After a leisurely breakfast, we packed up and headed into
Old Town Albuquerque. The Old Town was founded in 1706 on the banks of the Rio
Grande, but most of it was devastated in a flood in 1792. Only 1 building survived
unscathed - one of the casinos. Old Town is a lovely little precinct of adobe
buildings, little plazas and a town square fronting an impressive church. Lots
of shops, and we did some olive oil and infused vinegar tasting. We loved some
of the flavours and bought some vinegars and oils to bring home. We were
enticed into a history tour in a pedal powered rickshaw – it was fun. The guide
did spend a bit of time spruiking some of the shops, so we suspect he was
getting kickbacks for sending people in.
The church garden has an old cottonwood tree (now dead) with
a sculpture of Our Lady of Guadeloupe carved into the trunk. The tree was hit
by lightning in 1956 and split, so the artist used the split wood to carve his
sculpture.
We visited the Rattlesnake Museum, an eclectic collection of
live snakes, fossils and even a Steve Irwin exhibit (!) featuring a shirt worn
by Terri Irwin and some signed photos of Steve (signed by Terri). The live
snakes were not too creepy, but the live spiders really put Ros off. Especially
the tarantulas.
After lunch we headed to the Sandia Mountains for a ride to
the summit of the Aerial Tram (Hobart so needs one of these!). The tramway
takes in the spectacular views as it climbs steeply up the range, before
plunging over the crest of a ridge and over an extensive valley before climbing
again to reach the summit at 10378 feet. From the summit we had the perfect day
for a view with the vista capturing 11,000 square miles. Just stunning!
We spent some time walking the boardwalks along the top of
the range and taking pictures, before the ride down. On the way down the
attendant pointed out the crash site of TWA 260. The aircraft left Albuquerque
for Santa Fe in 1955, but instead of skirting round the mountains, flew into
the side of the range in heavy snow. Apparently when the sun is at the right
angle, you can see metal plane parts glinting. Bit morbid!
After the aerial tram ride, we headed back to the RV park.
We are looking at looping back to Albuquerque in early October for the balloon festival
(hot air balloons). So tomorrow we are heading out.
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