Albuquerque and Santa Fe, New Mexico

The last 4 Days, Nov. 1-Nov. 4:

Our campsite is actually located in the small city just north of Albuquerque called Bernalillo. We have a lovely view of the I25. But beyond that are the Sandia mountains which are very nice to look at.
We took a drive to see what is around. Found groceries and took a tour of the area.
Later that day Bob and Jo Evans arrived and we had a fun visit catching up. We went out for dinner at the Texas Road House, which was very busy but very good.

Bob & Jo Evans stopping for a visit

 Saturday we decided to check out the Balloon Museum in Abq. The city is well known for it's huge hot air balloon festival every year in Sept.

International Balloon Festival every Sept. in Albuquerque, we didn't see this, I just had to add this cool photo.

It just happened that there was the "Bacon Fest" event outside at the Balloon Museum. The lineup to get in was miles long so we passed this one as neither of us are keen on long ques, even for bacon.
The museum was quite interesting and we learned a few things. It also had displays of gliders and other balloons. There were paper balloons made by the Japanese during WW2 that had bombs attached to them. A few of them actually made it across the Pacific. We had no idea!!
After the museum we checked out a local Harley-Davidson dealer as they had a large display of bikes out in the sunshine.

On Sunday we drove to Old Town Abuquerque. There were lots of old buildings and plenty of shopping and restaurants. We thought we'd check out one of the Diners, Drive-ins and Dives places in the area. Unfortunately John didn't check the hours and they were only open for breakfast and lunch on Sundays. Oh well, there are plenty of others! We walked all around Old Town and I met a lovely potter, Diane Martinez, and purchased one of her beautiful pots. I also picked up a couple of skirts, that is all....
We did have lunch in a very nice restaurant that was in an old building in Old Town. It was called the High Noon Restaurant and Saloon. We ate in the saloon side and ordered what was recommended by our server, the grilled peach and arugula salad with agave balsamic vinagrette and the chile beef bites, both delicious!!

Inside the High Noon Restaurant and Saloon

Local pottery, very intricate designs!

Chiles ristras

they're everywhere!

It's kind of a big deal around here

A funny poster in a shop dedicated to all things kitty

KoKopeli doors

We decided to take the scenic Rio Grande Drive home instead of the I25 freeway. The maximum speed limit is 25mph or 40kph which was just fine with me because it was just beautiful! Lovely homes and grounds. Many with horses grazing in their adjoining paddocks. John drives the RV and I drive the car, so the slower speed limit gave me a chance to see the scenery as well.

Monday was Santa Fe day. We decided to take the Rail Runner Express train. It is the commuter train that runs between Abq and Santa Fe. There is a station conveniently just up the road.
We caught the 10am train and it took about one hour to get to the Santa Fe Railyard depot which was the end of the line, right at the Plaza which is a large and mostly upscale shopping area. There are also many historic buildings, museums and galleries.

Santa Fe Rail Runner commuter train

Some shots from the train:

Some of the cool flat roof houses

One of the buildings I noticed before we got off the train was the Santa Fe Clay.
We checked out Sanbusco mall where I found an Audubon Society Nature Guide on the local deserts, price: $9. Now I can identify the plants we have been seeing along the way.
Next was a visit to Santa Fe Clay, of course. What a nice experience for me. I was welcomed by the potters who were working in the studio and had a very nice chat with them. They have a really nice, big studio. Unfortunately my camera battery ran out before I got many photos. Lesson learned...
Happily, John had his camera which we used for the rest of the day.

A mug display by the many potters of Santa Fe Clay

A lovely pierced porcelain box

Interesting piece!

More lovely pottery

and more!

Some shelves where each potter displayed their ware to sell

On our exploration of the Santa Fe Plaza area we found a Triple D restaurant, Zia Diner, nearby and of course we had to have lunch there. We each ordered a cup of soup. John had the seafood and I had roasted tomato and we split the Chiles rellenos. Good thing! We each got a large chile rellenos with a generous helping of beans and rice. We chose both the red and green chile sauce. It was chile, cheesy, melty, yummy goodness!

You gotta eat here!

After the deliciosas comidas we trekked up to the O'Keeffe Museum. The map we had didn't show it quite the way it was laid out but after asking a local business we found it quickly. It was a lovely museum with many of Georgia O'Keeffe's paintings and her husband's photos. Georgia O'Keeffe was an abstract artist especially known for her flower and landscape paintings. She fell in love with New Mexico and moved from New York to live and paint there.

Cottonwood III, Georgia O'Keeffe

Purple petunias, Georgia O'Keeffe

We wanted to catch the 4:15 Rail Runner and found we had a little over an hour when we got back to the station. This called for a stop at a nearby pub, Tomasita's, where we ordered green chile cheese fries and a couple of beer. I would have to compare those fries to poutine except New Mexican style. Really good!
The train was right on time an this engineer just flew back southward where we arrived at our station before the thunderstorm arrived.
We sat and watched some spectacular lightening before calling it a day.

                                         A few more Santa Fe photos:

Outside a pottery shop

Santa Fe Railyard

A skate park

An old time hero