Month: June 2018

Albuquerque – part 2

Here is a taste of some of the other Albuquerque (ABQ) sites and events we were able to go to:

Old Town:

Albuquerque has a lovely old town section of the city with original buildings and lots of art.

Petrogylph National Monument:

You can hike to see thousands of petroglyphs, both made by the natives and by the Spaniards. They are everywhere. We took our friend Mark with us and got a New Yorker’s perspective on ancient drawings.

Bosque Trail:

The trail is a mixed use (horses, bikes, hikes) that follows the Rio Grande and irrigation canals on the west side of the city. Our AirB&B was about a mile away and we both spent a lot of time on our bikes on this trail. Chris used it to get to other roads to ride on while I was happy enough with the 16 mile trail to mostly stay on it.

Beside the Bosque Trail

Acoma Pueblo:
This is the oldest continuously inhabited settlement in North America, according to the Acoma people of New Mexico. It is a native pueblo built on the top of a mesa established before Spain entered New Mexico. Although most people of the pueblo live in modern towns off the pueblo, there are 10-20 people who still live on the pueblo, which has no running water or electricity. When you take a tour, you hear about the rich history and culture of the Acoma people, see the old buildings (some with newer renovations), and see a sampling of the arts and crafts of the people. Acoma is very well known for its style of black pottery, but there are many other types of artists that show their work at the top of the mesa. There is a small museum at the pueblo cultural center which had an amazing exhibit of cartoonist Ricardo Cate, who we had never heard of. His work is very funny but also entrenched in the reality of life for native americans in the U.S.  Well worth seeing!

The original mesa settled by the Acoma, used until a lightning strike drove them to look for a new home.
A ladder that goes to an ancient kiva (ceremonial site)
The church built for the Spanish by the natives
One of the older structures.
The pueblo on top of the mesa
Climbing down (we could have taken a bus)

Indian Pueblo Cultural Center:

This place represents the 19 pueblos of New Mexico and is filled with history, stories, art, dancing, and native american culture. Their message about mother earth and environmentalism is almost more relevant now than any other time, as our current administration slowly gets rid of the environmental protections we currently have and the native culture still tries to preserve the earth. .

One of the many murals.

New Mexican cuisine:

There is great Mexican food everywhere and something called New Mexican cuisine. Honestly, I could not tell the difference between old and new, except in those restaurants with new Mexican cuisine, typically you have the choice of red or green sauce, or Christmas (which is both.)

Ballooning:

Ballooning is a big event here with the annual balloon festival every October. There is a big ballooning museum which we did not get to, but we did love often seeing balloons outside our bathroom window when we woke up.

Hiking:

We did less hiking here because of visitors, yoga and century rides. We did hike up El Pino trail on the last weekend, and because 9 miles one day was not enough for Chris, he did 8+ miles on the La Luz trail on the next day! There are three climate zones as you go up the mountains so we saw amazing wild flowers in one of the zones.

Heading up El Pino trail.

At the top of El Pino trail.

The hay truck on our street:

I don’t know why this was parked on our street for almost the whole time we were in ABQ, but needed to share this picture.

From Albuquerque, we have been traveling back east to meet our daughter on the Outer Banks at the end of June. On the way, we stopped in a couple of places.

Bandolier National Monument:

The main ruins at Bandolier.
Beginning of the cliff dwellings.

Hot Springs, Arkansas:

The one hot spring that does not funnel into a bathhouse.
An old bathhouse where we visited the baths.
Another old bathhouse, now the national park visitor center.

Memphis:

Natchez Trace and Blue Ridge Parkway:

We spent a short time driving and trying to hike in the very wet national forests in Tennessee and North Carolina. Eventually we gave up camping because we did not have the right equipment for the rain. We are outside Raleigh right now waiting for Saturday when we meet Calysta in the Outer Banks for a week. After that we are headed to Rochester for 2-4 weeks, so the blog will be quiet for a while.

Albuquerque Turkey (part 1)

Totally off topic here, but when Ilana was in kindergarten, she learned this song called Albuquerque Turkey. Chris still remembers most of the words and here they are for you! (If I had to listen to it while we were there, its worth sharing!)

“Albuquerque is a turkey, and so feathered and so fine.

And he wobbles and gobbles and he is absolutely mine.

He’s the best pet that you can get, better than a dog or cat.

He’s my Albuquerque turkey and I am awfully proud of that.

Now my Albuquerque turkey is so happy in his bed,

Because for our Thanksgiving dinner, we’ll  have egg fu young instead.”

Well we did not find any turkeys in Albuquerque (ABQ) and much to Chris’ dismay, we did not see rattlesnakes there either. He is fascinated by snakes whereas they give me the creeps. So of course, going back to the parking lot while hiking alone near Sedona, there is an eight foot snake making its way directly in front of me. And on the Bosque bike trail in ABQ, I almost ran over a six foot snake lying there. Even once when we were together, I saw a sidewinder snake and he did not! What is up with snakes? Are they like cats, where they are most interested in the people that are allergic to them?

Other than snakes, we saw lots of rabbits, lizards,  and roadrunner with a lizard in mouth. Another off topic question:  why do I like lizards but not snakes?

So back to the main topic…

Chilis are big here!

We spent 2 1/2 weeks in Albuquerque. The first 3 ish days, we spent with Ilana and Josh, who were on their way to Alaska. So wonderful to see our younger daughter, and get to know the her “bois.” We did not do very much except soak it in!! We were staying in a house very close to Old Town ABQ, and spent time walking around, eating and drinking, as well as looking at native art, and ABQ decals.

Being in ABQ was a little fateful. On the day we got here, I got a Facebook request from a friend who I have not seen or contacted in over 20 years. When I looked at her profile, I noticed she lived in ABQ. So I messaged her to let her know that we were in ABQ until the end of May. It turned out her daughter was possibly going to spend 2 months in Buffalo, and she was contacting me because she remembered that I lived in Rochester. So very coincidental that she contacted me on the exact day we go in town! We were able to get in touch, and spend some quality tine with Wendy and her husband Joel. Wendy looks and acts exactly as I remember her and it was easy to renew our friendship. Joel is delightful, and loves to ride bikes as well, so both Chris and I got to ride with him.

We also had a visitor while in ABQ. An old family friend from Yonkers where Chris grew up was riding his bicycle from New York city to San Francisco, and stopped to take a rest day with us in ABQ. It was really fun to spend some time and hear about his grand adventure.

ABQ is on the Rio Grande, and has this very complicated system of irrigation ditches that provide water both to farmers and to home owners around the city. It is an amazingly complex system, part of a network of 1200 miles of ditches and aquecias. Many of these predate the 1600’s and were used by native people, where others were built by Spanish settlers in the 1600’s and 1700’s. So water rights are a big thing if you are a home owner and want to have a garden. You pay $20-30 per year, and in return, every couple of weeks, you have to be there when the water comes down the ditch to reroute it into your yard. People take time off their jobs on a regular basis to do this. There is even a job called a ditch rider who is in charge of figuring out how much water needs to be let into the various ditches for those who use the water. The ditch rider is not a guy on a horse with a big hat (which was my assumption), but is an irrigation system operator, who goes around in a pick up truck. If you do not pay your water “tax”, or you do not use your water, you can lose water rights.


The city is at 5000 feet, and close to the east are the Sandia Mountains. Sandia means watermelon .We did get a chance to see them turn purple ish as the sun set At the Level 5 bar at Hotel Chaco, so we could understand why they are called the watermelon mountains. Much of the city is in the river valley. It is pretty low key, easy to get around, and seems like pretty easy living.

Mountains looking kind of pink/purple like watermelon
Sunset from the rooftop bat at Hotel Chaco

The second weekend we were there, there was a yoga festival on Saturday, and a century ride in Sante Fe on Sunday. So I spent much of the day doing yoga at the Railyards. It was an amazing and different experience, being with people who are passionate about yoga, doing 4 or 5 classes with teachers who have different styles, and being absorbed in the world of yoga. I hope I get the chance to do this kind of thing again or maybe even attend a week long yoga retreat. The Railyards is an old and somewhat dilapidated building with railroad tracks going through it. Although from my perspective, it would be really great to renovate it, it gets used for a farmers market on Sundays, as a place for bands to plays,  and various other events.

The Railyards, sit of the yoga festival
Before the class began. There were probably 100 people taking this class with a very well known teacher based in Phoenix.

We got up at 5 a.m. on Sunday to drive to Sante Fe so Chris could ride in the Sante Fe Century, 100 miles, over 5000 feet elevation change, with anywhere from 12-18 mile per hour winds. It was pretty challenging for him but he really had a great time. While he was out riding, I drank coffee, published a blog post, took a long walk along a hiking/biking trail, and went to the New Mexico Museum of Art. Then I hightailed it back to the century finish line to see him come over the line. Sante Fe is a beautiful and magical place, but after we fed Chris lots of food, we drove back to ABQ.

All smiles before starting the Century ride.
A lovely small art museum on the main square in Sante Fe.
An interior shot of the art museum which is located in one of the older buildings in Sante Fe.
An art show on the streets of Sante Fe. There is art everywhere in this city!

There were tons of other interesting things to do in Albuquerque. We did not get to all but I will tell you more about them next time.