Straight down the mountain I went on Interstate 25 into Albuquerque, hang a right and head west on Interstate 40 and get off on Atrisco Blvd. Turn left across the bridge and right on the frontage road and on into High Desert RV Park for a week. No Problems! It was really a great drive, and the lower I got in elevation, the better I felt. This is a great little park right off the interstate. Yes, you can hear the trucks going by, but it's very clean, reasonable and on the very edge of Albuquerque. Note to self: make sure there's enough room to open the slide BEFORE you get everything hooked up. If you have a problem, borrow someone else's man to help. This was too funny. I couldn't get the lever pulled out far enough to dislodge the rig from the truck. There was a fella walking to his rig just about across from mine, so I walked over and asked if he might help me with it. Like a flash of lightning, his girlfriend appeared from in her little casita and glued herself to him. No way was he coming over here with a strange beautiful woman ( well, yeah!) without her. Like I was trying to find myself a man for the night or something. I giggled about it to myself for awhile afterwards! He said he had an injury and wasn't sure he'd be able to do it - yeah, this was a soft city boy. I like my man, period.Anyway, he did finally get it to unlatch. I think I need some grease on that lever - it was pretty rusted from our stay on the coast.
Two exits back east is Unser Blvd, and to the left on Unser, down through the construction and housing developments is Petroglyphs National Monument. That's were I headed after finishing set up. Thought Sam would like a nice walk. He was so excited to go for a walk, AND a truck ride! Sam has never seen the desert, or the sand, though he has experienced buffalo grass which isn't much different from sand burrs. Poor little guy, I didn't think he'd have any problem, but he did not like the sand - at all! We didn't go too far, and while I was looking at the volcanic boulders with petroglyphs carved into them, he laid down and didn't want to get back up, so we headed back to the truck. So much for a hiking companion. What an incredible place though.
Saturday was the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center for me. It's $6 to get in, and well worth it. The gallery is filled with map paintings - something unique to this area, and incredible to see. The people of the 19 pueblos of New Mexico are working to keep their culture alive, and these paintings are being done to keep the names of their sacred places known. Prints of the work are available only to Native American people, so the only way we white folks can see them is to visit the Cultural Center. I so respect these people and their culture. They respect the earth and they teach their children to respect it also. They understand that none of us "own" it, and that we must care for it so it will be there for our grand children and their grand children. They know that what we do to the earth, we do to ourselves. They are heart and soul. I guess that tells you what I think of "our" culture. Enough said.
I waited to come here on the weekend to experience the dancers. Since this week was the gathering of Nations here in Albuquerque, they had three dance troops performing for 6 hours. I got to enjoy Zuni hoop dancers, Zuni Basket (water jar) Dancers and singers, and Apache Cloud dancers. They were wonderful! Artisans were also there vending their work, and it was all so beautiful. I bought a Pueblo Cookie around noon. It was the size of a mall pretzel, and delicious! Not too sweet, and very satisfying. The lower level is a museum with incredible pottery, beadwork and the story of the people as they tried to survive all the changes that were forced on them. I had a wonderful day!
Sunday the Albuquerque Museum of Art and History is free from 9am to 1pm (its normally $4 to get in), so I drove down to Old Town and toured the museum. Outside is a sculpture garden that is a must see! It's on 19th Ave. Life size bronze figures of early settlers, oxen, horses, mama's and babies, children, a dog, soldiers. It was incredible! The museum was between shows, so only 2 galleries were open. The paintings were ok. There was one that I really liked of a coyote's upper body & head. You'd swear it was going to jump right out of the frame. I spent about an hour there. Just behind the museum and through the tile and adobe archway is old town. What a riot! It reminded me of Wisconsin Dells and Nogales, Mexico. Shop till you drop! I thoroughly enjoyed going through all the shops and looking at everything. Turquoise jewelry and Native pottery everywhere and everything else. I had lunch in a cute little café and then headed back to the truck. Lunch was my only purchase.
Found a grocery store (Smith's) on the corner of Central and Coors many blocks west of Old
Town. That was my second purchase of the day. Fresh white corn tortillas, salsa, lime, tomatoes, oranges... yum!
Today I headed back over to Petroglyphs National Monument. Sam stayed home. I found a great seat in a shady spot up in the volcanic boulders and just took it all in. I even had a new melody come to me, and I played it into garage band right there on the spot. Cool! I saw 3 little lizards, a hummingbird and a beautiful big yellow butterfly, and of course many interesting rock carvings. This is a very popular place, and people were walking by frequently, so solace wasn't possible, but I found the quiet within for a little bit. I decided to try to find another site within the park and discovered that urban sprawl has surrounded the different areas, and remember those signs I talked about in the last blog? Well, I never did find the 2nd site. I was going to check out the one on the back side of the park that is down Atrisco in the opposite direction from home, but I'm comfortable and just going to have a leisurely dinner and relax.
I've enjoyed Albuquerque. I was having trouble believing there are over a million people here, until today driving around looking for the other Natural site. The houses are huge! Urban sprawl hasn't missed Central New Mexico. It's a wonder the water shed can support this many people. There are many other things to see here; botanical gardens, zoo, aquarium, natural history museum... but I experienced what I wanted to.
Tomorrow I get to pick up my honey from the airport. This has been a good week, but I'll be so happy to have my best friend back. I wish I could have gone with him, but with our 3 little furry friends, it just wasn't possible. This was the best solution since I couldn't stay in Taos.
I'll get some pictures posted as soon as I shrink them down to a better size.
Two exits back east is Unser Blvd, and to the left on Unser, down through the construction and housing developments is Petroglyphs National Monument. That's were I headed after finishing set up. Thought Sam would like a nice walk. He was so excited to go for a walk, AND a truck ride! Sam has never seen the desert, or the sand, though he has experienced buffalo grass which isn't much different from sand burrs. Poor little guy, I didn't think he'd have any problem, but he did not like the sand - at all! We didn't go too far, and while I was looking at the volcanic boulders with petroglyphs carved into them, he laid down and didn't want to get back up, so we headed back to the truck. So much for a hiking companion. What an incredible place though.
Saturday was the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center for me. It's $6 to get in, and well worth it. The gallery is filled with map paintings - something unique to this area, and incredible to see. The people of the 19 pueblos of New Mexico are working to keep their culture alive, and these paintings are being done to keep the names of their sacred places known. Prints of the work are available only to Native American people, so the only way we white folks can see them is to visit the Cultural Center. I so respect these people and their culture. They respect the earth and they teach their children to respect it also. They understand that none of us "own" it, and that we must care for it so it will be there for our grand children and their grand children. They know that what we do to the earth, we do to ourselves. They are heart and soul. I guess that tells you what I think of "our" culture. Enough said.
I waited to come here on the weekend to experience the dancers. Since this week was the gathering of Nations here in Albuquerque, they had three dance troops performing for 6 hours. I got to enjoy Zuni hoop dancers, Zuni Basket (water jar) Dancers and singers, and Apache Cloud dancers. They were wonderful! Artisans were also there vending their work, and it was all so beautiful. I bought a Pueblo Cookie around noon. It was the size of a mall pretzel, and delicious! Not too sweet, and very satisfying. The lower level is a museum with incredible pottery, beadwork and the story of the people as they tried to survive all the changes that were forced on them. I had a wonderful day!
Sunday the Albuquerque Museum of Art and History is free from 9am to 1pm (its normally $4 to get in), so I drove down to Old Town and toured the museum. Outside is a sculpture garden that is a must see! It's on 19th Ave. Life size bronze figures of early settlers, oxen, horses, mama's and babies, children, a dog, soldiers. It was incredible! The museum was between shows, so only 2 galleries were open. The paintings were ok. There was one that I really liked of a coyote's upper body & head. You'd swear it was going to jump right out of the frame. I spent about an hour there. Just behind the museum and through the tile and adobe archway is old town. What a riot! It reminded me of Wisconsin Dells and Nogales, Mexico. Shop till you drop! I thoroughly enjoyed going through all the shops and looking at everything. Turquoise jewelry and Native pottery everywhere and everything else. I had lunch in a cute little café and then headed back to the truck. Lunch was my only purchase.
Found a grocery store (Smith's) on the corner of Central and Coors many blocks west of Old
Town. That was my second purchase of the day. Fresh white corn tortillas, salsa, lime, tomatoes, oranges... yum!
Today I headed back over to Petroglyphs National Monument. Sam stayed home. I found a great seat in a shady spot up in the volcanic boulders and just took it all in. I even had a new melody come to me, and I played it into garage band right there on the spot. Cool! I saw 3 little lizards, a hummingbird and a beautiful big yellow butterfly, and of course many interesting rock carvings. This is a very popular place, and people were walking by frequently, so solace wasn't possible, but I found the quiet within for a little bit. I decided to try to find another site within the park and discovered that urban sprawl has surrounded the different areas, and remember those signs I talked about in the last blog? Well, I never did find the 2nd site. I was going to check out the one on the back side of the park that is down Atrisco in the opposite direction from home, but I'm comfortable and just going to have a leisurely dinner and relax.
I've enjoyed Albuquerque. I was having trouble believing there are over a million people here, until today driving around looking for the other Natural site. The houses are huge! Urban sprawl hasn't missed Central New Mexico. It's a wonder the water shed can support this many people. There are many other things to see here; botanical gardens, zoo, aquarium, natural history museum... but I experienced what I wanted to.
Tomorrow I get to pick up my honey from the airport. This has been a good week, but I'll be so happy to have my best friend back. I wish I could have gone with him, but with our 3 little furry friends, it just wasn't possible. This was the best solution since I couldn't stay in Taos.
I'll get some pictures posted as soon as I shrink them down to a better size.
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