Sunday Jan 28

After a hotel breakfast we took the shuttle over to the airport and picked up our rental car. First stop was the ABQ BioPark which was the botanical garden and the aquarium.  Both were very nice. The garden had the coolest "Garden Railroad" and a wonderful bug exhibit. The gardens, of course, were all brown for the winter. Come back in the spring and it will be spectacular! We had an excellent lunch at the Shark Reef Cafe in front of a huge fish tank!

On the way to the ABQ BioPark we drove along Tingley Beach park along the Rio Grande (which doesn't amount to much here!) Lots and lots of people fishing along the bank of the pond, enjoying the sunshine.

Our next stop was the BioPark Zoo, about two miles away. A very nice zoo with some construction going on to improve some habitats.......a seemingly very large habitat for penguins. Many of the animals were "away" for the winter so, again, come back in the spring.

Our hotel, Comfort Inn, is located in an industrial section not far from downtown. Its just been renovated so its quite nice, up to Comfort Inn standards, except for the lousy location. While Albuquerque seems to be growing like many western cities (although nothing like Boise) the downtown seems to have been left behind. The growth in the outskirts. For dinner we went out a few miles along I-40 and found all kinds of development. We had a great pizza at a large sports bar called Bubba's.


Tomorrow we'll drive up to Santa Fe, exploring along the way!

Monday Jan 29 Drive to Santa Fe

Another beautiful day, temps would rise to near 60! Today was a 200 mile "scenic drive" day. We took the scenic route north toward Santa Fe, stopping at a little village called Cerrillo, which was home to a state park which explained galena mining which took place in the 1800s. Typical little Catholic church, run down homes and businesses. We were disappointed that this particularly junky but treasure chest store was closed!

We then continued on toward Santa Fe. About 10 miles south of town you come into commercial sprawl with new roads, businesses, car dealers, a new hospital...all the usual stuff. We ate leftover pizza from last night in McDonald's parking lot (the pizza had been warming on the dashboard).

We found the famous Santa Fe Plaza, which is basically the same as the Plaza in Albuquerque but more upscale. Lots of shops selling exquisite clothing and jewelry. Indians lined up selling their beautiful jewelry. The highlight of the Plaza is the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi.

From Santa Fe we headed west to find Bandelier National Monument which is near Los Alamos and the Los Alamos National Labs (site of the Manhattan Project). Nothing to see since its all top secret.

Bandelier is a site at the bottom of a canyon which feature cliff dwelling ruins. Looks like a very popular hiking spot in the warmer months. We just took a short walk to the base of a cliff......we could have started climbing the stairs but was too daunting for these old knees!Worth another visit with more time.

We continued south on Rt 4 for the next 60 miles or so as it climbed over a pass on a windy mountain road and down into San Ysidro where picked up Rt 550 back to ABQ. There was little snow on the ground in the higher elevations, but not much. (We heard on the TV this morning that the ABQ area was only 3% (that's THREE) of normal for the water year starting Oct 1. They are parched!)

Got back to ABQ about 6PM, had a nice dinner at Mimi's Cafe before heading back to the hotel. Lots of interesting eateries on the Jefferson St exit off I-40.

Cerrillos

Tuesday Jan 30

We spent most of the day at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Sciences. Its an excellent museum! After a hot dog for lunch in their cafe, we watched a very cool movie about Humpback Whales on their huge 3D screen - it was awesome! Then, for just a few minutes, we went back across the street to the Albuquerque Museum of Art and History to check out the outdoor sculptures (it was dark when we were here the other day).

With still some time left in the afternoon we headed off to the Petroglyph National Monument, which is actually right in the city. Here's a case where the National Monument designation "saved" literally thousands of ancient petroglyphs from damage and theft. Its about a 17 mile slice along the bottom of the mesa, said to contain the largest concentration of Petroglyphs in the country, 24,000 images! We hiked along the trail at Piedras Marcadas Canyon until we ran out of daylight. We enjoyed a rising full moon, too!

On the way back to the hotel, we stopped at Longhorn Steakhouse for an excellent dinner! We got home in time for Trump's State of the Union address (WHICH WE DID NOT LISTEN TO) we'll wait for the analysis by our MSNBC friends; and we're anxious to hear Joe Kennedy.

Flying home tomorrow! It was a most excellent adventure!!