Albuquerque, New Mexico

New Mexico

As we crossed the state line into New Mexico, it got greener and hillier and eventually turned into a really beautiful landscape with rocky, scrubby mountains and rolling hills.  We set up camp without too much hassle and headed into town for my birthday dinner at Olive Grove which was lovely.  I got asked for ID when I ordered a wine and was very chuffed about that….until the couple next to us got asked for ID too and they were 50 in the shade.  Guess I should have paid to drink from that fountain of youth in Florida afterall!

Justin almost drove off the road when he looked up and saw this, thought it was coming right at us!

Making friends with Denver

The next day we headed for Old Town Plaza, this is a gorgeous pocket of the city that they have retained as a cultural heritage spot.  It is cowboy meets indian meets Mexican and there is a lovely square there with a beautiful church that is still used today.  The town centre was built in 1703. It was a beautiful day to have a nosy around all the shops.  We stopped for a lovely meal at one of the hidden cafes (down alleyways with hidden gardens etc) and enjoyed the live music there.  Leo was mesmerised by the guitar.  He has often played with his Grandad Pit’s guitar but never actually seen one played properly and he just couldn’t take his eyes off it.  Eventually the busker gave him some shakers to use and Leo did a brilliant job of keeping rhythm for AGES.  We had to drag him away to have some lunch.  The busker liked Leo’s job so much he gave us his CD for free, Leo keeps this CD safe in his toy bag and brings it out to look at it every so often “this guy can sing really well mummy”.

Old Town Plaza

Spencer with Chilly the Chef

San Felip De Neri

Our cafe for the day

Leo rocking with his shakers

Our little cowboy

After Old Town we headed for Sandia Peak.  This mountain overlooks the city and reminds us a little bit of Table Mountain towering over Cape Town, it really is beautiful.  You can take the world’s longest tram ride (gondola) to the top but we just took Louie, who did a great job getting us all the way up (10,400 feet approx.).  What a view from the top!  You can see the mountain ranges and then the plains that go on forever.

Albuquerque from Sandia Peak

Leo survived his first long drop…mummy didn’t fare so well.  Peering down into that fetid hole whilst helping Leo perch on the side is not something I’d like to do again.  Leo was fine and took it all in his stride, announcing “my pooh pooh fell a long way down Daddy” as we marched back into the café.  Suddenly I wasn’t the only one a shade of green, the other diners wish they hadn’t heard that.

The interesting thing about Route 66 is that we are meeting a lot of people heading in the same direction as us and seeing them in all the RV parks.  I suppose it’s because there is really nowhere else to go once you are on it, the diversions are into parks or slightly off track but mostly everyone we meet is headed for Grand Canyon, Vegas, LA etc.

We drove through another time change without knowing it, we lost an hour so very tired kids on our hands.