Get Your Kicks.........

First of all, if any of you know what I did with the plastic baggie filled with state quarters, please advise. I put them in a safe place. 'Nuff said.



We got to Albuquerque a day early and decided to see if we could check into the Best Western, which was a go. They disappointed us horribly this time around. I suppose it is still a bargain for a place so close to downtown and Old Town, but they no longer offer free breakfast, the beds we got were terrible, and we saw 3 roaches, which to a seasoned Floridian signals a mad infestation. We will not return.



Picked up the kids without incident. They landed within the promised five minutes of each other. It was wonderful to be togeether again, even in the cramped quarters of one double room.



I guess the highlights were the drive we took up north of the city and through Corrales, which they found very cool. We also took the Sandia Tramway. There is a National Forest right on the other side of the mountain from the city, giving city dwellers easy access to hiking, biking and skiing. Pretty great.



One notable meal was lunch at the Chama River Brewing Company. Good beer, good food, good company..........the whole package.



Breakfast at the 66Diner was wonderful, inexpensive, and you can't beat it for nostalgia. The ghosts of the '50s were evident everywhere.

We took them to the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center, more so that we could shop than for them to see it, but they enjoyed it as well. Between this and the Native Americans whe sell their crafts on the Plaza in Old Town, we are a few hundred poorer than we might have been, but we were happy with our purchases. Jenny got two beautiful rings. Matt liked the wood carvings and also got a raven fetish.



Last night we had a great meal at Kelly's Brewery. Sure, it was just a bar, but it was a good one with good bar food, a sizable microbrewery, and lots going on. We left the kids down there and went home.

The 20-something big city assessment of Albuquerque's night life was that it is "weird" that everything is on Central Avenue in one continuous strip, instead of spread out in neighborhoods like in their respective cities. I guess they are right about this. We are certainly not in a position to judge.

After we dropped them off at the airport (choking up and not dwelling on this part), we took off to the south to have a look at Los Lunas and Belen. Very nice people in both towns but not much else going on, so we headed up to Rio Rancho, just north of the city. The is the city Intel built in a manner of speaking, much the same was Bellvue is the city Microsoft built. It is large and bustling, and we may end up near here if we do move to New Mexico somewhere down the road.

However, we were not that impressed with the hotels in the area and decided to come back to the place we used as home base in the spring. That's where we are now, waiting for a huge load of laundry to dry - this may take some time (those of you who have experienced hotel laundry rooms will understand how slow the driers are - just think all the cliches: waiting for paint to dry, etc.)

Don't know how long we will stay. We aren't due in Abiquiu until Friday afternoon, and we are just bone tired at the moment. This, of course, does not mean we will not head out first thing in the morning for either the Hispanic Cultural Center or Petroglyph National Monument.

I do have some pictures from Albuquerque, which I will try to get formed into an album soon.