Madison and Mom/Grandma Visit May 11-18, 2013

Madison and "Grandma" came to visit us in New Mexico for a week in May. We spent three nights in Albuquerque, two nights in Taos, and three nights in Santa Fe. We had a ball tooling around the northern part of the state; ate great food everywhere we went and saw many, many super-cool things. It was a memorable week and it was great for Oliver and I to have time with them both. The week kicked-off with a Mother's Day brunch at the oldest Hilton Hotel in the country and its restaurant "Lucia's". We felt like royalty dining here and enjoyed a private table on their outdoor terrace.

Mom arrived hours ahead of Madison, so we strolled through the downtown area in ALB en route to a dinner at a pub near our hotel where we could watch an NBA playoff game.

When Madison's late-arriving plane came in she was hungry. We left Grandma at the hotel to rest and took her to eat in the "NobHill" section of ALB, on the campus of University of New Mexico. It is a very cool part of the city with lots of shops and college-esque restaurants.

More scenes from our Mother's Day brunch at Sophia's.

Images from downtown ALB. 

After eating our brunch, we went to the Petroglyph NM to hike and explore the thousands of carvings in the rocks of these hills, just on the outskirts of Albuquerque. It was a fascinating place and we all enjoyed being outside and taking it all in.

The Visitor's Center at PNM was also a nice place to learn more about the area.

We did a few hikes in the park. This one took us up the mountain with a close-up view of hundreds of the ancient "graffiti" to find.

We left Grandma at the bottom of the trail. If you look closely you will see her waving at us from underneath the shaded canopy, to the right of the parking lot.

Grandma came along with us on this trail. It was a nice one, with lots of interesting graphics to see and photograph. No one really knows how all of these images translate, but you can certainly try to guess at what they were communicating with some of them.

More petroglyphs to see and try to interpret. 

To wrap up our Mother's Day, we went to Old Town ALB for some music, shopping and dinner. Here are some of the images from that evening.

Not wanting the day to end, we stopped for yet another sight on the trip back to the hotel from Old Town. This is at a small park, connected to a city-wide bike path along the Rio Grande River. We enjoyed the cool breeze and perfect temps of the night.

Our second day took us to a stop at the Turquoise Museum in ALB where we learned all about the mining and processing of Turquoise. They do not allow photographs at the museum, which is accessible only through a scheduled daily tour, which we really enjoyed. After lunch at the Standard Diner on old Rte 66 in ALB, we took a drive up the "Turquoise Trail" a back route adjacent to I-25 that takes you through a few small artsy, touristy towns. We were slightly disappointed by this part of our trip as we felt it did not live up to the marketing hype our of research. There were some stores with interesting local art, cool pieces of pottery and we also took advantage of our new found knowledge of turquoise to look around and ask questions of the shopkeepers. Below is a photo of the historic church in Cerrillos. Above is the main drag in Madrid. These are two of the small towns along the 60 mile route between ALB and Santa Fe.

We ended the day with a fantastic meal at ALBs Artichoke Cafe. 

On our trip from ALB to Taos, we stopped for a hike at the Kasha-Katuwe National Monument; otherwise known as the "Tent Rocks" Park. We spent hours here, taking a really cool hike through the canyon and up to the peaks of this interesting place. Below are probably more images than you really want to see of our time there. You will see why it is called the "Tent Rocks" park.

Lathering up with sun protection in the parking lot. Madison let Grandma wear her sorority letters, something she tells us is a "privilege". Grandma was reluctant to do the hike, but with plenty of encouragement from her grandkids, she was a trooper and made it most of the way with us.

The final mile of the hike was straight up, so we left grandma to cool off in the shade and wait, while we made the final ascent to the top of the trail. It was a challenging part of the trail, but the scenery became more  incredible with each step.

Back with Grandma again to finish the loop and get back to the car for our trip up to Taos.

We loved our lodging in Taos; the "Inn on the Rio", just a mile outside of the historic downtown. The owners have put a lot of love into the place, decorating it with traditional SW pieces and adding many hand-painted murals and flowers around the grounds. We loved it there and enjoyed the morning breakfasts in the lobby area.

While in Taos, we spent a morning at the Taos Pueblo, the oldest inhabited pueblo in the country, still housing 200 of its native people. We took a tour of the grounds and shopped in many of the small shops within the complex, that are owned and operated by some of the 3000 descendants of the original inhabitants of the pueblo.

We ate lunch at the Tiwa Kitchen, just outside of the Pueblo. Here we enjoyed traditional Native American dishes prepared with local ingredients. It was fun and tasty.

After our time in the Taos Pueblo, we went to a small village of Arroyo Seco and enjoyed time in their shops.  The weather took a turn while here, and it actually started to rain - something they need desperately in this part of the country.

After our stop in Arroyp Seco, we drove out to the Rio Grand Gorge Bridge. It lived up to its billing as a "must-stop" while in the Taos area. It was windy and overcast, as the rain moved through the area.

A hot tub at the end of the day, at our Inn on the Rio. It felt great and it was also cool to look up at the crystal-clear night sky.

More scenes from the Inn on the Rio, taken as we were packing-up to move onto the next sto.

We spent the late morning, early afternoon shopping and walking around the historic Taos Plaza before moving onto Santa Fe. It was a wonderful and easy area to explore and there were many interesting and cook shops to check out.

Another meal outside. The weather was really perfect during our visit, never too hot or too cold.

On the trip from Taos to Santa Fe, we stopped at a roadside pull-out to enjoy skipping a few stones in the Rio Grande River.

We were pleasantly surprised by an amazing upgrade upon our arrival into Santa Fe. The Las Palomas Inn, just down the road from the Santa Fe Plaza, gave us this three BR suite at no additional cost! Wow. It was the perfect place to spend our final three nights together.

This is our own private patio!

Here are some scenes from the Santa Fe Plaza. 

Santa Fe is a charming city, full of life, history and art. We learned that it is the third largest art city in the country, behind NYC and LA, based on volume of art sold. We really enjoyed our time here and enjoyed the many stores, restaurants and galleries.

Here we are ready to take on the Plaza in Santa Fe. This is where the historic Santa Fe Trail ended, back in the day of westward expansion.

 Wee took a 90-minute trolley tour which was fun and educational. It was also nice to sit for while and let someone else do the driving!

 The trolley took us to Canyon Rd in Santa Fe, home to dozens of art galleries and some of the best food in the country. When the tour was over we came back to eat at one of the restaurants that the tour guide recommended - it was fabulous.

 More scenes from the tour and Canyon Rd.

Packing and getting ready to leave tomorrow. Remembering our many stops and reviewing all of the souvenirs! It was a great week. We are already planning another summer trip - this one to Texas.  

Below we are enjoying our final dinner of the trip at Geronimo's on Canyon Rd in Santa Fe. It was beyond nice and good and we were treated like kings and queens.