Adventures in Albuquerque

April 4, 2015, up at 5:30 a.m. for a fast drive to Albuquerque to meet with Eric, a couch surfer I met on line, who wanted to show us around the town.  We met for a great breakfast at a landmark, Frontier Restaurant, which is right across the street from the University of NM.  Love NM when I can eat carne adovada for breakfast.  They have a John Wayne room and all decor is interesting.

Navajo rugs on the ceiling.

After breakfast Eric took us down to old town, the typical Mexican city plaza, and we looked around at the historical houses, church, wonderful sculptures and fun shops.  We enjoyed Eric taking his time to show us around.  He was a super nice guy.

San Felipe de Neri Church

Built in 1793

We were here the day before Easter

Of "Breaking Bad" fame.

Eric was surprised we didn't know more about the show

The city is getting to be Hollywood of NM

They are filming a lot of movies here.

Outside the Albuquerque Museum

There were many impressive sculptures.

Our wonderful tour guide and friend, Eric.

Had a quick nap in the afternoon so we could get to my surprise for John. We celebrated our anniversary of meeting going up in the Sandia Tram, 2.7 miles up, for a dinner at High Finance Restaurant. We were at 10,378 feet with a panoramic view of the Rio Grande Valley which affords an 11,000 square-mile view.  Windy, cold and there was some snow on the ground.  Watched the sunset at dinner. We could really feel the altitude. 

Looking down at the parking lot

Chilly at the top, still had snow on the ground

Surprise anniversary of meeting for John

Gosh, where have 43 years gone?

Easter, so up at 5:00 a.m. so we could go to Sunrise Service. Found a Methodist Church that was very close to our hotel. A very friendly church and they insisted we stay for their Easter breakfast. We had a wonderful time and felt like family. This was what a church should be like.

After church we visited the Petroglyph National Monument and found it to be very interesting.  They had two easy hikes that we were able to do to view the petroglyphs and that was fun.  There were signs along the trails explaining the history.

Wonder what this one says?

We enjoyed our first time in Albuquerque.  We'd driven through it several times and been to the Balloon Festival for a few hours, but it was fun getting to know this great city.

Next blog will be Taos, Santa Fe and Tucson.

If any of you want to see more photos of specific things, or know more details just let me know.  I usually have lots more pictures than I put on my blog.

Adventures in Albuquerque

April 4, 2015, up at 5:30 a.m. for a fast drive to Albuquerque to meet with Eric, a couch surfer I met on line, who wanted to show us around the town.  We met for a great breakfast at a landmark, Frontier Restaurant, which is right across the street from the University of NM.  Love NM when I can eat carne adovada for breakfast.  They have a John Wayne room and all decor is interesting.

Navajo rugs on the ceiling.

After breakfast Eric took us down to old town, the typical Mexican city plaza, and we looked around at the historical houses, church, wonderful sculptures and fun shops.  We enjoyed Eric taking his time to show us around.  He was a super nice guy.

San Felipe de Neri Church

Built in 1793

We were here the day before Easter

Of "Breaking Bad" fame.

Eric was surprised we didn't know more about the show

The city is getting to be Hollywood of NM

They are filming a lot of movies here.

Outside the Albuquerque Museum

There were many impressive sculptures.

Our wonderful tour guide and friend, Eric.

Had a quick nap in the afternoon so we could get to my surprise for John. We celebrated our anniversary of meeting going up in the Sandia Tram, 2.7 miles up, for a dinner at High Finance Restaurant. We were at 10,378 feet with a panoramic view of the Rio Grande Valley which affords an 11,000 square-mile view.  Windy, cold and there was some snow on the ground.  Watched the sunset at dinner. We could really feel the altitude. 

Looking down at the parking lot

Chilly at the top, still had snow on the ground

Surprise anniversary of meeting for John

Gosh, where have 43 years gone?

Easter, so up at 5:00 a.m. so we could go to Sunrise Service. Found a Methodist Church that was very close to our hotel. A very friendly church and they insisted we stay for their Easter breakfast. We had a wonderful time and felt like family. This was what a church should be like.

After church we visited the Petroglyph National Monument and found it to be very interesting.  They had two easy hikes that we were able to do to view the petroglyphs and that was fun.  There were signs along the trails explaining the history.

Wonder what this one says?

We enjoyed our first time in Albuquerque.  We'd driven through it several times and been to the Balloon Festival for a few hours, but it was fun getting to know this great city.

Next blog will be Taos, Santa Fe and Tucson.

If any of you want to see more photos of specific things, or know more details just let me know.  I usually have lots more pictures than I put on my blog.

Carlsbad and Las Cruces NM - truly land of enchantment

I could never express how overwhelming and stunning Carlsbad Caverns were.  I'd wanted to go for years and I'm so happy we made it here.  Photos can't do it justice.

Drapes

Carlsbad is a small town in an oil boom and it is sure hard to get dinner.  We had an hour wait.  Sat at the bar and met two great men Bob and Israel who we had good conversations with.

We only spent one day in the caves so went to the Living Desert Zoo and Gardens State Park.  A well done showcase of the different types of deserts.  We enjoyed seeing the roadrunners up close.  They mate for life and they had two pair.  They are fast...........zoom.  It was fun trying to take pictures of them.

 Speedy little guy

 Landed for a second

New Mexico has some pretty sky

Some desert flowers

Next day headed to Las Cruces, drove from New Mexico, some more of Texas and then back to New Mexico. Stopped along the way at the Guadalupe National Park where you can see Guadalupe Peak which is the highest point in Texas 8,749 feet. Visitor's Center was nice with good displays showing the area plants and animals.

Always nice sky during long drives.

Highest place in Texas

Happy to arrive in Las Cruces.  Great little town we've been to several times.  

4/22/15 - I am falling behind on my blogs - tired and time, so I'm going to try to speed this up.

We got to have lunch with great friends in Las Cruces and meet the new addition to their family, baby Jack.  He was such a cutie and a good baby.  You could see the love in the eyes of the parents and it was so neat to see this beautiful family.

Jack is so cute

Ring Museum, Las Cruces

Man owns 8,000 - 10,000 rings

http://www.austinsjewelry.com/ring-museum

Rings were so interesting and different - free

Branigan Cultural Center

Las Cruces

 Many thought provoking items that really made me reflect

on our society, truly worth a visit.

Outside Museum of Art

End of a busy day

I'll end this here with a nice sun rise taken on our way to Albuquerque.  More to come......................slow getting these done and falling behind, tired, busy every day and many bad connections so it has slowed me down.