Old Town Albuquerque

Many old cities across the country have an old town where the first settlers congregated and sold or traded goods.  Few in the west are as old as Albuquerque’s old town.  If you look closely at this sewer cover in one of the downtown streets, you see the city celebrated it’s tricentennial in 2006.  Colorado, where we were born, celebrated it’s 130 birthday that year.

 

Old town has numerous old and beautiful adobe buildings.

This is the Church of SanFelipe de Neri, the oldest church in Albuquerque.  It has continuously served the community without interruptions since 1706. 

 

The bandstand most likely is the center of many community events and weddings.

The covered walkways around the square provide protection from the sun and from rain.

We saw this colorful display of blankets and rugs in one store.

 Old Southwestern towns always seem to have walkways that draw us in to see what is available there.

 

As we left Old Town we saw this sign.  I think someone from England labeled this structure.

 

Walking Through the Bosque

We are spending several days in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on our way to Colorado.  Yesterday, we drove to the Rio Grande Nature Center State Park in town.  The forest along the banks of the river are a bosque.  Wikipedia descibes a bosque: "A bosque is a type of gallery forest habitat found along the riparian flood plains of stream and river banks in the southwestern United States. It derives its name from the Spanish word for woodlands."

This massive cottonwood is an example of the trees growing along the river.

The trail winds through the trees and open areas along the river.

This is the Rio Grande in central Albuquerque.  The river always looks sort of green--even in aerial photos taken of the river as it forms the border between the United States and Mexico in Texas. I believe the color comes from the runoff from agricultural fields in New Mexico and Texas.

These metal structures near the river are called jetty jacks.  They were installed in the 1950s and 60s to prevent erosion from seasonal flooding.  The following link to a National Fish and Wildlife document describing the jetty jacks is informative.  https://www.fws.gov/bhg/Literature/Jetty Jacks pub version.pdf 

I, personally, am just impressed I could remember the term jetty jacks and their general purpose.  I hadn't realized they are somewhat controversial.

If you look closely you might be able to see red ear on this red eared slider turtle.  The are found in the  shallow river water at the Nature Center.

 

Here are humming birds and numerous turtles below.

As we walked along the river we thought we heard a dog barking somewhere.  Come to find out, it was the cormorants, quacking or squawking on the river.

 We enjoyed our walk yesterday but were surprised at how many others also like the bosque.  I wondered if schools were not in session.  A little research showed they are in session for virtual learning only.  The weather here is great so I guess families were out enjoying nature--and maybe completing some school assignments?  We don't know.

Albuquerque Visit

Albuquerque is an interesting and beautiful city, located in the middle of New Mexico.  We are spending a week here.  We have visited the area numerous times over the years we have been RVing but we still found a lot to do, places to revisit.

One day we walked through the bosque (trees) along the Rio Grande River.  We saw a lone cormorant sitting on a branch in the river.

I can't remember what this line of metal beams along the river is called but I think it has something to do with flooding.

There are huge cottonwood trees along the bank.

We saw people riding horses on the path.

Another day we walked out to the Petroglyph National Monument.  

There are something like 23,000 ancient petroglyphs there, as well others added by the Mexican sheep herders who were in the area before New Mexico became part of the U.S.  There are also examples of modern graffiti.  (I didn't take pictures of those 20th century additions.)

One day we drove into Old Town Albuquerque to see the shops in the oldest buildings constructed here.  I love this painting.  So colorful!

Many of the doors in the old buildings are attractive and brightly painted.

This door is a sign of the current economy and virus shutdown.  Even when we found shops open, we were the only customers in the store.  How sad for the owners.

The windows in some of the old adobe walls are interesting.

I will end this blog post with this quiet neighborhood in central Albuquerque.  Unfortunately, our country is not as serene as this scene.

Old Town Albuquerque

Old Town Albuquerque is a photographer's dream. So many interesting buildings and views. Originally established in 1706, the town celebrated its 300th anniversary 12 years ago. For the United States, that is really old. The entrance we went through is newly decorated but I don't know if the wall is a recent addition or part of the original settlement.

On one side of the town square we saw the church of San Felipe de Neri, the oldest New Mexico church still used for worship, one sign said.

This is the high altar in the church.

Buildings now housing shops and studios are arranged around small open areas.

This is an interesting front door.

And another one.

I'll bet this restaurant features strolling mariachi singers.

It might be difficult to read the electric meter at this house.

We didn't buy anything in the shops but we did enjoy walking around the area.  The last time we were in Old Town, we felt it was run down.  It seems to be in much better shape now.

An RV is wonderful. We live in it and we can travel all over the country in it. But taking it along to go grocery shopping and sightseeing is very difficult. That is why we decided we really needed to get the front landing jack repaired. Since we are headed north to Colorado and beyond, and since the jacks were installed a year ago at Aloha RV in Albuquerque, NM, we decided this was the place to have the problem taken care of. We were very pleased with their service and their work last year. First thing, they had to take the RV off of our truck.



After Anthony got a jack under that side of the trailer, we were ready to unhitch and pull out with the truck.



Mark, the same service writer we worked with a year ago, was out there checking to see everything went as it should.



So, how to fill the day? First stop was the Albuquerque Zoo. They had a number of peacocks. I didn't get a good photo of the tail, but isn't the head a gorgeous shade of blue?



After spending three months at Santa Ana talking about the wildcats in southeast Texas, we were interested in this Jaguar, which no longer roams Texas.



This polar bear was pacing back and forth on a short piece of wall next to his swimming pool. It looked like he was trying to get his daily 10,000 steps right there.



This is an animal we had never heard of, much less seen. It is a capycara, a large rodent from South America.



Next we walked around downtown Albuquerque, especially down Central, which is the old Route 66. Loved the Indian head and the Kress sign. How long has it been since you've shopped in Kress's?



The decoration on this building is really impressive.



Once we get back on the road, we now know we only have 446 miles till we can spend some time with family.



This is where we were parked for the night. The folks at Aloha were nice enough to put some water in our tank and let us plug into electricity. RV repair facilities that provide the amenity really help out their customers, don't they? It is great, even if the ambiance isn't what we would normally look for.



This was the view out our front window.



Hopefully, they will complete all our repairs today and we can resume our drive north. We will have a new skylight dome and a new front jack and the damage from the tire blowout will be repaired. And most of it is covered by our National Interstate RV insurance. If only the new tires had been covered as well.