Old Town Albuquerque

While in Santa Fe, we took a side trip to Albuquerque which is about an hour away.  And three Costcos to choose from!

We've always enjoyed the Old Town Plaza so we headed there.

I just love how these cities surround a historical plaza.  But I'm sure it takes a lot of maintenance to keep them looking good.

We were there during the week so it was very quiet but we enjoyed wandering around.

Old Town is the historic original town site of Albuquerque established in 1706.  It is listed on the New Mexico State Register of Cultural Properties as the Old Albuquerque Historic District and is protected by special historic zoning designation by the city.  The present-day district contains about ten blocks of historic adobe buildings surrounding Old Town Plaza.

The shops are all great and we checked out more turquoise (no, we didn't buy any).

It really was quiet even though the weather was great.

But the best part of the day was as we were walking back to the truck.  In my best Forrest Gump voice - "Lieutenant Dan, ice cream!"

Yes, we went inside.

As we sat outside eating our ice cream (cookie dough for me, salted chocolate for Ron), we saw a woman inside picking her flavor.  The server seemed to know her well.

When she came out of the shop, we asked her what flavor she got and that prompted a lengthy conversation with an interesting woman, Camy Condon (I think that is her pen name).

Conducting business while we talked

I'm not sure what brought her to Albuquerque but we learned that she was the first person to install solar panels on her house (at least that's her claim).   Years ago she helped to start a Solar Energy School in Brazil, speaks four languages, and has written many books.  If you ever go to Japan and want to know how to eat cheap, check out her book on Amazon.  She's in her mid 80's and could run circles around all of us.  What a treasure to meet her!

And now it's time to go to Costco - yee haw!!!

Santa Fe - Day 1

Santa Fe might just be our favorite city in the country so we made our way there so we could have a long visit in the area.  We've been many, many times in the past - most recently last fall when we took a road trip to enjoy the area.  We'd always wanted to stay in the heart of the historic district so in 2021 we fulfilled that wish and stayed here.

The El Dorado hotel celebrates Southwestern design with expression of creativity and New Mexican culture.  There are over 200 guest rooms, an award-winning spa, casual fine dining, and an exclusive rooftop pool.

The lobby is beautiful.

While we loved staying there last year, this time we weren't quite so fancy schmancy and stayed here instead.

Double trouble!  Which one is ours?

Ours is on the right.

The sunsets from the park were magnificent.

This was from the door of our trailer.

The historic plaza is such a wonderful place to explore.  While we're not "artsy fartsy" people, we do enjoy the art on display throughout the city.

WAIT - WHAT?  When was the last time you saw one of these?

  

Not artwork - more like an antique

In case you might not have figured it out, we love turquoise (interestingly, it's my birth stone) and it is considered the gem of good fortune.  So we checked out some of the shops.

It was mecca!

They even had shoes!

I'm sure you're wondering what I bought.  An early birthday present!

Now I need to get out of my sweats and t-shirts and go out to show it off

We took a break while the shop owner was making some adjustments to my new gift.

This is the rooftop cafe of one of our favorite restaurants, the Coyote Cafe.  We've eaten in the dining room before but never up here.  Ron had nachos, I took the opportunity to have my favorite, fish tacos.

We walked around this historic square - the changing trees were beautiful!

A tradition is visiting the Palace of the Governors which features Native Americans showing off (and selling) their wares.  The Palace is typically lined shoulder to shoulder with the sellers but at this time of year it was a little sparse.

It was a great day in a favorite city.  We'll be back soon!

Sedona, Arizona

Since Sedona is only about 30 minutes from Camp Verde, we took a day trip.

We've been here many times before but each time we go, we are in awe of the beauty.

One of the most famous rock formations might be 'Snoopy'.  Use your imagination - head on the left, tummy in the middle, feet on the right.  Can't you just see him lying on his dog house?

So many artistic things to see - these people had the right idea. We took one of these tours years ago with Ron's work group and it was a blast!

The main street is very cool.

There's something for everyone.

The sculptures are beautiful.

Red Rocks and the Cowboy Artist

A perfect time to raise some money for charity.

Since it was Halloween the city was decked out.

Boo!

Eeeeeeeek!

And then it was time for lunch and we made it to one of our favorite spots.

Check out our view from the patio.

We got back in the truck to see some of the sights.

One of the most famous homes in Sedona is the House of Seven Arches.

The house was built in 1978 by Herb Winebarger with the help of the Ball Brothers.  Herb sold the home to someone in Lucille Ball's family.  It has been sold several times over the years but for over 30 years, tours and locals have referred to the home as "Lucy's House" because Lucille Ball and her brother, Fred Ball, individually owned several properties in the surrounding area.  The Ball family stated that Lucy owned the entire hillside where the house is currently located.  The house is now owned by one of the former Doublemint Twins and for some years the twins lived together in the home.  A mannequin resembling Lucy can be seen on the balcony and Santa has been known to join her during the Christmas holiday.  You can barely see the mannequin on the balcony to the right of the right American flag.

On the way out of town we stopped to see some of the other rock formations.

Cathedral Rock

Bell Rock

It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed our visit.