Good Morning Albuquerque! With much anticipation we decided to do the City Tour. “The Best of ABQ City Tour” includes sights in Old Town, Route 66, many neighborhoods, Museum Row, the University of New Mexico and the Zoo/Aquarium – all from a trolley. The tour starts at 11:00am but we can’t wait to get there so we leave at 9:30am. When we get to the departure point, The Hotel Albuquerque, we find out that we will be using a van to tour. This is the “dead” time of the year for tourists, or so our tour guide told us. Somewhat disappointed we still purchased the tickets. After we toured the hotel lobby – waiting for 11am – we see at least 10 other people who wanted to go on the tour. They were all told, “tomorrow.” Now we are back to being excited because we made the tour for today.
We start the tour in “Old Town” so we see the Mexican influence on the architecture, many local artists displaying their works, several shops, the Plaza, and churches. Our tour guide advises us to buy souvenirs here and speak to the artists themselves. Rorick, our guide, is very knowledgeable, and has a good sense of humor. We also see a tree with a sculpture inside the tree itself. Chiles adorn the adobe and are a sign of good luck. We see Chiles all over ABQ.
There are many neighborhoods in the city of ABQ and each has its own personality. In one particular neighborhood, we find homes used in “Breaking Bad.” ABQ has been used for over 200 films, 100 television shows, and many documentaries.
We make our way through ABQ and Route 66.
Then there is New Town.
We visit a local artist known as the Frank Lloyd Wright of the South:
We also become honorary “Lobos” at the University of New Mexico.
As we end the tour we pass the zoo and aquarium, cross over Route 66 and end back at the Hotel.
After thanking our guide we ask about next steps. He recommends the Hotel for lunch and then the Pueblo Cultural Museum. Sounds good to us!
Tortilla Soup and Green Chile Stew! Yum!
We are on overload from the tour and the museum! So much to take in and absorb and live.
Time to go back to hotel and do laundry. Oh yeah! Dale goes out to the pantry to get the Tide for the laundry and runs into a couple checking in – they are coming from Las Vegas. A “straight shot” they say, only 8 hours away. On boy, I see a change in plans coming our way.
Laundry done – we pack and call daughter Katri to see if they (she and husband Jason and grandpuppy, Minion) are available for the weekend.
They are – so new coordinates – Las Vegas, NV.
WOW!