Living Large

 In full vacation mode, we have been doing the tourist thing for the last few days. We experienced the art scene in true brewedjourney fashion. While Julia bought a ticket to see the Georgia O’Keefe museum, I found an “art bar,” a place around the corner where people painted pottery while sipping brews from Tumbleroot Brewery and Distillery.

My old Milwaukee Brewers hat was looking pretty ratty, so I bought a new one promoting Tumbleroot—about the same cost as Julia’s museum ticket. I had been to that museum during an earlier trip to Santa Fe.

That night we dined at Tomasito’s, a Santa Fe Restaurant specializing in New Mexican cuisine. I had the Wednesday night special, which was a chile relleno inside a flour tortilla also stuffed with refried beans, chorizo and slathered with red chile sauce.

Julia had the blue corn enchiladas with green chile, refried beans and Spanish rice.

At 4:45 a.m. on Thursday, we were on the road to Albuquerque to see the balloon festival. We weren’t interested in battling the traffic or crowds at the festival grounds so we opted for another viewing point and arrived just as the “dawn patrol” took flight.

At 7 am , the sun was starting to rise and Steel Bender Brewyard was open for business.

Just one

On the way home, we drove along the Turquoise Highway and checked out Madrid. 

We arrived back in Santa Fe in time to check out the Tai Modern museum. Julia loved the bamboo and rattan pieces. I got caught up in a couple of interesting pieces by Tony Fitzpatrick, who used the written word in his pieces.

This morning we took Callie on a walk up Canyon Road, It was too early for galleries to be open, but we enjoyed some sculpture gardens and historic buildings along the way.

 

Later, we played pickleball at Fort Marcy. The regulars were very friendly and accommodating, so we played and socialized for several hours. All of this excitement has me worn out. But as you might imagine, Julia has other plans for me with another restaurant tonight.

New Mexico: Last Day in Albuquerque

On February 6th, we decided to walk along the river, starting with the Chris Chavez Trail which ran into the Rio Bravo Trail.  Then we continued on foot to Old Town.  The weather was warming up and the snow was pretty much gone by the end of the day.  We ate lunch at the Church Street Cafe. 

 

 

On the next day, we were on the road to Las Cruces.

New Mexico: From Adobe Casita to Pole Barn

 From February 3, 2022

The thing about Airbnb is you never know quite what the experience is going to be.  We were delightfully surprised by our upgraded adobe casita  in Pojoaque.  But sometimes there are surprises in the other direction.

Our rental in the South Valley area of  Albuquerque was a DIY converted pole barn.   The bedroom was partitioned off from the rest of the barn.  A gas blower noisily blew hot air into the bedroom.  The result was that the bedroom was too hot, and the rest of the living space was too cold. The owner told us that the extreme cold weather was quite unusual, and we should have been there last week for the better weather.  A propane truck was arriving that day to make sure we had fuel for the furnace.  She was worried about running out.  

The main space was the rest of the pole barn.  It was huge but also cold.  A small space heater sent a small amount of heat to collect up in the rafters.  It did have a nice kitchen, where we had breakfast and most of our lunches.

We stayed there for four nights.  Thankfully, however, we had lots to explore, so the rental was mainly for sleeping. 

As soon as we got unpacked, we headed off for a walk along the Bosque Trail towards downtown.

Resilient Sandhill Cranes

 

After our long walk, we were ready for sustenance and stopped in for a stout at Rio Bravo Brewing Company's outdoor covered space.