Route 66: Day Six
Day Six was the first day I got to stay in one place and really explore it. I had heard good things about Albuquerque and just thought it was a solid rest point almost a week into the trip.
One day is definitely not enough to cover all the cool things Albuquerque has to offer. Krystal and I barely saw even the most touristy things Albuquerque has, but the things we did see and do were fun and interesting, including:
Dog House for lunch (recommended by Nancy & John)
Rattlesnake Museum ("Slither on in")
brief stop at the Botanic Garden (because Krystal's obsessed haha)
Sandia Peak Tramway (so awesome)
Approximate expenses: $45
Experiences:
$5 Rattlesnake Museum
$20 Sandia Peak Overview
Food: $20
See below for video, details, and photos...
The historic part of Albuquerque — Old Town — has a lot of great places to stop and shop. I found a cat shirt that has three cats on it dressed in American Indian garb. I don't know why I bought it since I don't even like cats, but every time I wear it, even today, people always comment on how much they love it — "Where did you get that shirt?" I got it here folks!
Krystal also got a piece of jewelry from one of the vendors along the sidewalk and she was so so disappointed when she lost it later because it was really beautiful. One of the vendors told us about turquoise and how to distinguish between real and fake turquoise.
They also had music playing in the main plaza. Along with a beautiful church to view. And, if you saw in my little Snapchat video above — a car that would have been a feature on "Pimp My Ride" with how high it was able to get off the ground and around the corner. #impressed
Just within Old Town is this special feature: The Rattlesnake Museum. As you can see above, I passed with a Certificate of Bravery. This place is definitely a fear factor if you're scared of snakes. Luckily I'm not. I think they're pretty slick. Once, for my cousin's birthday party I had two snakes connected around my neck like a necklace. I was assured they weren't dangerous. And I'm still alive today so I guess it's all good.
There was such a variety of snakes here I would have been scared only if something like that initial scene from Harry Potter happened and all the glass disappeared and they slithered on out. That's a lot of snakes to keep track of.
Otherwise it was super educational and interesting. They had some other reptiles and turtles too!
We didn't stay here, but it was kind of fun passing this place as we trekked over to the botanical garden from Old Town. We didn't think it would take that long, but it was a hot day, and heat makes a mile seem much longer than it is. It was fun to see a Route 66 motel though to remind us of our chosen path ;)
Nancy and John took us out to the Dog House. It's one of their favorite places to eat, and for good reason. We had to wait a little bit for a table, but it's really casual and the food is great.
Our last adventure of the day was to the Sandia Peak Tramway.
There were some storm looking clouds and it was a hot debate between Nancy and John whether the clouds were heading toward the tramway or away from it. We opted to go for it either way, with the optimism that the clouds and the storm were heading away.
Obviously from the photos you know that we should have listened to the naysayer. Or at least prepared a little better for the storm that took place once we got to the top of the peak. It just started raining hard, and clouds/fog came in to make the viewpoint hard to discern anything through.
We found shelter in the restaurant at the top, and watched the storm coming through before braving it ourselves and making our way to the tram to be taken down.
It was all very thrilling.