Tag: Santa Fe

Easily the best breakfast we have had on this road trip was at the Drury Inn in Santa Fe, setting us up for another excellent day. Before we retrieved the car from the valet and checked out of the hotel we set off on a two hour walking tour of more of the city. Santa Fe was settled in 1610, making it one of the oldest towns in America, and as a result they have some very old structures, including what is commonly thought of as the oldest house in America, an adobe structure in the historic downtown district circa 1646. The doors and windows are small to combat the desert heat. Directly across the street is the San Miguel Church, which, according to its plaque, is even older than the Oldest House.

Our morning walk allowed us to admire even more art along the street, eventually leading us to the New Mexico State Capitol. It is a round building with a southwestern style filled with galleries of art. We took a self-guided tour after registering at the front desk, wandering through office hallways of people working as part of the tour. The capitol had paintings in watercolors, oils, fabric as well as photography.

We stumbled into the governor’s office where Fran, the governor’s assistant, kindly gave us information, pins, and a map, as well as the opportunity to purchase a Christmas ornament as a souvenir which helped support the governor’s art program. After returning to the hotel and checking out we took a last drive down Canyon Road through the art district to see the many galleries and the exterior art displayed outside their shops. Santa Fe is a beautiful city and we enjoyed our time there.

Immediately upon our arrival late morning in Albuquerque we went to the Balloon Museum, finding it closed that day (a Monday). For an alternate choice took us to Sandia Peak Tramway. The tram took  20 minutes to go up the mountain reaching an elevation of 10,378 feet lifting us up 2.7 miles.

The 11,000 square-mile panoramic view of the Rio Grande Valley was striking. The temperature dropped dramatically at this elevation from the valley below and it was also windy. One of the features of the tram is the opportunity to see different climate zones as the tram made its way up the mountain. Once at the top there is a ski lift for snow trails and ski runs at the top of the mountain during the winter months.

After a quick lunch of Kobe burgers (they were excellent) at the High Finance restaurant, situated at the top of the mountain, we went back outside to photograph the tram and the view of a distant Santa Fe and Sangre de Cristo Mountains.

Amazingly, at times, the tram will stop at the towers to let workers climb out of the tram to grease the equipment then let the tram continue up the mountain. Another tram picked up the worker after he finished. Maintenance is performed regularly during its operation. This seemed extremely dangerous while the worker hung to the tower in the wind more than two hundred feet above the ground. Fourth-grade schoolchildren poured out of the next tram and things got noisy. Later we rode the tram back down the mountain with the last load of school kids.

It was time to find another Roadside America offbeat tourist attraction. So we drove to a residential section of Albuquerque to see the (bug house or spaceship house as some refer to it). The bug house is tucked into an average neighborhood but the sight of this house is not average. It looks as if a giant caterpillar is mounted to the top of the house where the roof should be. The house has a glass and rounded metal facade The house was designed by Bart Prince, a protégé of Frank Lloyd Wright. Two metal dinosaur sculptures stood guard in front of the home. The house across the street was also interesting with its angular style.

We moved on to see the Albuquerque Isotope baseball field. After yet another t-shirt purchase, and a brief explanation about our 24 day road trip around America, the manager opened up the gate allowing us to walk in the stadium and pose with the Simpson characters and to look around. The Simpsons are part of the theme of the park since the team is called the Isotopes and Homer Simpson worked at a nuclear plant.

The Isotopes earned their name by a majority vote of its city residents influenced by a TV Simpson episode threatening to move the Springfield team to Albuquerque, New Mexico and also because Albuquerque has research labs. The Isotopes are a Triple A team for the Colorado Rockies.

Old Albuquerque is just west of downtown, and is the original site of the town. While the buildings are very old, the entire area is very touristy, with the typical trinkets shops. We spent a brief time here before returning downtown to check into our hotel.

We reached our hotel, The Andaluz in downtown Albuquerque. The Andaluz was a sophisticated boutique hotel opened in 1939 by Conrad Hilton for the wealthy route 66 travelers. The lobby has classic Moorish decor with private dining rooms built into alcoves behind heavy drapes. It also has a hotel library, a terrace lounge and a tapas restaurant.

Beautiful art decks the halls and every piece of furniture and lighting is interesting. A three-panel colorful glass wall is at the end of the lobby. The Andaluz was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984. I love this building and it is the most outstanding thing in Albuquerque. We ate dinner at the tapas restaurant and tried multiple dishes, spicy shrimp with chorizo, scallops and the Mexican cheese plate. The food, atmosphere and service was excellent. After dinner we strolled the halls of the hotel admiring its unique but lovely atmosphere before retiring for the night.