Ancient Albuquerque

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Although I'm glad we got to visit Albuquerque, I don't think I see myself coming back anytime soon. It was cool, and our Airbnb host was amazing, but it's just not really my style (read: too hot. Among other issues).

Regardless, we did do some pretty cool stuff. We started by visiting Old Town, which did have some neat shops. A soap shop, an olive oil store, and some cafes and art stores were among the group we walked by. We found a really cool fro-yo place that was self-serve, but priced by size rather than weight, which was wonderful for our wallets, if not our waistlines. From there, we drove to the Rio Grande State Park, where we walked along the Rio Grande for a bit, and sat in a nice little pond-overlook-room and watched turtles sunning on driftwood.

We drove through downtown to get an idea of what it looked like (not much - the tallest building might be about 25 stories, and there are only a handful above 10), and then headed to Nob Hill. Nob Hill is the hipstery area of Albuquerque. Bubble tea, sushi bars, juice bars, and music shops line the street, and everything seems to be catered towards the early-20 crowd. Not too surprising, given that UNM is right nearby.

For the later afternoon, we headed a bit west, where there's a tram that takes you almost a mile up a mountain. You end at about 10,000 feet up, although only a mile above Albuquerque. The temperature did drop about 20^o, plus wind chill, but the view was just incredible. At the top, there were some cool tubes - not telescopes, but more like view-croppers - that pointed you to peaks and landmarks in town. There was also a restaurant, where we went to get some drinks before going outside to look at the view and talk for a while. We stayed through sunset before taking the first tram after back down, as temperature drops another 15^o very quickly after sunset!

On the way back home, we stopped for dinner at an Asian fusion place before sleeping. Tomorrow we have about 6 hours on the road up to Denver, where I get to see my cousins & family who I haven't seen in about 6 years!

NB: Internet is a joke. Pictures will be uploaded later

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