Albuquerque Day One

 

Land of  Enchantment:  New Mexico
photo courtesy of KT

I'm back in eastern New York where Dave and I live year round other than when we are on vacation.  This last week, we have been in New Mexico/Albuquerque.  It started out as a "let's celebrate Adam", our oldest nephew who turns 37 in July.  His parents (Dave's older brother Peter and wife Kathy) and the two of us are not just family...we are friends.  We all decided to head to Albuquerque for when Adam received his Juris Doctorate (law degree). Dave and I were unable to attend the ceremony, but Adam's parents were there as well as his 34 year old sister B and her husband P. I cannot reveal where B and P currently live due to a situation regarding a stalker. However, I can say that they weren't in NM for very long and I was thrilled we got to spend our entire 2nd day with them. Peter and Kathy flew in from Boston a few days before Dave and I flew in.  

During the flight from NY to Chicago, I dozed  because we had to get up at 3:45 to get to the airport for our 7 AM flight.  From Chicago to Albuquerque, I had a perfect view out the window and saw something I had never seen before in my entire life, not even when driving from western NY to Kansas City, Missouri.  This is what I saw: 

my niece explained that this is a way
of farming in the mid-west.
We think we were flying over Kansas or possibly Nebraska.
We actually have no idea and these circles, taken from the plane, 
just cracked us up. We do not farm in circles here on the East Coast
I also had never seen such brown land before....and no lakes!!
No mountains!  I am definitely not a fan of the mid-west flatness

But I loved this view!!  This was looking out of the plane about 40 minutes before touching down in Albuquerque so we think, but are not sure, that it's the Rockies or whatever mountains are close to Santa Fe. 

snow capped mountains somewhere in the southwest

Dave and I arrived on Saturday around noon and I immediately fell in love with the architecture, and all the art work on buildings. I also fell in love with the weather:  sunshine the entire week, minus a quick rain shower Tuesday mid-day, and moderate temps in the 70s and low 80s. I didn't sweat in NM!  Adam explained because the desert is so dry and there's no humidity like in the northeast. I was kind of sad to see hardly any green!!  Not many places in Albuquerque have grass and lots of trees.  Most of the homes' lawns' were sand and cacti!!  It's so different from what we are used to. We never saw a lake, or a pond or running water like a brook/waterfalls.  Of course we saw the Rio Grande river but that was it for water!  I don't think I could live where there are no lakes!  But the architecture!!  Loved it. Here is a quick peek at the casita we rented for the week.  It was like a studio apartment but it was a house. We were allowed to use the courtyard but not the back courtyard as that was a separate unit which no one was in other than for the weekend. 

The driveway and front of the casita where 
Dave and I stayed.
Everyone else stayed in a hotel except of course
for Adam who has a one bedroom apartment on the Sandia Mts end of the city
(Dave's oldest sister Karen and her partner Ernest flew in from CA for a couple of days but left on Monday, the same day as B and P)

This was the courtyard where I drank coffee most mornings.  No one in the Old Town neighborhood had front yards with grass.  They all had adobe stone walls and courtyards in vibrant  colors and lots of  flowers and cacti!  So different from the homes in the Northeast! 

Chili peppers hung at almost every residence
and in the front of most shops and restaurants

After Dave and I unpacked, rested a bit, and got settled, we walked over to Old Town Plaza which was only two blocks away and through a park!  We loved the entire Old Town area. We met the gang (minus Adam the graduate who was out with friends celebrating) for an early dinner at this amazing place that was highly recommended by many, and followed it up with an evening ghost tour. One of the ghosts' resides in the restaurant we chose for Day one dinner. 

art work as murals was all over the Old Town area

A grassy spot with cacti!
This was near the Catholic church at Old Town Plaza

art in a tree at the Catholic Church
Old Town

beautiful tiles were also on the fronts of some buildings

another gorgeous mural near the ghost tour ticket office

San Felipe de Nero Church 

Entrance to  San Felipe de Nero church
Old Town ALBQ

Church St Cafe  where we had amazing drinks and food.....
our first time having authentic Mexican food with more spice
than the authentic Mexican food up here on the East Coast. 
This place was also a stop on the ghost tour. If you click the link
in the paragraph above these pics, you can read about it. 
It is the oldest structure in Albuquerque and one of the oldest in NM

I ordered vegetarian "Indian Taco" made with Indian Fry bread
and a "Scarlet" drink
(named after a woman who is one of the famous Albuquerque ghosts now)

Dessert is compliments of the restaurant and was the Indian fry bread and honey. SO good but we were also so full!! After dinner, some of us went on the ghost walk:  Dave and I; his brother Peter and Kathy; his sister Karen and Ernest. The "kids" went on to do their own thing. 

Here are some photos from the ghost tour.  Mary and Rod were the history/ghost tour guides and they gave me permission to post their picture.  If you are every in Albuquerque, make sure you check out this place and take an evening tour!  They were awesome!! I'm just posting pics as I can't remember all the specifics for each photo. 

our tour guides:  Rod and Mary

Old Hanging tree where actual hangings took place 
back in the 1700s-1800s. 

At the end of Day One, we were tired so walked back to our casita around 10 pm when the tour was over and had a good night's sleep.  It was midnight EST so we were wiped out!!  We had been up since 3:45 AM EST!! 

Have you been to Albuquerque??  If yes, what part did you explore?