Settling In in Albuquerque

Settling In in Albuquerque

Our homeowners left for their holiday this morning; they have been having an interesting few days co-ordinating their holiday and their plans have changed a few times. They did manage to leave this morning though and we are hoping they have an enjoyable time. The dog was getting the idea yesterday that "mom and dad" were leaving and had a spell of missing them before they had even left. This morning after they had left, she disapeared for a few minutes and then came and checked in with me for a few pets, then off outside for a nap in the shade and things seem fine. She and Roy have gone for a walk at the moment; the cats on the other hand don't seem to concerned.
I had a few things on a list that I wanted to purchase while we were here and so made our way to the shops yesterday. I managed to get a lounge chair for our deck (Roy insists he doesn't want one??), a kitchen funnel (can't seem to find such a thing in Mex.) and joy of joys a new camera. It is a Nikon Coolpix L1- 6.2 MP, 5x optical zoom, so I am hoping that I get more fun than frustration out of using it than the old one.

Sun and Shadows

Ulysses the cat.

Night time in the yard.
Everything on the blog looks all upside down the last couple of days for some reason, so I have posted these photos in the smallest size, hoping that will help. You can still view the full size photo by clicking on it. We will see, I am getting very frustrated with blogger, it seems that everytime when I go to the blog, something else has gone wacky.
Just a note to Roys cousin Steve. Thanks for the comments on the photo re-sizing; the people were not commenting on the load time for the regular photos but on a slide show thing I had put on the blog for a couple of days. I think by the time you came to the blog I had already removed it. Thanks anyway and nice to see that you are keeping up with us.
Hasta Luego.

To Albuquerque

To Albuquerque

We had a good trip to the border and the crossing into the US took only minutes, I think there were only 3 cars ahead of us in our lane. We stopped in Nogales, Arizona for lunch and continued on Highway 82 to Sonoita, Whetstone and then headed north on #90 to interstate 191. We spent the night in Benson, Arizona. We followed the 191 into New Mexico, to Deming where we took #26 to Nutt and then the #27 to Lake Valley which is designated as a "Ghost town" and it truly is. On to Hillsboro another Ghost Town; bust this one has some inhabitants. We then fogged over to Interstate #10 where we again got off onto a side highway running alonside the interstate. We followed this one north for part of the day until we reached the junction of # 60. We took the 60 to Mountainair where we intended to spend the night. The motel we had stayed at before was closed for renovations and the other small towns had no accomadations so we continued into Albuquerque. After settling in and eating we called the homeowners where we are housesitting and arranged to meet them the next evening.
With all the recent rains the desert is a lovely rainbow of color. Plants and shrubs blooming in every color: red, pink, orange, blue, purple, yellow, white; all capreting the landscape as far as your eye can see. It is hard to believe that the desert can be so colorful.










We had arranged to meet the homowners at 7 PM Sunday evening, so after checking out of the hotel we decided to head to Santa Fe for the day. We spent the day wandering around the "old town" area, looking at the old buildings and viewing the many art galleries. It is a nice place to visit; but too touristy for us. In 2010 Santa Fe will be 400 yrs. old. The Palace of the Governors dates from 1610 and is the oldest public building in the US, according to the Santa Fe visitors guide. Loretto Chapel (1878) is lovely and is home to the legendary "miraculous" staircase. The Romanesque Cathedral Basilicas of St. Francis of Assisi houses a 380 year old statue of the Virgen Mary, the city's patroness. The plaza was full of "sales" tents so was not a nice , quiet place to sit and enjoy the ambiance of the city.


Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi







Loretto Chapel

We returned to Albuquerque to meet the homeowners and spent the night at their home, visiting and getting to know the animals. On Monday we drove down to " old town" Albuquerque and spent a good part of the day wandering. We visited the Natural History Museum, which was great and walked around the Old Town Plaza. We again visited many art galleries and listened to some musicians originally from Ecuador. We really liked their music and purchased one of their CDs. We enjoyed old town Albuquerque much more than Santa Fe. It is not as touristy and we had more personal space. We will definately be returning to this area a few more times during our stay here.


Entrance to Old Town Plaza, Albuquerque, New Mexico




More photos on the Photo Album # 3 on sidebar in album My Public Shoebox, for some reason it didn't accept my album name. Or just click here:
http://good-times.webshots.com/album/553821990teTOaL