like being able to see progress in what I’m watching. I hope that this is fixed in the future.
The big question is whether Beacon is worth the cost. I think it boils down to how big of a Critical Role fan you are. I think Beacon is worth it because it gives me access to all of Critical Role’s content including Candela Obscura. If you’re a casual Critcal Role fan or the idea of adding a streaming service is cumbersome, I don’t think you would be missing out by skipping Beacon. I am happy for Critical Role as I think this is a big step for them and I’m excited to be included as a fan.
I can’t believe Free Comic Book Day was almost two weeks ago. May is going by so fast! Free Comic Book Day was on the same day as Star Wars Day / May the Fourth Be With You. For Free Comic Book Day, I went to two comic book stores. I didn’t take pictures, so this will probably be a shorter post than usual.
The first comic book store I went to was Mind’s Eye Comics. Mind’s Eye Comics recently moved and is now located in the Burnsville Mall. Their new location just opened, so they were still doing a lot of setup. This location is bigger than their previous location which is nice because more space means selling more comics. When I entered the store, I noticed a rack with jean jackets. The jean jackets had been refurbished with comic art on the back. I was smitten! I will be back to purchase one because they look cool. I ended up buying one graphic novel and many single-issue comics.
The second comic book store I went to was Issues Needed Comics in Apple Valley. Issues Needed Comics is another favorite comic book store that I go to. They have a good selection of single-issue comics especially from indie creators. I always find something interesting whenever I visit and this time was no exception. I purchased even more single-issue comics.
Thanks to Free Comic Book Day, I have a nice stack of comics on my nightstand that I’m slowly getting through. It was a solid day and it reminded me that I need to go to my local comic book store on a regular cadence.
I will never get tired of saying this; Captain Phasma as a character deserved better. When Phasma was introduced, I immediately gravitated toward her as a character. Her appearance is next level with the chromatic armor that she wears. The fact that she has such a strong presence in Finn’s backstory and could tell that his programming was wearing off shows how intuitive Phasma was. Captain Phasma should have lived into Rise of Skywalker, so Finn could have an epic showdown with Phasma, but I digress. When I heard about the Phasma novelization, I knew I wanted to read it eventually. The Star Wars novelizations have been a hit or a miss for me, but I’m happy to say that Star Wars Phasma was a hit.
Captain Phasma is a ruthless and formidable opponent. She uses her expertise to train Stormtroopers to fight for The First Order. Vi Moradi, a Resistance Spy, is sent to Phasma’s home world of Parnassos to gather useful intel about her. While heading to the rebel base, she’s captured by The First Order. She’s interrogated by Cardinal, a high-level guard who wants to take Phasma down as he sees her as competition. Vi relays everything she learned about Phasma to Cardinal in the hopes of buying her freedom and helping Cardinal eliminate Phasma.
If The Mummy and Mad Max were combined into a Star Wars story, that’s what I felt Phasma was. I think this book gives Phasma an extra edge that I don’t think the movies really did justice. Phasma is a warrior and was seen as a leader by her tribe on Parnassos. She leads a group of people to Brendol Hux’s crashed ship and the group has to fight their way off Parnassos to live a better life. An interesting scene involving a fighting arena shows Phasma’s capability of being a brutal leader. In Star Wars novelizations like this, it’s easy for the side characters to be forgettable. This book created characters that all served a purpose in the group. There was Siv who’s a warrior, but also the healer. Torben is the brute, and Gosta is the younger woman who doesn’t have Phasma’s edge but is still not someone to mess with. Brendol Hux was irritating and fit every stereotype about First Order officers. The Stormtroopers even had personalities and were given names by Phasma’s group. It was easy to keep everyone straight and care for everyone in the group.
The reason I read the Star Wars novelizations is to become more enriched with Star Wars as a franchise. I felt Phasma as a book had essential backstories for some of the characters in the sequels. I can’t reveal much without spoiling the book, but now that I have read Phasma, I feel like I could rewatch the sequels in a new light knowing what I know from this book.
I wasn’t sure what to expect with Phasma, but I enjoyed this book. This might be one of my favorite Star Wars novelizations that’s been published since Disney bought Star Wars. I was waffling between rating Phasma four or five stars. The only thing I’d add is this book was a little slow at times, however, once I dedicated time to read multiple sections at once, I ended up reading 250 pages in one sitting. For now, I’m rating this four stars, but I could see myself changing this rating in the future.
As part of my May 4th plan, I mentioned how I wanted to finish watching Star Wars Rebels. I’m halfway through the show as I finished season #2 last weekend. I love Rebels and have quickly grown attached to the characters, Lothal, and seeing them succeed against the Empire. Chopper is one of my favorite droids in Star Wars. I wanted to share a few of my favorite moments from the series thus far. There will be slight spoilers for both season #1 and season #2 of Rebels.
Let’s start with Chopper because why not? Chopper is murderous, chaotic, and sassy. While most droids I would argue are Lawful Good, I’d rate Chopper Neutral Good or Chaotic Good. Chopper has killed people and will defend his friends. I think Chopper serves as a good contrast and adds something different to the other droids in Star Wars. In the episode The Forgotten Droid, Chopper is separated from the rest of the group after seeing a replacement for one of his legs. He ends up being sequestered on a ship where he meets AP-5. AP-5 originally wanted to turn Chopper into the Empire, but they became friends. At the end of the episode, AP-5 is injured by an Imperial officer leading to a touching moment between AP-5 and Chopper. Don’t mind me getting emotional in a children’s Star Wars series. This episode was great to watch because it shows how Chopper can survive on his own and how he has empathy for others.
While I spent a whole paragraph talking about Chopper, I think the other characters are interesting. There’s Kanan, a former Jedi whose master was killed in Order 66. Hera, a fighter pilot from Ryloth, joined the Rebellion which caused tension with her father who was focused on freeing Ryloth. Sabine Wren, a former Mandalorian who always seems to have more than enough explosives on her person. Zeb, a Lasat guard who was recruited by the rebellion. Finally, there’s Ezra, who joins the team in the pilot episode as he tries to steal from them while on Lothal. All the characters have their moments to shine in the various episodes.
The last thing I wanted to touch on was Ahsoka’s appearance in the show. I knew Ahsoka was in Rebels, but I didn’t realize how big of a role she would play. I finished watching the episode where Ahsoka realizes Vader is Anakin. How heartbreaking! Ahsoka was going to find out one way or another, but it doesn’t make the moment any less devastating. In the last two episodes of season #2 when Ahsoka, Kanan, and Ezra are looking for the Sith Holocron, I think those two episodes were arguably the best episodes of the series to date. The fact that Maul reappears, uses Ezra, and blinds Kanan, wtf!!! I can’t believe none of that was spoiled for me and I’m glad it wasn’t. It still came as a shock. Ahsoka and Maul have such a fascinating dynamic and I didn’t realize they would be reunited on the show.
Star Wars Rebels has been fun to watch and I’m intrigued as to how the rest of the series will progress and add to Star Wars lore.
Random stops are among the best parts of going on a road trip. I don’t know about you, but I can’t drive thirteen hours without getting out of the car besides stopping for gas. For my last ABQ post, I wanted to highlight all the road trip stops on this trip.
Denver
To start off, there was no way that I would be able to drive from Minneapolis to ABQ in one day. That’s why I added Denver as a stopping point. From Minneapolis to Denver, it’s about a thirteen-hour drive. The drive itself is easy, but long. At this point in my life, I am done driving through Nebraska. I have done it four times now and I think enough is enough. Nebraska is such a long state and there isn’t a shortcut. I will say that I could have driven into South Dakota and cut south into Nebraska, but because that’s not a direct route, that also would have felt long. In the future, if I want to revisit Colorado, I will be flying.
Taos, New Mexico
If there was one recommendation I received from friends and family, it was to visit Taos. Taos is a city in the North / Central region of New Mexico known for its architecture and art. One of the most surprising things for me was the drive to Taos. After pulling off the interstate, I imagined the drive would be freeways. I couldn’t have been more wrong. We drove on narrow roads with rock formations and dark green forests on our left. There were several streams where a few people pulled off to fish. If that wasn’t enough, I saw a little brown dot on the side of the road and it was a groundhog. It was something out of a cartoon because the groundhog was on its two feet with its front feet pressed together. There were so many groundhogs! We could see them scurrying on the side of the road.
Upon arriving in Taos, Taos was a cute town. The main strip is where all the shops, restaurants, and art galleries are located. We arrived on Sunday, so unfortunately the restaurants and shops were closed. I recommend visiting Taos later in the week or the weekend to get the most out of the city.
Buc-ees
Buc-ee’s is the best gas station I have ever been to and there was a Buc-ee’s on our way home! For those who don’t know Buc-ee’s, visiting a Buc-ee’s is an experience. Buc-ee’s is a chain of gas stations mostly in Texas, although they have locations in other Southern states. I first went to a Buc-ee’s two years ago when me and my husband went to West Virginia, South Carolina, and Savannah. One of the funniest things about Buc-ee’s is their advertising. There will be billboards that say “242 miles to Buc-ee’s” as a reminder to not forget to stop at Buc-ee’s. While driving north through Colorado, I saw a Buc-ee’s billboard. I was so excited, that I had my mom look up where the Buc-ee’s was to see if it was on our way. Sure enough, it was outside of Fort Collins which we would be driving through anyway.
My mom at this point was along for the ride. She has heard me talk about Buc-ee’s but has never been to one herself. Buc-ee’s are a gas station times one hundred. There are at least 50+ gas pumps and each Buc-ee’s is huge! There’s a walking Buc-ee’s beaver mascot to take pictures with, people are making prepared food to purchase and there’s a full clothing store. I could have bought a Buc-ee’s bikini with the beaver logo on the top.
My mom was enamored! I’m telling you, it is worth it to stop at Buc-ee’s. It’s so beyond a regular gas station that it’s more of a running joke now. I took a picture of the outside of Buc-ee’s and sent it to my husband who was jealous that we found a Buc-ee’s on our trip. My mom has now been converted into a Buc-ee’s fan.
This was such a fun find and honestly, a highlight of the day considering that the whole day was spent driving to our final location on the trip.
Cheyenne
The final stop on our trip was Cheyenne, Wyoming. Wyoming is a state I had never been to before, so I wanted to cross it off the list. Cheyenne is the capital of Wyoming and it’s the most populated city in the state. When I was looking at pictures online, Cheyenne had a few art murals and cowboy boots spread out throughout the city. I knew I wanted to go on a scavenger hunt to find all the art murals. While the weather could have been nicer, I still had fun running around and taking pictures. To end our trip, me and my mom went to Black Tooth Brewing Co. to have a few beers and listen to live country music.
Reflecting on this trip, we accomplished a lot in a small amount of time. As far as future trips, I think my next trip will be Gen Con in August. Me and my husband have been mulling around the idea of flying to Seattle or Portland for our third wedding anniversary. I’m looking forward to having three full months of downtime where I can catch up on my hobbies, make time for friends and family, and enjoy the warmer weather.
The last Controllers & Coffee post I wrote was in 2023 when I was heavily invested in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2. I will say, I have been playing fewer video games than usual. Being stuck on Jedi: Survivor for a bit has put me in a rut. With this month being my annual Star Wars month, I think finishing Jedi: Survivor will help me get back into playing video games regularly. I wanted to share a gaming update as to what I have been playing and enjoying recently.
Consoles
For consoles, I’m currently play three games at once. The first is obviously Jedi: Survivor. I started Jedi: Survivor in January and here I am still playing the game. I go through spurts where I play a lot and then a month goes by where I don’t play at all. This is similar to when I first played Jedi: Fallen Order, so it’s not surprising that I’m following a similar pattern here. Besides Jedi: Survivor, I’m also playing through LEGO Star Wars. I won’t touch on this too much since I already shared this in my May 4th post.
The third game that I’m playing is Bayonetta 3. Since watching Critical Role, I have been paying more attention to voice acting whether that be in games or shows. Bayonetta 3 features Anna Brisbin aka. Brizzy Voices is a character in the game. I have been following Brizzy Voices for several years now and I’m happy to see her get more roles in video games. I will say that I exclusively bought Bayonetta 3 because of her as I never played the other Bayonetta games. I am enjoying it so far and I hope to finish the game by the end of the year.
PC
I haven’t played a PC game in a bit. I have quite a few games in my library. They include a few of the Nancy Drew titles, Arcade Spirits, and Zodiacats. Since it’s on my mind, I’m going to install Zodiacats and a Nancy Drew game, so they are on my laptop for when I have the time to do a little PC gaming.
As a side note, my laptop might be on the fritz. My laptop is from 2016 which is already eight years ago. From a technology standpoint, my husband tells me this is old. I tend to use my devices until they completely shut off on me. When my laptop eventually needs to be replaced, I plan on buying a gaming laptop. While I would love to have the time to build my own computer, I don’t have the space to put it anywhere, so a gaming laptop would make the most sense.
Board Games
I haven’t played any new board games recently. Most of the games in my collection have been opened and I have played through them at least once which is pretty good for me. I did receive Forbidden Jungle as a Christmas gift last year and it remains unopened on my shelf. I would love to play Queen by Midnight again along with playing another scenario from Vagrant Song.
TTRPGs
I’m still playing in our Dungeons & Dragons campaign every Monday. I should write more about what’s happening in our sessions. My character, Vesper Henshawe, she has been through a lot. Her back story has been revealed to some of the other characters and she’s even involved in a romance with one of the NPCs (non-playable characters). The romance came out of nowhere as this NPC wasn’t in the backstory I created for her, but it’s been interesting to see how this relationship has developed.
While I would love to play in another TTRPG campaign, I don’t think I have the time to fully commit to a game. I avoid playing TTRPGs on the weekends since the weekends are when I’m the most social. If I were to play another TTPRG throughout the week, Thursday would probably be the day I’m most free since that’s usually my off day from the gym. I don’t want to be that player who cancels as it’s not fair to the other players at the table. I could see myself playing in one-shots in the future, but we shall see.
Miscellaneous
I don’t think I have anything to share under the Miscellaneous section. Most of the gaming falls under the previous sections in this post.
I want to carve out more time to play video games and on top of that, I’d like to start writing regular posts about the campaign I’m in on Monday. The gaming section on Bizarre Brunette is one of my favorite sections to write. There will be more video game reviews and TTRPG recaps in the posts to come.
It feels good to be back from vacation. I thrive on having a routine whether that’s scheduled workout classes, printing out new recipes, and having time to see friends and family. This trip was exactly what I needed as I was on the brink of feeling burnt out. While we stayed mostly in downtown Albuquerque, I did want to make a separate trip to Santa Fe. Santa Fe is northeast of ABQ by about an hour, so it’s easy to get to. From what I knew about Santa Fe, I knew it was a touristy area, but also an artsy city. I couldn’t agree more and I enjoyed our time exploring Santa Fe even though we had only a day to spend there.
When we arrived in Santa Fe, we stopped at Clafoutis, a breakfast cafe outside of downtown. Clafoutis is a French bakery and a sit-down restaurant. I’m all for having a cup of coffee and starting the day with classic breakfast food and a croissant because why not. After Clafoutis, we started driving more toward downtown Santa Fe. I’m not an architecture person, so don’t come after me, but part of the beauty of Santa Fe is how everything is historically restored. The buildings are all styled in the Spanish Pueblo architecture. Part of what I enjoyed about exploring Santa Fe was finding a bench and looking at our surroundings.
One request my mom had was to check out the Georgia O’Keefe Museum. While Georgia O’Keefe was born in rural Wisconsin, she spent the majority of her time in New Mexico and the beauty helped inspire her in many of her paintings. I’m not going to lie, I’m not a big art museum person, but I think this museum was an exception. While Georgia is known for her paintings of flowers, I was drawn to a painting she did of an animal skull. The painting has this darker, grittier, gothic tone to it and it was my favorite painting throughout the exhibit. The exhibit took about an hour or so to walk through and it was worth it.
Besides the Georgia O’Keefe Museum, the next item on our list was to check out Meow Wolf. Meow Wolf is difficult to describe. I would say it’s a mixture of an escape room, interactive art, and exploration. One thing I would recommend is to make sure you buy your tickets ahead of time. I figured it would be okay to show up, but when I looked online, I noticed the tickets were for a time slot. I would have been bummed to miss out on Meow Wolf if the tickets were sold out for the day. Our tickets were for 12:40 and when we arrived, there was a long line. Parking was limited, so if you’re planning on checking out Meow Wolf, taking an Uber is a good idea. We parked a little ways away, but I hate going somewhere and struggling to find a place to park, it puts me on edge.
We didn’t end up waiting long and the line moved fast. Once we were inside, there was a door that led to the entrance of the exhibit. As we moved inside, it was mesmerizing. There was a huge house directly in front of us. We went up the stairs and the museum guides recommended touching everything. Certain puzzles could be solved and the chimney of the house was open, so you could crawl underneath it. I wore a dress to this, so you would not catch me accidentally flashing someone to crawl throughout the area. By touching some of the gadgets, hidden doors would open which revealed hidden passageways connecting parts of the exhibit.
Meow Wolf is interesting because there are no readily available maps, so it was difficult to know if I truly explored everything. My type A personality did not like not having a map of the area. I felt like I saw everything, but it wouldn’t surprise me if I ended up missing something. Meow Wolf recommends spending at least 90 – 120 minutes, I felt an hour was the perfect amount of time. I was able to take pictures and roam around. I’m glad I checked out Meow Wolf and if I happened to be in a city where there was another Meow Wolf, I would go.
After Georgia O’Keefe and Meow Wolf, me and my mom stopped for lunch at Palacio Restaurant. I ordered enchiladas while my mom opted for a sandwich. I mentioned this in my ABQ post, but we had such good food throughout the week. After lunch, we were debating on what to do next. Santa Fe has a ton of shopping, cocktail lounges, and art galleries to see. Most of the art was completely out of my price range as most of the pieces we saw were thousands of dollars. I’m not here to nitpick the cost of art as I think that’s rude to do so. After all the walking, we decided to drive back to ABQ as it’s still an hour’s drive and the next day was when were going to begin driving back to Minneapolis.
Santa Fe was a beautiful city, there’s a lot to see and I found the city to be walkable. Being able to park and walk to everything is a plus. Both Georgia O’Keefe and Meow Wolf were worth the drive and I would recommend checking both of those places out. To finish my ABQ three-part post series, I will recap all the fun little stops we made throughout the drive from Minneapolis to ABQ and then back to Minneapolis again.
It’s that time of year again! For the past two weeks, I have contemplated what types of Star Wars content I want to prioritize throughout the month. May the 4th is on Saturday this year which is pretty special. May the 4th will also be Free Comic Book Day and the last time this happened was in 2019. I remember this so well because that’s when my husband proposed. I always look forward to May and diving into all the Star Wars content I have time for. I wanted to share what books I will be reading, the shows I will watch, and the video games I will play throughout the month.
Books and Comics
I have two Star Wars books on my TBR that I am going to read first. They are Star Wars Leia Princess of Alderaan by Claudia Gray and Star Wars Phasma by Delilah S. Dawson. I purchased both books a few years ago and ran out of time to read them. I am determined to finish both of these books this month. I haven’t decided which one I will read first, I’m leaning towards Phasma because I think Captain Phasma is one of the coolest characters that came out of the Star Wars sequel trilogy and I think she deserved better.
To follow my typical TBR format, I have two books on hold at the library because I couldn’t decide which one I wanted to read. I have Star Wars Battlefront II Infernal Squad and Star Wars Dark Disciple both books written by Christie Golden. Star Wars Battlefront II Infernal Squad is a book that follows Iden Versio from Battlefront II. I loved the story from Battlefront II, so I knew I wanted to read this book eventually. Dark Disciple is a book that follows an assassination plot against Count Dooku led by Jedi Quinlan Vos and Asajj Ventress. I think Asajj is such a fascinating character. Her back story being a Nightsister, being betrayed by Count Dooku, and eventually teaming up with Ahsoka in Clone Wars, I want to read more about her in the novelizations.
For the comics portion of my May the 4th plan, I only have four Star Wars issues to read, they are issues #1, #3, #4, and #5 of The High Republic. Since The Acolyte takes place during The High Republic era, I wanted to get caught up on the series. With Free Comic Book Day, I do like to find older Star Wars comics that I can read throughout the month.
Movies and TV
This month will be all about Star Wars Rebels. I started Rebels last year and left off on season #2 episode #13. This puts me about halfway through the series. I want to fully finish the show by the end of the month. I’m still pretty behind on Star Wars TV content as there is a lot that I have not watched yet. This includes The Bad Batch, The Mandalorian Season #3, Ahsoka, The Book of Boba Fett, and, Tales of the Jedi. I don’t anticipate having additional time to start another Star Wars series unless I’m ambitious, but to have a backup in place, I think I will watch The Bad Batch if, for whatever reason, I finish Rebels early.
Gaming
I have been playing Jedi: Survivor for about four solid months now. I like Jedi: Survivor especially since Merrin has a bigger presence in the game. Part of the reason it’s taken me so long to get through the game is because of the amount of brain power I have to devote to play through it. The game is difficult, which is fine, but after a long day at work, I don’t want to play anything that requires me to fully commit to the story. Once May hits, I’m going to hunker down and fully finish Jedi: Survivor.
Besides Jedi: Survivor, I have been replaying LEGO Star Wars. I was close to completing the game a few years ago until a glitch froze my ship in permanent hyperdrive. I was salty about it and I wasn’t willing to fully restart the game. Now that it’s been a few years, I felt like enough time had passed, so I started to play through it again. The nice thing is that because I owned the game on PS4, I could take the free upgrade to PS5 which is how I have been playing through the game. I plan on unlocking all the achievements and collecting all the blue bricks, so wish me luck because there are at least 1000+ bricks to collect across all the planets.
In my previous post, I failed to mention all the comic book stores and bookstores we visited on our trip. I went to two different comic book stores throughout the ABQ metro and one bookstore. I wanted to share what I purchased from the shops we went to.
Twin Suns Comic Books & Game Center
The first comic book store we stopped at was Twin Suns Comic Books and Game Center. Twin Suns was located directly north of downtown ABQ. When we walked in, I noticed their selection of single-issue comics. My mom bought my brother a Magic: the Gathering playmat with their logo on it for his birthday.
I purchased issues #1-4 of Moon Knight which Jed MacKay is writing. I like Jed MacKay a lot as I also like his run on Black Cat. Moon Knight has quickly become one of my favorite characters to read about in comics. I picked up issue #6 of Steve Orlando’s run of Scarlet Witch. I bought the trade of the first five issues. I like how Scarlet Witch is running her own witchy store with Darcy. I picked up Thunder Bolts issues #1, #3, and #4. I don’t know much about Thunder Bolts, but there is going to be a movie that’s set to release in 2025, so I want to be prepared. Finally, I picked up issues #1 – #4 of The High Republic. I plan on reading those comics next month for Star Wars month.
Bookworks Bookstore
The next place we went to was Bookworks, a local bookstore near Twin Suns. I ended up purchasing three books and a graphic novel. The first book I bought was The Midnight Library by Matt Haig. The Midnight Library focuses on Nora Seed who comes upon The Midnight Library, a library where you can view versions of your life based on decisions you make whether it be a change in career or dating someone new. The Midnight Library is highly rated on Goodreads and has been on my TBR for a long time. The second book I found was Dungeons and Drama by Kristy Boyce. This is a romance book that combines theater and Dungeons & Dragons. It’s like this book was written for me. The third book I bought was How To Solve Your OwnMurder by Kristen Perrin. This book focuses on a woman who receives her fortune from a fortune-teller. The fortune tells her that she will be murdered. No one believes her and eventually her fortune does come true. This woman’s niece comes to her estate and is determined to figure out who killed her. The final graphic novel I bought was Vampire the Masquerade The Complete Series. I’m a big fan of Vampire the Masquerade and I have been reading the comics off-and-on. When I saw this, I knew I needed to purchase it.
Astro-Zombies
The final comic book store we stopped at was Astro-Zombies. Astro-Zombies is located in Nob Hill which is considered the university district in ABQ. The outside of the building is cool because there are different art murals and the store itself is purple and green which helps it stand out. I thought Astro-Zombies had more graphic novels than single-issue comics which was a nice contrast to Twin Suns. I purchased two graphic novels. Daredevil The Man Without Fear by Frank Miller has been on my list to read forever, but I couldn’t find a physical copy anywhere. It’s a classic story in Daredevil’s comic run. The second graphic novel I found was Snotgirl Volume #2 by Bryan Lee O-Malley and Leslie Hung. I gave Snotgirl a second chance after buying the first trade paperback. I’m obsessed with Leslie’s art and I think the whole series is so pretty.
ABQ did not disappoint when it came to comics and books. I can’t wait to read everything that I purchased!
I am back from my road trip to New Mexico! I was gone all last week and it was a recharge for me. Originally, I had planned this road trip as a solo road trip, but last minute my mom was able to come with me and I appreciated the company. I had underestimated how much driving this trip would entail, so it was nice to talk to someone especially when driving across Nebraska. With all of my travel posts, I like to split them up, so I don’t have one extremely long post. This will be a three-post series, the first post will focus on Albuquerque, the second post will focus on Santa Fe, and finally, the last post will be all the miscellaneous stops on the trip.
Albuquerque is the city that we spent the most time in, so I figured I’d start with ABQ! Albuquerque is stunning! The Sandia Mountains surround the city and in the sunlight, they are a bronze or golden color. I couldn’t get over how beautiful the mountains were; no matter where we drove, they were always within sight.
For every trip, I like to pre-plan an itinerary, so I don’t miss anything. One of the first places that we went to was Old Town. Old Town is slightly north of downtown Albuquerque and filled with shops, restaurants, and art galleries. The reason Old Town is worth the visit is all the buildings are historically preserved. Walking around Old Town, it feels like you are walking in what used to be a Wild West town. If that wasn’t enough, someone had a pet kitty that would walk around the shops and it was friendly. It would come up to tourists looking for pets. I’m a cat person, so that’s an added bonus.
Besides shopping, one museum I wanted to visit was The National Museum of Nuclear Science & History. New Mexico is filled with history since it is the U.S. state where the Manhattan Project was housed and where the first nuclear bomb was tested. The National Museum of Nuclear Science & History was well worth the trip. There were several sections within the museum that I found fascinating. There were items from the Los Alamos gate which is where the scientists would gather and test their findings. While this museum heavily focused on the Manhattan Project, I liked how it talked about how nuclear science shaped medicine and how nuclear energy has been a focus for renewable energy. There was so much to see and learn and I felt like I learned something new.
Another thing that we did was check out Sawmill Market. Sawmill Market is adjacent to Old Town and it’s an indoor market with various vendors. We had the best Mexican food at Flora. We split Chicken Enchiladas and they were so good! Speaking of, we ate a lot of good food on this trip. That’s another reason I love to travel. I love to try new restaurants, food trucks, coffee shops, and other local places. I do not limit myself when I travel and I think food is such a great way to connect people together. I could go on and on about all the food we ate, but this post is already getting long as it is.
The final thing I wanted to add about ABQ was all the breweries! ABQ has a lot of breweries which I wasn’t expecting. I have always liked the atmosphere at a brewery and since the weather in ABQ was so nice, I was specifically looking for breweries with an outdoor patio or seating area. In total, we went to four different breweries in ABQ specifically. I wanted to call out one of my favorite breweries that we stopped at, Bow and Arrow Brewing Co. Bow and Arrow is a female and indigenous-owned brewery. If you’re thinking to yourself, who cares? Let me tell you. Doing a quick Google search, the brewery industry is 89% men and 11% women on average. I think it’s great to see more women getting into the craft beer industry. With Bow and Arrow, their beer is brewed on Native Land, and proceeds from Bow and Arrow go directly back into Native non-profits specifically. If that wasn’t enough, Bow and Arrow has a lovely tap room and their beer rocked.
To say that I enjoyed ABQ would be an understatement. I have wanted to explore the Southwest for a long time, so I’m glad that this trip happened. For my next post, I will share a summary of our trip to Santa Fe which is about an hour Northeast of ABQ.
Bizarre Brunette 