Once Again: Albuquerque

7/26
The first order of business was breakfast. We'd slept fairly well with only one mild interruption at about 1 when people came home from the bike festivities. I guess some would say if we weren't such old biddies, we'd have been out with them. The breakfast area was small and located in the lobby. The eggs were cold. The fresh waffles were underdone. This is the place they raved about on Trip Advisor? Hmmm...
We headed downtown to try for some photos of the many 19th century buildings. I had some trouble finding a way to photograph things without 100s of bikes parked outside, but I hope I managed a few decent shots.
From there we drove to the National Wildlife Refuge, but as many of these are, it was simply a quiet place for birds to enjoy life and not really scenic in the usual sense of the word. So we headed west to Pecos and the Pecos Notional Historical Park.
We arrived just in time for the 10 a.m. tour. These ruins are quite estensive since 12 pueblos lived together here at one time. The Ranger was informative, and the ruins and surrounding landscape wonderful. We stayed to chat with another Ranger and to have lunch at the picnic area before heading to Albuquerque.
This place always feels like coming home to me. I am comfortable here now. We couldn't check in to our usual hotel, so we headed to the Plaza, where we checked out the Native jewelry spread out on blankets down one side of the Plaza. Glen got a silver bracelet, and the man from whom he purchased it asked about my earrings, which I'd gotten at the Plaza last year. It turned out that he recognized the artist who had won a prize at a large fair in Santa Fe last August. I asked if he was going to be around. Tomorrow! I'll be back to see what he's making this year. I also asked about an elderly gentlement from the Santo Domingo Pueblo we see ever visit. His nephew was at the blanket 'next door' and said he was home preparing for a corn celebration, and we wouldn't be seeing him this time around. I asked how he was doing, and ended up having a pleasant conversation.
Dinner was wonderful. We ate at La Hacienda, which is located directly on the Plaza. I had enchiladas done the traditional New Mexican way, with blue corn tortillas and a fried egg on top. Dinner was served with sopapillas for afterwards. We saved enough to have it for lunch today. This is the kind of Mexican food I can eat every day with joy.
Afterwards we started to stroll around the Plaza to see what was happening there. It was Sunday, so we did not expect much and were surprised and delighted to find Argentinian tango music playing and couples dancing in the gazebo. And I do mean Dancing the Tango. We really enjoyed watching them! Some were very professional and their choreography was fascinating to watch.