New Mexico: Day #5

Tuesday was our last full day in Albuquerque. Sarah took the day off to spend with us at the Rio Grande Zoo, Garden and Aquarium. It was a great bargain at $12.00 a person for a combo ticket.

KC was mesmerized with the flamingos.

Jon and Sarah, who were both Peace Corps Volunteers in Mali smiled to see the African exhibit.

The zoo keeper told us that the zebra foal had been born during the night. It was still getting acclimated to his new environment.

Jon, Sarah and Tif had made lunches for us to enjoy at the zoo.

After enjoying the zoo's animals and train ride, we went to the Gardens. There was a children's garden that had a giant pumpkin, bee, ants and spider.

Sarah took a photo of the four of us.

The arboretum had an Insect and Desert World.

We were impressed with the zoo and gardens!

We could smell roses everywhere.

They filled a large bird bath like stone container with black water and filled it with flowers. The effect was lovely.

The farm had a vineyard and animals. KC continued sleeping. She napped for a couple of hours while we were at the garden.

Of course.... we did need to see the Japanese Garden.

Seeing as we have just come from seeing the three major gardens in Japan, we could see that these gardens had a more southwestern flavor... maybe an Eastern southwestern flavor.

The Aquarium was nicer than we expected.

KC did not want to leave. She kept pointing out the different fishes in the huge aquarium tank.

After our fun day at the zoo, aquarium and garden we went to the University of New Mexico to see where Jon's classes were.

The campus also had a wonderful Southwestern feel.

Tiffany treated us all to dinner at Flying Star which is a well-known Albuquerque eatery.



It was truly a wonderful day, and we're sad about leaving to return to Chicago today. We're leaving out of the Albuquerque International Sunport... not the Airport, but the Sunport. They must not fly out at night.

New Mexico: Day #4

Monday was our day to tour Santa Fe. Art and I have been there several times but Tif wanted to go there to soak up the Santa Fe ambiance.

We were noticing a lot of police presence at the Plaza on bicycles and police cruisers.

The St. Francis Cathedral at the center of town is a beautiful sight.

We visited a bunch of tourist type stores filled with hanging dried chilis, western hats, boots, skulls and art. And yes, Tif did help the Santa Fe economy.

KC decided she'd had enough and pulled down the shade herself to give herself some privacy while she took a two hour nap.

The Governors Palace had Native American vendors in front selling their beautiful jewelry and other native crafts.

We loved seeing the different flowers everywhere.

Lunch was at the Atomic Grill. I had a catfish sandwich, Jon an Atomic gyros which he inhaled and Art and Tif had an Atomic frito pie which was quite spicy. We suddenly realized that this was reminiscent of the trips we took as a family. It was just the four of us again since KC was sleeping through the entire lunch.

Gorgeous flowers everywhere!

The skies were absolutely incredible. The clouds seemed to be sparkling.

Tif treated us to a frozen yogurt at Yoberri.

Our last stop was at Santuario de Guadalupe, the oldest shrine to Our Lady of Guadalupe in the U.S.


Back at home, Jon made fish tacos for our dinner while Tiffany watched her brother.


After working for almost three years as a firefighter at Los Alamos, Jon became a wonderful cook.


It was a fabulous dinner!


We have only one more day with our son and his Sarah. We'll be at the Albuquerque Botanic Garden, Zoo and Aquarium on Tuesday. We may be able to also see the University of New Mexico where Jon has gone back to school.

New Mexico: Day #3

Sunday started with a breakfast at the Marriott Hotel. It's so nice that it's all free because we're using my son-in-law's free points or whatever they're called.

We were surprised to hear that Sarah Palin was supposed to be coming to the hotel at 9:00 for some political rally for a gubernatorial candidate. We left well before that for Jon and Sarah's home.

We went to the Petroglyph National Monument.

The petroglyphs were carved into the vesicular basalt by ancestors of the Pueblo People.

Jon took a lot of photos of his favorite niece and KC loved seeing them.

Father and son enjoyed comparing photos.

KC used the parking space stop as a gymnastics balance beam.

KC said, "I'm the line leader today," as she tramped up the mountain.

We were amazed to see her climb all the way to the top without being carried.

KC kept shouting down at Art, "Be careful, Grandpa. There's a lot of rocks around here."

It was a pretty high climb, but it was a lot of fun to see the different petroglyphs along the way.

When we got to the top, Jon said, "KC, you have to do the summit pose!" He and Art have climbed Mt. Fuji and Mt. Kilimanjaro together. KC didn't quite understand what was required so we were all jumping up to show her. I imagine people thought we were a little demented.

Father and son!
There were lots more petroglyphs to enjoy on the trek down.

This chipmunk was scampering about. We THINK it was a chipmunk.

The sun was climbing up in the sky when we headed to Albuquerque for the Festival of Asian Cultures at the Civic Plaza.

We could hear Hawaiian music as we approached the plaza. What fun to see the hula dancers on stage!

We ate lunch there at the many booths and then was about to return to Jon and Sarah's place when Tif saw some Korean dancers ready to go on stage. We all felt KC needed to see some of her heritage so we stayed to watch.

We got to the car and it was barely 2 minutes before we looked at KC and saw her sound asleep with her thumb in her mouth.