Travelogue, Albuquerque and Santa Fe
First night I got to the hotel (Hotel Parq Central) and pretty much just went to bed. The next day when I left, I am pretty sure I left my Nintendo DS there, to my great chagrin. Retails for $200, game for $30. Bleah. I called them afterwards and they kept promising to return my calls, but failed to return my calls so I had to play phone tag. I dislike playing phone tag enough that I probably won't book there again, although the accommodations were nice.
The next day John and I walked around the old town a bit, and visited the botanical gardens, which were lacking due to drought and winter, but nobody charged us, so it was a fun walk among the cacti. I saw a lot of light wireframes that must have looked excellent at night. Then we went to the Petroglyph National Monument (after lunch at Mary and Tito's) and took a shortish (3 miles) walk through sand on one of the less-trafficked trails looking for Mooninite carvings. I kid you not, a good deal of the artwork looks like it was done by Mooninites. There was one drawing of what looked like Pyramid Heads. We encountered two fluffy bunnies (there was some confusion when spotting them, as John thought I meant bunny-glyphs). Looking at all that igneous rock was pretty impressive. It's right on the border of the city. I got a ton of sand in my shoes, and I wore the wrong socks. Bye-bye socks! I just brought the wrong socks for extended walking.
I feel like Albuquerque is a really interesting up-and-coming place. Buying a house there is probably a good idea (for my parents or something). A bit more spread out than I generally like, but the construction in New Mexico wowed me a great deal. Also, all the reds and blues were more intense, especially the reds. Everything was kind of red.
Speaking of red, in any non-French place we ate we got asked 'red or green?' That's a question of what kind of chili sauce one wants. Red chili is a smoky chipotle-type sauce and green is stronger and builds up heat without the smoke. They're actually from the same plant, I think it depends on when you harvest them. Both Albuquerque and Santa Fe had chili ornaments everywhere. At a meal one can ask for 'Christmas' as well. I like the green a little better, even though the red is apparently more appreciated by the epicures.
The scenery on the drive to Santa Fe was amazing, reminding me of Austin and Southern California in one fell swoop. It's only an hour between the two cities, and there's apparently a commuter rail. Civilized! As the moon was rising it was truly ginormous. John and I named it George in honor of the moon called George in Samuel R. Delany's Dhalgren. We did notice that the highway engineering in New Mexico was suboptimal. Also roads in general remind me of the Waltham slalom- there are weird turn-only lanes everywhere with pretty much no warning. All the drivers in New Mexico seemed really chill. I felt like I was speeding and passing everyone going 60 in a 65 mph zone. I guess they think it means upper limit?
We checked into Inn on the Alameda. Dinner was at Tune Up Cafe, fun vaguely New Mexican fare. They have buffalo burgers. After that, I don't remember what happened. We probably crashed early. The Inn had a lovely room, but spotty wireless and the bathroom floor creaked something loud. Also, no hair conditioner, only conditioning shampoo, which is not the same thing at all. There were also hilariously made beds in that someone really tucked those sheets in fiercely. That said, the breakfast they offer is wonderful and the building is really cool adobe, lit up at night.
Next day was lots of walking about the city. Many beautiful hats in hat shops, but I forgot to investigate further. After walking around we headed to the New Mexico Museum of Art which is small but I felt like almost all the pieces were really worth looking at. Mostly contemporary stuff, especially the glasswork. Klaus Moje did some amazing stuff, and I liked the sculptures by Toots Zynsky. For more art, we visited the Georgia O'Keeffe museum. Some pretty special stuff. She liked herself those skeletons. Time for even more art, so we visited Canyon Road and its assortment of galleries. Wow. We didn't go into any because I didn't want to buy and transport art home, but there were many amazing works on display outside. Dragons, bears, abstract figures, many wind sculptures in a garden. It pleased me immensely. Dinner was at Blue Corn, where I had New Mexican Shepherd's Pie. Calabacitas, one of the ingredients, are a squash mix with corn. I should figure out how to make them!
Second day in Santa Fe was Bandalier National Park. I don't have much to tell you there except that you should go. The high elevation may make you feel more out of breath than you would expect, though. Santa Fe is a mile and a half, and Bandalier a mile high. The fires may have burned out some of the trails, but the Main Loop is still amazing. John was saying "there's probably no wildlife around here" when I saw a coyote about twenty feet away. We met another one on the road out, and he was just walking about calm as you please. This prompted John to research coyotes a bit on the internet. We also met some Abert's squirrels on the trail. Soooo cute.
We did dinner at Casa de Chimayo this time. More excellent New Mexican food, and then Chocoflan cake. Chocolate cake with amazing flan on top. Mmmmm. I feel I should mention that New Mexican food feels a bit lighter somehow than Mexican or Tex-Mex. Maybe they use a little less cheese? Or is it the lack of sour cream? Afterwards, more walking! We checked out Canyon Road all lit up. The galleries stay lit for security reasons, but it just makes me happy. Santa Fe is well lit in general at night. It all feels so secure. It's not a commuter city, and not a young city, but it's not one of those retiree-places either.
Tea house in the morning! It's on Canyon Road. I got some tiramisu rooibos and chocolate orange rooibos. Yes, I like my herbal tea to be dessert. There are nowhere near as many coffee shops as I've seen in any coastal city. One was just about to open. I wish them good business!
Then, back to Albuquerque for the National Museum of Nuclear Science and History. We saw a lot of interesting historical items, like casings for missiles, reproductions of Fat Man and Little Boy housings, retired planes and rockets, and rifles from WWII. Many many info-walls on nuclear history and current energy and medical applications.
I think they presented a fairly balanced approach to the use of atomic bombs during WWII and nuclear escalation, but I teared up a bunch. Every time I think about the end of the war in the Pacific and Mutually Assured Destruction I wonder why we do these things to each other. I grew up without war (1991 Gulf notwithstanding) or disaster. The Cold War ended when I was nine. The 'War on Terror' started in college, and somehow I never got that concerned. Just sad that it seems so awful for so many in the Middle East. Here's an interesting map John sent me about who's controlled the Mideast. Doomsday clock reads five minutes to midnight, and somehow disaster seems so far away- an illusion? I live in a charmed time to a charmed start. Yes, unemployment and income inequality suck gold balls out of a garden hose but I never need to remember nuclear drills. Several older veteran volunteers chatted with us because they found our absorption interesting. We got to hear about the perils of Windows 8. I didn't really share my thoughts on atomic stuff because I couldn't make any sense of them and didn't want to have a giant crying jag in the museum.
After dinner (crepes at Cafe Jean-Pierre), we went back to the Botanical Gardens for the River of Light! All of those wonderful wireframes I'd seen several days earlier were lit up! That's what enchants me, blinkenlights. There were dinosaurs, turtles, an octopus, bees, hummingbirds, other birds, fanciful trees, a fugu, giraffes, sea lion, catci (and also real cacti lit up so we wouldn't stab ourselves!), at least one whale, a jellyfish, elephants, and so much more. People were there with their families sipping hot cider and chocolate. I think we should have something like that in Boston.
Such a nice vacation. Laid-back, beautiful views. Everyone there seemed so happy to see us and curious as to why we were there. Low season means that a luxury four-diamond hotel in Albuquerque in $120. That plus parking and tax is $150 a night for the high-end. New Mexico is a great place to go to for just relaxing. Every day was sunny, and definitely warmer than Boston. I'll post the link to photos with John's permission when I can.
And now it's Saturday night! I have Sunday night to help my jet lag, then two weeks of work before I head back to NJ for pre-Christmas break. I'll be meeting John there. Many yays for that!