Albuquerque Day 6 Shooting Match at Founders Ranch

Saturday - Feb 25 - We drove 25 miles out to Edgewood to find the monthly cowboy match had been cancelled.  They were teaching a concealed weapons class which we were invited to join. We were also told we could shoot at the range.  But it was 29 degrees with a cold wind blowing, so we declined.  We decided to walk the stages, some of which were permanent.  I planned to take some pictures of us in cowboy wear, but I only got two pictures taken before my camera died.  This was a cute stage because it was a cantina with chili peppers as the targets:

So we drove into Edgewood for coffee and complaining.

Later in the afternoon, we visited Sarah at her house to see what new changes she had made as she was just approved for foster care.  In fact, she had her first foster child already at her house.  This is a very nice thing that she is doing and she is excited to do so.

Later that evening, we had an old Mason dinner of Kufti's and Pilaf that Janet, Jim and I prepared. Sarah and Anna and Beth also joined us.  After dinner it was more Skip Bo and an early bedtime.

Albuquerque Day 5A - A religion sampling

Friday February 24
After dropping Jim back at Janet's, Becky and I toured some unique religious buildings in Albuquerque.  What first caught my eye was the combination Jewish/Christian building on a busy road near Helen's office.  The building is apparently joinly used by both a Jewish Synagogue and an Anglican Church.  As you may know, the Anglican is the church of Henry the VIII. It was the catholic church prior to Henry becoming the head of the church in England rather than the pope in Rome.  You can see the Jewish Star of David atop the church:

The Buddhist Temple was nearby and is Thai Buddhism:

Next stop was the Islamic Center of New Mexico:

Then the Greek Orthodox Church:

The United Methodist Church:

The Catholic Church at Old Town Albuquerque:

 And for some.....The Isotopes Baseball Stadium:

Albuquerque Day 5

Feb 24 – Friday We had breakfast with Janet & Becky.  Then we both went to Helen’s office for a treatment.  Ahhhhh.  Lunch with Janet & Becky.

Becky took Jim and I on a travel blog adventure.  We went to see the art sculpture “Driving on San Mateo” which is known locally as “Chevy on a stick”.  The artist took an old Buick and put on a pedestal and tiled both the pedestal and the car. The car was reshaped to resemble a Chevy.

Next we went downtown Albuquerque and saw the Occidental Building which has served as the backdrop to several movies.

Then we walked past the Library bar and grill

And to the Kimo Theater. This old theater was refurbished to its original glory and is currently in use. The stage has buffalo heads that light with red eyes when in use.  We were able to go in to take a look. In my zest to take pictures of the inside and entry way, I failed to get the front of the theater. So here is also a picture of the front of the theater that I took from the front of a Albuquerque travel guide.

Also downtown were some sculptures at civic plaza.

This day had so much excitement....I need to go to blog 2!

Albuqueque Day 4

Thursday Feb 23 –

Breakfast at Beth & Helen’s after they both went off to work.  We are splitting our nights between the houses, so after breakfast we packed up our stuff for three nights at Janet & Becky’s house.  The 5^th wheel is safely parked at Beth’s.

Janet had some old slides to go through, so she and Jim were looking at family pictures through a small view finder.  They had fun looking at pictures of their children when they were young.

We had lunch back with Beth and Helen's. We had leftover steak sandwiches. Delicious! Then we helped Helen swap two chairs between her office and her home.  It helps to have a flat-bed Ford in the family. 

We took Ginny for her morning walk. There is an odd house in the neighbor that looks like a spaceship.  Turns out the architect for both houses lives in one of them. The two neighbors share iron street sculptures and a yard. We have walked by these houses for years and often wondered what they look like inside.

Janet wanted to go shirt shopping, so Jim transported the two of us to Uptown Mall. We shopped at J. Jill.  My first time at a J. Jill store.  We tried on shirts for a while and we each found some new, cute stuff.  Jim can’t take clothes shopping, even for himself, so he walked to Barnes and Noble and waited it out.

We had dinner at Scalo in Nob Hill. We decided to treat Beth, Helen, Janet, Becky, and Sarah for their fine hospitality!  We ordered fun appetizers and in keeping with my eating adventures for the trip, I tried smoked salmon (uncooked) and eggplant as well as some black and white seafood pasta.  I missed the calamari, but with talk of the tentacles, it was just as well. 

We walked back to Janet & Becky’s and played a round of Skip Bo and several hands of 99.  Fun day!

Albuquerque Day 3

Wednesday Feb 22 – Albuquerque Day 3 – Still at Beth & Helen’s house, but had breakfast with Janet & Becky.

Becky and I left Jim and Janet talking in the back yard while we walked Ginny down to Humble Coffee.  A very polite coffee house.  I had a vanilla latte (my usual) and Becky had a red something?? Turns out it was a cup of coffee with a shot of expresso. What??

I brought some plums from our private little orchard in Idaho Falls and made Janet & Becky a plum cobbler.  The non-white sugar version with coconut sugar and some organic cake mix. And real butter.

Jim and I had lunch with Beth & Helen at their house, then drove Helen to her office.  Here is Jim out front of her business.

Then we collected a Route 66 special art deco piece in front of the Hidalgo Theater right on Route 66. Cool looking fake flames on the 6's.

Another lazy afternoon with reading and naps.  So much for the bike ride! But Jim and Beth took an afternoon walk with their dogs, Ginny and Tilly.

Dinner with Beth & Helen.  Beth prepared steaks, baked potatoes, mushrooms and Helen cooked some weird vegetable that is related to cauliflower. Here is Jim cutting and testing the steaks! Then I made them a plum cobbler too.

Hope to take them all out for dinner tomorrow night!

Albuquerque Day 2

Tuesday Feb 21.  Woke up in Albuquerque in a real bed at Beth & Helen’s house. Vacated the RV for the week!

Helen was still in San Diego and Beth was off to work.  I had a moment to open the birthday box of thoughtfulness from Merry. What a trove of goodies!  (My birthday was a few weeks ago and she made a effort to have my present arrive at a permanent location so I could have stuff to enjoy on my trip...hid the Godiva candy bar from Jim). Drove over to Janet & Becky’s house for breakfast.   Janet and I went to see some of her friends and back to her house for lunch.  Becky had volunteer work to do, so the rest of us sat around and talked about old times. 

We came back to Beth & Helen’s.  Helen home from San Diego so we caught up with her regarding her travels.  Then we were lazy.

Dinner was back with Janet & Becky.  Becky insisted on taking our picture!

Becky cooked a roasted chicken, potato wedges (white and sweet potatoes) and broccoli.  Yummy.  After dinner, we headed back to Beth & Helen’s.  Not much else, except a little blogging! 

Silver City, NM to Albuquerque, NM (day 1)

Monday Feb 20 – President’s Day.  Woke up near Silver City, NM at the KOA and drove 3 miles back into town. Stopped at the visitor’s center and walked across the “big ditch” and walked up and down the historic district.  Silver City has many old buildings that host galleries, souvenir shops, cafes, etc.  One interesting building on main street:

The big ditch is the creek that runs through downtown. It has steps down to a walkway, so we hiked down to take a look:

We drove out of Silver City towards Albuquerque.  Our trip took us by a large mining operation. We could see the remnants of a couple of mountains that were ground down and spit back out as terraced mountains.  Mining is alive and well in New Mexico.

Coming down out of the mountains, we traveled by a couple of solar panel farms. Then a couple of dairy farms oddly, placed in the middle of the desert.  The land was desert, as opposed to farms, until we arrived in Hatch, NM.  Hatch is the chili capital of New Mexico.  Here is a photo of what appears to be last year’s chili crop.  We saw several fields like this, so unsure when harvest might be.

We missed the Very Large ARRAY, which was about 20 miles due west of Socorro. We were headed north, so missed seeing planet earth’s attempts in making contacts with space aliens. From there to Albuquerque, it was uneventful.

We arrived in Albuquerque at Beth’s house in the late afternoon.  We discovered that Helen was out of town until the next day.  She was visiting Isabel in San Diego.  She gave me a box that my friend, Merry, had sent to me all the way from Idaho. (I will open this tomorrow). We talked for a while, then the three of us drove over to Janet & Becky’s house.  We ordered pizza and Jim and Becky picked it up and brought it back to the house.  Pizza from Il Vicino was delicious.

Then got an update on Janet’s ankle surgery.

We talked and laughed. And got some pretty poor quality pictures.  Oh, well.  I will try again tomorrow.

Jim, Beth, Janet, Becky

Cindy, Ginny, Beth, Janet, Becky

Tombstone, AZ to Silver City, NM

Feb 19 – Cool and clear this morning, so we drove the mile back into Tombstone.  We arrived around 9. Sunday morning and it looks like everyone must be down at the Cowboy Church.  Nothing really started today until around 11 and we are hoping to hit the road by 10.  We walked down to Old Tombstone which is a re-creation of an old west town. Looks like they put on shows for the tourists later on in the year.  But it was a cool set.

Walked over to the Tombstone Courthouse which was built in 1882. The year after the shootout at OK corral. 

Drove out of town and down to Bisbee, AZ. This is an old mining town. We passed the town and came upon the site of an open pit copper mine.  They moved a lot of earth to get the copper. 

Drove on to Douglas, AZ which is a border town with Mexico.  I could not see a WALL, but border patrol was everywhere.  We could see the border crossing via car from a block away.  But having no interest in going to Mexico this trip because of so many bad hombres, we headed for Walmart. We found the Walmart just a stone’s throw from the border. Picked up our few groceries and headed north.  The rain kept following us.  We saw some amazing clouds and drove threw some hellacious rain storms. And by we, I mean Jim.

We crossed from AZ into New Mexico and drove to Silver City, NM.  We found the visitor’s center. But since it is Sunday, it was closed.  But outside was a replica of a cabin used on a movie set.  The site claims that Billy the Kid was raised on the site where the cabin now sits.  The cabin he lived in was destroyed in a flood. He apparently lived here a couple of years before getting into all that trouble with the law, ie., killing people.

We found a KOA campground nearby and are staying in Silver City.  Hopefully, we can look around some more tomorrow before heading north to Albuquerque!