Having come from Boeing families, both Tami and I have grown up fascinated with airplanes. When we discovered that one of the biggest airplane museums in the world (Pima Air & Space Museum – they advertise 150 planes inside and 150 planes outside) is in Tucson, we HAD to go.

In addition to the museum itself, this is also the location of the “Boneyard”, the place where the US military parks the planes that it has retired or mothballed. I have wanted to see this for years, but never thought I would have a chance. Then we discovered that it is next to the Pima Museum, AND that the museum ran tours of the boneyard, so we HAD to do that too!

We then spent the better part of the day just geeking out on airplanes. We took FAR more pictures that we can share here, but below is a small selection, with explanations.

In the boneyard

There are over 4000 planes in the boneyard

When I lived in Houston, we would see these C130 Hurcules’ at the air base near our home – I always thought they were very cool

Boneyard

There were also many smaller planes in the boneyard

While were there, there were planes from the air force base nest door constantly flying overhead – Tami had a hard time getting a photo as they flew by. These are A10 Warthogs. They are used to attack ground armor, so they are meant to fly low and slow. Our guide told us: “I’m not saying they are slow, but some pilots have reported bird strikes from behind.”

Back at the museum, this was a great name for a small flying boat

Mike has a particular fascination with flying boats – he asked Tami if he could get one of these for Xmas

Tami trying to get in the air

There were some interesting “art planes”, through we never found any explanation for them

Another art plane

Outside the museum there were planes lined up everywhere

A few helicopters

Cool airliner, I think the Seattle air museum has one of these

Either a Guppy or Super Guppy – NASA used these to fly rocket parts around

Like those back facing engines

When I lived in Houston, these T38’s were what the astronauts flew to keep their flying skills current. I have always thought they were one of the best looking little planes around, so of course I wanted one.

Tami has a big engine

Love the shape – 3 rows of windows! (Plane looks pregnant.)

One of the stranger looking planes we saw.

Tami with B29.

Our little gutless car whined its way up Tombstone Canyon out of Bisbee and we headed to… well, Tombstone. Tami really wanted to stop there knowing full well it would be very touristy but she always wanted to be a cowboy as everyone knows now, so we had to stop. It did not disappoint in being a tourist trap.If you always wanted to dress up like a cowboy (looking at you Tex), there were multiple stores that could fix you up with the whole deal. You would have thought Tami would want a bit of that, but we passed.

The funny thing was that as we drove into town they were doing some road maintenance on the Main Street with a backhoe and lots of guys in orange vests. Kind of took away from the ambiance.

Them ain’t no cowboy clothes

We wandered around regardless and noted that they had the OK Corral sealed up so tight that you couldn’t see a thing. Unless you bought a ticket, of course. So we kept wandering and got a few pictures of gunslingers that added to the atmosphere. We looked but couldn’t find a bakery, so decided to go find Boot Hill. You had to pay to see that, too, so we just headed on down the trail to Tucson, our destination for the night.

Were a few cowboys about

Outside OK Corral

First stop had to be lunch of course. Mike found another brewpub, Thunder Canyon (google maps is great for a road trip!). They were celebrating Oktoberfest so we ordered pork schnitzel and beef stroganoff, which were excellent choices.

Good beer!

Good stroganoff!

Good schnitzel!

After lunch we wandered around a little to get a feel for Tucson, but the main feeling we got was hot. Very hot. In the nineties hot. The obvious solution to the problem was to go find an air conditioned movie theater to spend a couple of hours and what a fine choice it was. We saw Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children and found it to be better than we expected and a fun way to spend the afternoon.

We are now relaxing in our hotel for the next two nights, the Lodge on the Desert. It is also a nice surprise as it is a very beautiful hotel spread out on gorgeous grounds at a very reasonable price. The room is very spacious and attractive with all the amenities, and the restaurant is locally sourced and delicious. A nice find here in the desert and while we have loved the quaint atmosphere of some of our historic hotel choices, the touch of luxury and spaciousness is a welcome change.

Nice adobe style hotel – dates back to 1931

Outside in the restaurant – beautiful setting and perfect temperature

And a very good spinach salad

Not sure what this was about – but reflects spirit of Bisbee

We left Silver City relatively early for us and headed south through a lot of brown, dry country. We stepped in Lordsburg for gas, a town that seemed to have more empty buildings than occupied ones and in fact we drove past several abandoned gas stations before we actually found one in operation. It was so busy we had to wait to get a pump. For all we know, it was the only operating station in town. Needless to say, we weren’t impressed with Lordsburg.

As we made our way out of a small mountain range we had just crossed, we spotted two heavily-laden cyclists heading uphill as we were making the last gradual descent after a very long, steep, winding descent. It was only nine in the morning but the temperature was already approaching 80 degrees. We saw them and groaned in sympathy. They had a very hard ride ahead of them.

Douglas is a town in Arizona that is right on the border with Mexico, and when we were within about 50 miles of it we started seeing Border Patrol trucks around. They even had a checkpoint to stop and inspect all northbound cars at one point on the very untraveled highway we were taking. They just waved at us as we went by headed towards Mexico. Once we made it to Douglas we got within about ten blocks of the border but neglected to go and see The Wall. We were just anxious to get on to Bisbee.

Bisbee was a main destination for this trip because we are both fans of several of J A Jance’s series of mysteries. We first started reading a series set in Seattle featuring J P Beaumont. Later we discovered a second series featuring Joanna Brady that are set here in Bisbee. Jance grew up in Bisbee and we have always enjoyed the setting of that series, so here was a chance to see it in person.

Bisbee was founded as a mining town in 1880 and you can tell that the Copper Queen mine was everything for this town. As you approach the town, the first thing you see is the huge mountain of mine tailings as well as the nearly one thousand foot deep open pit mine. The mines were finally closed in the 70’s, but mining recovery techniques have improved so much that if the price of copper ever goes up significantly, they will be able to recover nearly as much copper from the tailings as they originally found.

We were quite taken with Bisbee. It is set within a fairly steep-sided canyon so that everything is placed on hillsides and many of the old downtown buildings have been preserved. It is a very scenic town, with quite a few galleries (though most were closed – typical off season hours are something like Thursday through Sunday, and today is only Monday). We really enjoyed the ambiance and setting and were very happy to find a room in the Copper Queen Hotel, which was built in 1898 and is allegedly haunted. We haven’t seen any ghosts yet.

Hotel safe behind the front desk

Hotel lobby / reading area

Main street in Bisbee

Mike was VERY disappointed they were closed

Now the Stock Exchange Saloon & Grill

Old Mansion that now backs up to tailings mound – seems somehow fitting

We also learned about a jeep tour we could take that would take us all around Bisbee, specifically pointing out places relevant to the Jance books. Sign us up! Gary met us out in front of our hotel and drove us around Bisbee for over two hours. It was a great tour and Gary told us all kinds of fun stuff about Bisbee and Jance (he went to school with her and she has also gone on the tour). We also liked it when he pointed out that even Jance says she can’t remember exactly which events happened in which book, just like us.

Jance’s childhood home

Sheriff’s office where fictional Joanna Brady works

The city was built on hillsides so steep that many of the houses are only accessible by steep staircases. The city is known for its many long, steep staircases and they just had their famous annual run, the Bisbee 1000, in which runners cover nine long staircases with over 1000 steps total and just under five miles. The roads are also extremely narrow and it felt more like Europe driving through those streets than it did a southwest town!

He also pointed out that if you ever want to buy a house in Bisbee, make sure the address does not have a letter above A or B after it. Many houses are not on any street, but rather up one or another of the steep staircases. The house numbers have letters added according to how far away from the street they are. Thus, 9 is next to the street, 9A is next up that stairs, and 9F would be seven houses up the stairs from the street. Carrying groceries home can be quite the challenge. The high school is listed in Ripley’s Believe It Or Not – it has four floors but each floor has a street-level entrance because the street next to it is so steep. This place has character!

Looking down on Bisbee from up on the hillside – there are still houses above us

We had dinner in the hotel saloon and while it was nothing fancy, it was well prepared and very tasty. There was even a fellow playing guitar and singing old favorites while we ate. We are enjoying our stay in this little time machine back a hundred years, but tomorrow it is on to Tombstone and Tucson!

Our goal today was Silver City, NM, an old mining town up in the hills. On the way, however, we decided to visit Chloride, a semi-ghost town in the hills above Truth or Consequences (yes, that really is the name of a town). It was a good ways up to Chloride, maybe an hour to drive the 30 miles, but it was pretty country – rolling hills, rocks, dry but with small trees, and at one point cows on the road.

House for sale oin the way to Chloride – maybe Ballard’s prices aren’t so inflated

Chloride itself reputably has 11 residents, but there may be a few more part timers. The ghost town part has been fixed up by the family that owns it. We got the tour with the adult daughter of the couple who purchased it back in 1977 and started fixing it up. She told us the whole story about how her parents had stumbled on the property while on vacation and, once they realized it was not just an old western movie set, decided on the spot they wanted to buy it. They managed to find a local who knew something about the property and who owned it. She let them use her phone to call the woman who owned the property, but warned them the woman could be rather crabby and might even cuss them out.

Well, they managed to contact the owner, and she started swearing as soon as she answered the phone, and kept it up through the whole conversation. They persevered, however, and were finally able to make a deal with the owner. After they finally got off the phone, they told the woman who let them use the phone that she was right, the owner really was a nasty piece of work and asked how she happened to know such a disagreeable person. “Oh, she’s my sister”, was the reply.

One building had been the general store. It had closed back in the early 1900’s, but when it was closed, all the contents had been left intact. The current owners have turned it into a museum, still set up as a general store and featuring all the goods they found when they opened it up.

Museum

Tami spotted cool lab equipment! (for assaying ore)

Mike spotted a wall of cool tools!

Tami does not want to wear a hoop skirt

Another building had been restored to house a cafe where we had lunch (I got green chili chowder and Tami had the ubiquitous green chili burger). Several other buildings had been set up as exhibits, as a gift store, and as rental cabins. We really enjoyed the visit and thought it was definitely worth the drive up.

The cafe

Exhibit cabin

Inside cabin

Chloride National Forest

After we came back down we drove through Truth or Consequences, but were NOT impressed. Dry and dusty and not much to see.

From there we took the “short cut” to Silver City. The route did considerably shorten the distance (think one side of a square, with the other route being the other three sides of the square). The price was a climb up windy mountain roads up over a high pass. It was slow but beautiful. Tami really earned her beer by the time we reached Silver City!

Nearly to the pass

From the pass

Silver City has a very cool old downtown with more than its share of galleries, surrounded by a significant area of modern sprawl. Unfortunately because it was late afternoon on a Sunday, all the galleries were closed. We did manage to find a nice brewpub, however, which also had some great pastrami and green chili burgers (see below).

As usual we forget to take pictures BEFORE we ate, but here are the remenants

We are staying at the Palace Hotel, a fun little old fashioned hotel, actually a bit reminiscent of the Palace Hotel in Port Townsend.

Tomorrow we are off to Bisbee, AZ, home of the fictional Sheriff Joanna Brady from the series by JA Jance, a mystery author we have enjoyed over the years.

First thing this morning we called about a train ride up into the mountains that Mike had spotted online. According to their website, the trains ran every Saturday and sounded quite fun and scenic. However, a phone call revealed that at they haven’t run since 2014! Too bad, but we decided to go ahead and check out of our hotel and get on down the road. We gathered up a pile of accumulated stuff and took it to UPS to ship it home. It’s nice to send that stuff on home and not worry about carting it around and fitting it into our luggage later on.

Last night we found that Truth or Consequences hotels were quite booked so we altered our initial plan and found a place in Socorro, which is a little closer but not a place we’d ever heard of. Guess we’ll find out!

Before leaving Santa Fe, we had to make a stop at the farmers market, back at the Railyard district where we had dinner last night. There were lots of stalls with great local produce, including many types of peppers, of course. Mike would have loved to bring a whole selection home. There were also many inviting stalls with food to eat and we settled on a homemade green chile sausage for Mike, a kielbasa for Tami, and a shared slice of mushroom and onion flatbread. There were many other yummy looking items, but we couldn’t try them all (not even us). We walked by several booths roasting barrels of green chiles, too, as we wandered through some art booths. The smell got better and better as we walked around. It was probably good that we left before we got hungry again.

Santa Fe farmer’s market

Tami liked this car at the farmer’s market

Roasting chilies!

While at the market, we spotted a woman expressing her thoughts on the impending election (see picture!). It reminds us of how refreshing it is to be in New Mexico after Utah and Arizona. In general it is far more liberal here and while we see very few presidential campaign signs, they have been exclusively for Hillary.

We got a pin from her too

Back in the car again and headed south past Albuquerque and on to Socorro. There was really not a lot to see on the drive. Rolling brown hills leading to distant brown mountains, all covered with sage, and clear blue skies. The freeway paralleled the path of the Rio Grande and we could see the wide green swath of trees marking the course of the river. Along the river it seemed to be a continuous series of farming communities. We saw some vineyards and orchards and overall it was reminiscent of the Yakima valley.

Kind of sums up Socorro, at least the tourist main drag

Sunset in Sucorro

We understand they empty the pool at our hotel once the temperatures get down to 85

Socorro was once a large and bustling mining town that even had its own opera house, which is still standing. It is also the home of the New Mexico mining college, but it is a very sleepy town now. The town plaza was nearly empty except for a small group of Hispanic men strumming guitars and singing, and the Capitol Bar had a BBQ grill emitting wonderful smells that wafted across the square. One footnote to the political comment above: here we’ve seen two Trump signs! Egads! But it is very rural here.

Park in the plaza

Capitol Bar

The story of the Baca House

Baca House today

Interesting local lawman

We stopped in a gallery of local artists and the shopkeeper asked if we were there for the 49ers and Mike, being the smartass he is, said he didn’t know they played in Socorro. Either she didn’t get it or pretended she didn’t hear and explained that it was a big reunion of the mining college, the 49er Miners. That’s what the big BBQ at the Capitol Bar was all about, but that was winding down now. We said we were just passing through from Santa Fe to Silver City, and she did seem to think we were actually from Santa Fe. Oh well, no matter. Then another local wandered into the shop and asked if we were there for the trains. Or that’s what Mike and Tami heard, and we were both wondering where they were keeping trains in this little town, and what were they doing with the trains? But then we realized she said ‘cranes’ because she went on to talk about birds and show us pictures of cranes. Aaah! That makes more sense. Apparently at this time of year they are migrating through and many birders show up to enjoy them.

Before arriving in town, Mike had done his research and had spotted a brewpub in town, Socorro Springs Brewery. After our initial drive through town we realized that this was probably the best choice and after our brief wander around the small town square we found our way to the pub and some baby back ribs accompanied by some good brews, of course. Oops! We ate them before pictures again, but tomorrow we’ll do better!

Now we are back in our room watching college football (alas, no Huskies this week, but the Cougs are on) and just finished checking in with Keenan to make sure the house is still standing and he is not being blown out to sea. Sounds like he has it all completely under control, which is great to hear!

As we read news of the impending mega storm about to pummel Seattle we appreciate the sunny 75 degree days we are enjoying here in New Mexico. We certainly hope all stay safe and dry in the rainy and windy Pacific Northwest. We’ll be checking the updates tomorrow, ya sur ya betcha!

Today we headed up to Taos by way of a highway that at times followed the Rio Grande river and the Rio Grande Gorge. (We also spotted a distillery to stop at, but it did not open until later – DARN!)

The scenery was enhanced by the changing colors of the trees along the river. At some points the road overlooked the vast plain stretching to the west with the gorge cutting a deep chasm through the unending plain. It was dramatic and beautiful and far too vast to try and capture in a picture. But we did manage to get a few pictures of the river and trees! The hard part was finding places to pull over on the narrow highway to take pictures – Mike finally resorted to taking some out the window as we drove.

Fly fishing – Tami would like to be out there

On our way to Taos, we made a stop at the Santa Clara Pueblo. On our last visit a quarter century ago, we also stopped at the Pueblo and visited a number of artists in their shops where they were showing some of their pottery. It’s one of our favorite styles and we bought one small pot back then. We had hoped to see some more pots directly from the artists again because we haven’t been seeing much of this style so far on this trip. As we drove through the Pueblo, though, there was not a single sign for anyone showing any work so we had to head back out. It seemed kind of odd, but perhaps it’s more worthwhile for them to just offer their art through the galleries now. We were disappointed but times change!

Taos was a far different town than our last visit as well. What had previously been a very small town with just a shop or two was now a much larger town with blocks of galleries and shops. Like in Santa Fe, we wandered around until our shoe leather was burning, before driving up towards Taos Pueblo. Unfortunately it was too late in the day to go inside the Pueblo, but the drive there was nice.

Tami liked this blue gate in Taos.

Seen on the way up to the Pueblo

There were also a lot more restaurants and we were fortunate to get steered to a wonderful lunch choice by one of the locals, Bella’s Mexican Grill. This was not just any Mexican restaurant. We started with a roasted ear of corn that was wonderfully seasoned with spicy mayo, lime, and red chili powder; followed by a green chile stuffed with seasoned beef (it actually tasted somewhat middle eastern – from the menu: “Chile en Nogada –  fresh fire roasted poblano chile, stuffed with ground beef, tomato, almonds, raisins, apples, jerez, walnut, cream, pomegranate); and a sopapilla filled with Mayan pork (seasoned with orange and pineapple). We split both entrees and while we forgot to get a picture of the corn, which was truly photograph worthy, we did get a picture of the entrees after we had split them. Some of the best food yet.

This is for you Peggy!

The drive back to Santa Fe followed the same road, but it seemed like an entirely different drive for most of it as we followed the river again with the sun setting. Truly beautiful country.

It was evening by the time we got back to Santa Fe, so we headed right to dinner to finish out the day at the Second Street Brewery (beer was sounding really good after a long day of driving and walking). This brewery is located in the Railyard district of the city, which seems to be kind of the up and coming hip part of town (so hip in fact that one of the waiters sported a combination of a twirled handlebar mustache and unnaturally bright red red hair). They had a good selection of brews and we finished off the day with two wonderful dinners, and even got pictures again, as requested! It was Oktoberfest week, so Tami had the chicken schnitzel with mushroom gravy and Mike had the farmer’s platter that included lamb sausage.

Chicken and mushroom schnitzel

Lamb sausage, cheese, several chutneys, and sprout salad

Getting dark out the window

As we were finishing our meals a band started playing what we thought of as Hispanic folk music that was thoroughly enjoyable. We could have easily stayed to listen longer, but it was time to get back to the room to collapse and relax after a busy day.

After 25 years we are once again in Santa Fe. Yesterday we took our time driving from Albuquerque to Santa Fe, taking the back highway that follows the Turquoise Trail. The road was not paved in turquoise, but it is the region where a lot of a specific type of turquoise has been mined since well before the Spanish came. It is apparently nearly mined out now, but it is a beautiful drive and we came across a couple of nice small towns.

Our lunch stop was in Madrid (pronounced MAD-rid), which was a former mining town that had pretty much become a ghost town by the mid-twentieth century, but was revived in the seventies. Now it is a bit of an arts colony, but also clearly a very close knit community.

Downtown Madrid

At one point we were in the chocolate shop (just looking, of course) when a crowd of people came into the shop and accidentally let one of the shop dogs, Mr. Taos, out the door. Arby, the shop owner, was busy with customers but no worries, one of the locals was also in the shop and headed out immediately with a leash to round up Mr. Taos.

We had lunch in the Mine Shaft Tavern, a local landmark, where the food was delicious and the atmosphere was fun. Our friend Julie had told us that New Mexico green chili cheeseburgers were a thing not be missed, so Mike tried his first of the trip. It was WONDERFUL. Not only did it have chopped green chili relish on it like many things here, but it ALSO had a whole deep fried green chili on it (and an extra on the side).

Mine Shaft Tavern

Some great murals over the bar in the Mine Shaft Tavern

After lunch we moseyed on down the road to Santa Fe, checked into our hotel, and followed the Sounders game via twitter and streaming radio. Nope, not a victory, only a draw, so clinching the playoffs will have to wait.

This morning took us to Old Town Santa Fe, one of our biggest memories of our previous trip. It’s still a very interesting area to explore.

Didn’t see THAT coming

We wandered into an unassuming place for lunch called the Plaza Cafe only to discover that it is the oldest restaurant in Santa Fe, established in 1905. It was a classic diner and full of locals. We understood why after our food came as it was quite good. Mike thoroughly enjoyed the seasonal special, pumpkin chorizo posole (have to try making that at home), and Tami had a very hearty bowl of tortilla soup.

We noticed a small band playing in the main plaza, including a trombone player (something we always pick up on), so we wandered over to investigate. They were quite good, and played some old jazzy tunes, like “Don’t Mean a Thing”, so we had to get a CD from them. They called themselves the Speakeasy Jazz Cats, and said they had actually formed the band in Seattle, and might be going back there. The CD came in a brown paper bag with no notes or even song titles, so I hope we can figure out what is what when we get home.

Speakeasy Jazz Cats

We were also amused to wander into one pottery shop and spot an Acoma style pot with a large Seahawks logo on the side. We told them if that had been a Sounders logo we’d have bought it! The weather was perfect today and we wandered until our feet were nearly falling off, but wanted to head back to the little mall near our hotel for dinner. Yes, you read that right. We went to the mall for dinner. Last night we went to the mall for a stop at the drugstore for cold medicine due to Tami’s untimely acquisition of an annoying cold virus. As we walked by a restaurant near the mall entrance, we noticed a hand-written sign that said “Lamb ribs will be back Thursday night”. Well hey, we’d better check that out! Lamb ribs are one of Tami’s favorites things and very, very hard to even buy in the grocery store any more. So that’s why we were at the mall for dinner and we soon found that this was a popular place with the locals where many people seemed to know each other. The ribs arrived and oh my, but they were good! By the time we left there were many people waiting for tables and we certainly understood why!

Sky City – pueblo on the cliffs

Today we travelled to Sky City, and no, we were not visiting the Jetsons. Sky City is the ancestral home of the Acoma Pueblo situated on the top of a mesa about 15 miles off I-40. Visitors are allowed to visit Sky City during certain periods in the summer season, but are only allowed on the mesa if accompanied by a guide. There is a museum and Cultural Center at the base of the mesa, and tours leave from there.

The Acoma Pueblo has a very distinctive style of pottery, one that we have admired since our first visit, so we were very glad that it was open today because it was closed over the entire previous weekend for a festival. We arrived in time to catch some lunch at the cafe before our tour and were delighted to find such good food. Mike had the Green Chile Pork Stew with fry bread, probably the best of the trip so far, and Tami had the blue corn enchiladas that were quite different than yesterday’s enchiladas, but also very good.

The tour included a fair amount of history and also frequent stops to see pottery available by many of the locals. It was obviously a bit of a sales tour, but that was okay because we saw a lot of variety and had a chance to talk with the artists. Tami had fun learning about their techniques and materials and dreams of one day getting back to doing some pottery.

Tables of pottery by houses

Sky City has been continuously occupied by the Acoma since around 1100 AD. The encounters with the Spanish Conquistadors and early Catholic Church were particularly brutal and devastating to the Acoma, and encounters with the US government were obviously not advantageous to them either. The museum had many current member stories and they were fun to read. Many of the older members clearly find the loss of the language as one of the greatest tragedies since their history is all oral, but they are beginning to teach the young people their language in preschools now.

Sky City has no water, sewage, or electricity. Water must be brought up to the homes, and we noted many portapotties located throughout the community. There were also many new solar-powered green composting toilets, too. Other than the solar toilets, it is a very traditional looking place, albeit  with some modern touches (since people do live there).

Homes

In many places there were traditional ladders leading to upper stories, but in a few places there were white ladders. We were told the white ladders led to kiva entrances. The kivas are religious gathering places and generally only men are allowed in. Interestingly, the kivas seem to be about the only thing the men are allowed to own, as it is a matriarchal society and women own the houses, and just about everything else. Our female guide said something to the effect of “Yay us!”

When we were done, we elected to walk back down to the Cultural Center rather than take the bus which had brought us up. This meant taking the stair case built and sometimes carved into the rock down the cliff. Before the road was built to the top, this was the only way up or down, and dates back centuries. In some places it was VERY steep, but we took our time and made it without falling. Yay us!

stairs down, with handholds carved into rock

road up

We woke to clear blue skies which seemed surprising after yesterday’s storm, but it made us quite happy. Back to wearing shorts! We had to spend the entire morning preparing and running payroll remotely, but it was good to get that task done and have it work smoothly. On to having fun! Of course what with sleeping late and running payroll, we didn’t get out of here until about 11:30. However, that just means we made it to our first stop just in time for lunch!

Our first stop today was the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center (thanks for the tip, Julie!). Being starved at this point (MAYBE an overstatement), we headed first for the attached restaurant. Tami had the blue corn enchiladas with green chilies and grilled chicken – yum! Mike had a wonderful posole that was amazingly thick with pork and hominy. (Mike is on a mission to try pozole/posole at as many places as possible on this trip, though we also have to follow up on Julie recommendation to try the green chili burgers as well).

The museum itself features the 19 Pueblos of the region and we learned a lot about the local people and their culture, history, and art. It was also an Indigenous Day festival so there were some speakers in the courtyard and LOTS of teenagers running loose throughout the museum. We survived quite well, though, and made it into the gift shop to scope things out (less teens in there).

We next headed down to the Old Town part of Albuquerque and discovered far more good quality galleries than we had really anticipated. There were certainly plenty of touristy little tchotchke shops, but we found many better shops that kept us busy shopping and chatting with people. The Seattle ‘thing’ continued and we met more people who have either lived there, know someone who just moved there, or really want to visit. Our favorite find was the raven sculpture that blended NW and SW native design work – and you gotta love the shoes! We understand the artist is from the SW, but spent some time in the NW.

SW/NW Raven

Tami found some beautiful jewelry and Mike found, well, Mike got two pairs of socks. But don’t feel too sorry for him. He did try on some gorgeous bracelets, including the beautiful Zuni bracelet that emitted a loud ‘CRACK’ as he tried to put it on. The clerk grabbed his hand away, we all gasped, and it was hurriedly examined for damage. Phew, it was all right! They were very good natured about it but we were very relieved.

In another shop, after we had discussed some art we liked with each other and the clerk, the other clerk asked us if we were newlyweds. We looked at each other, thinking “Whaaat?” We replied, that no, we had been married 35 years. She seemed surprised, and said “but you both seem to get along so well”. I guess they see a lot of older couples shopping who spend more time crabbing at each other. (We just save the crabbing until we get home.)

We also found a tour that we thought Melinda and Kevin would enjoy if they ever make it here. Wish we had time to fit it in.

See the carwash! See Walter’s house!