NEW MEXICO             NEW MEXICO
We arrived in Bernalillo, New Mexico on November 1, 2013.  We went straight west on the I40 from Amarillo.  Bernalillo is about 8 miles out of Alburquerque.  It is a smaller centre and this KOA campground is off the highway so it is nice and quiet and has good internet.  We started to see the mountains when we were halfway between the Texas border and Alburquerque (ABQ from now on - LOL).  It was hilly and lots of green on the hills, a lot of cedar bushes.  By the time we got here Don was very tired of up and down driving.  The highways were very busy and there was truck after truck both directions.  We are not used to seeing that many big trucks.
We were both pretty RV lagged and were happy to land somewhere for a week.

We spent a day doing absolutely nothing, a little shopping and looking at the scenery.  We stopped in at a Casino and spent a couple of relaxing hours.  Between the 2 of us we spent 25.00 and that included lunch and all the non-alcoholic drinks we could handle.
Yesterday we went out on a National Scenic Byway to Jemez Mountain.  The day started out sunny but as we climbed up to 8500 feet in the mountains we experienced a variety of weather including some snow.
The temperature at the top was fairly chilly as well  7 C.  The byway was absolutely beautiful and was about 150 miles round trip.

I love the Pueblo style homes, this one was way up on top of a mountain and seems an extension of the landscape and colors.   We passed through some Pueblos and many of these old adobe buildings were abandoned but a lot of the homes that were occupied had beautiful ristras (strings of dried red chili peppers) hanging in the sun to dry.  We stopped in at the Jemez Pueblo visitor centre to see some ruins and learn about the history of the area.   We both enjoyed the ruins a lot!

 The Jemez State Monument is a small ruins area in the town of Jemez Springs, NM. It features the ruins of a 500 year old Indian village and a church dating back to 1610.

I will be looking this up and reading more about it when I have time.  This was a beautiful area and it is amazing that these buildings were built in the 1600's.

This is a Spanish Horno which is a wood fired oven used to cook bread, make corn pudding or roast chilis.  These were introduced to New Mexico by the early Spanish colonists.
http://www.nmmonuments.org/jemez
The byway took us through the Valles Caldera National preserve.  This is where we started to climb to a elevation of 8500 feet and then,

yup, we started to see some snow.  Along the way there were so many beautiful things to see like this pretty little waterfall. 

At this overlook  you can see the remains of one of the 3 super volcano's in the United States.  Not what I expected at all.  You could drive down and view elk and what not but we decided we could see elk at home (hee hee).

We got out and walked about at this pretty little overlook - Don had to turn around and go back as we went right by it at first.  My only complaint about this whole drive was that the stops and attractions were not well marked.

 Can you see the road we took way, way down there?

The oak trees were a gorgeous shade of rusty brown and the pine trees had the most beautiful bark (like my sister Jen said, it looks like brownies)
We meant to go to White Rock and then through Santa Fe and then back on the interstate to ABQ.  But . . . somehow we ended up in Los Alamos.  As we drove into the city we were stopped at a check point where we had to produce our ID.  It it because we were entering the Los Alamos nuclear lab area.  We decided to have lunch and go to a museum there.  We plugged in the address for a diner and thought the GPS was on crack as it did not seem possible for a diner to be tucked away off the main street.  But there it was and it was very rustic, but we had a great lunch! The history of this area was also very interesting and something I want to read more about.  In the 1940's there was a wartime mission here to develop the atomic bomb - it was called the Manhattan Project.  The museum showed us how it was to live a life of secrecy that all who worked here and their families were subjected to.

 I love the colors of the leaves mixed in with rabbit brush and pine - amazing.

The scenery was made even more amazing by the scattered clouds that let light shine through and light up certain trees and parts of the mountain.

Some more beautiful adobe/pueblo architecture as we drove through Santa Fe.  We will be going to Santa Fe in a couple of days on another scenic byway.

Today was a really nice day, no wind and mostly sunny.  We set out to find me a purse and try to get my glasses fixed and also a new glass for my phone.  Guess I have broken everything I have now so should be good to go.  This was a high tech parking system that we used at Old Town ABQ.  Basically, your car spot has a number on it and they correspond to the slots in the blue box.  You fold your 5.00 bill up very small and stick it in the slot - using the metal pusher if necessary.  This made me giggle!

Old Town follows the traditional Spanish pattern of a central plaza and church surrounded by homes and businesses.  Many of the historic homes are still standing and some have been renovated.  There are shops, galleries and restaurants.  The colors of the shops and patios were lovely.

 Don found himself a friend while I was checking out the shops.

This church is the oldest continuous used church in ABQ.
We went to a restaurant called Casa de Ruiz Church Street Cafe. This property was originally the residence of the Ruiz family and was built in the early 1700's. It is the oldest residence in ABQ and one of the oldest structures in the state of New Mexico.

We sat outside on the back patio and other than a couple of pesky wasps and some sparrows who were eyeing up our crumbs had an enjoyable lunch.

They brought us amazing tortilla chips with fresh salsa to start.  I ordered this enchilada meal, it came with beans and my choice of squash, rice or spinach.  They have red chili and green so I asked for "Christmas" which is both. I got them on the side as I was not sure how spicy they would be.  They were both great but I loved the green more.

 Luckily our waiter brought out these sopapillas before we had finished eating our meals.  I decided to leave the rest of my enchilada and have one of these delicious little beauties dipped in honey and go back to the enchilada if I could.    Nope - couldn't do it

Finally, the sparrow says!

There is a museum a couple of blocks from the Old town.  One of us did not want to go inside - ahem!
This was a life sized sculpture representing the settlers who made the difficulty journey from Mexico, Spain and Portugal in 1598 to establish their homes in what used to be called New Spain (and of course now called New Mexico),  All along the sculptures are the names of the settlers and where they came from.  Very impressive.

These last 2 are just shots from the car while driving around ABQ.  Gotta love those mountains.