Category: New Mexico

Albuquerque, NM

Albuquerque, NM

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We had the best time in Albuquerque!! I’ll try not to make this post super long, but I’ll warn you now, it’s gonna be picture heavy.

One of the most important things you’ll need to know before visiting New Mexico is that they love their chilies. Every restaurant we went into (and we went into quite a few here) offered chili on everything. If you know us, you know that we consider ourselves to be pepper-bellies…lovers of all things spicy. New Mexicans are not playing around with the spice.

This is what New Mexican food looks like. Kind of like a big plate of goo. The first place we ate at is probably our favorite restaurant in Albuquerque. Sadie’s was amazing and the spice was on point. We all walked out with numb lips and warm bellies.

If you’re familiar with the show Breaking Bad, you might recognize the Twisters logo as that of Los Pollos Hermanos. We ended up eating at Twisters twice. Yep, it’s fast food and yep, it’s that good. I got the Indian Taco both times and was in carb bliss both times.

I know this burger doesn’t really look like much. Sometimes looks can be deceiving though. Blake’s Lottaburger has one of the best green chili cheeseburgers we’ve found so far in New Mexico. It’s not fancy by any means, the menu is limited, and it’s where all of the locals go…so you know it’s good.

Are you getting the idea that Albuquerque was a huge foodie town for us? We’d been looking forward to all of the culinary treats this area has to offer. We also ate at a place called Little Anita’s. It was on par with what we’d been getting…spicy, gooey, huge sopapillas, and super good. The other place we ate at is called Frontier. It was a bit of a letdown. I think it’s one of those places that if you grow up eating there it’s amazing. Kind of like Taco Town for Carthaginians. It’s not that the food at Frontier was bad, in fact it had some of the best tortillas and cinnamon rolls we’ve found in a long time…it’s just that it wasn’t up to the standard of the other places we’d been.

It might seem like all we did was eat…but, I promise we didn’t. There are a ton of fun things to do in the Albuquerque area. We spent an afternoon looking for petroglyphs at the Petroglyph National Monument.

We got in two short hikes where we had to hunt for the petroglyphs. Sometimes they were super clear while other times we weren’t really sure if the graffiti was old or new. The boys walked away with both the Junior and Senior Ranger badges and patches.

We spent a couple of hours at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science. We loved this museum! They had the whole place sectioned off. Each section was numbered and you could follow the numbers and walk through the history of the Earth. They called it Timetracks: Walk Through Time.

The walk starts at Origins and talks about the Big Bang and the creation of the planets. This was one of the most hands on museums (that isn’t a kids museum) that we’ve found. There was this little visor thing you held in front of your face while looking at the image above. As you turn the visor the images changes to indicate the changes on earth. All five us had to play with this before we moved on.

One of the things that made this museum different for us was the way the rooms were put together to create a scene. It wasn’t just a bunch of bones in a boring room. The Timetracks walk takes you through origins to the day in the cretaceous period when the dinosaurs had a very bad day, all the way to present day.

The boys loved all of the interactive displays. We ran out of time here so we weren’t able to see everything. The museum was closing as we left. I think they were locking the doors as we left. Ha! Unfortunately, we didn’t have time to go back and finish exploring the rest of the museum.

We loved the National Museum of Nuclear Science & History! Yep, we’re nerdy like that. This museum was also really well laid out. You start by learning about the Periodic Table and make your way to the Manhattan Project. Nicholas is checking out a mockup of The Gadget. Take a look at all the National Park badges on that hat! In the sun it looks like a disco ball!

We learned about the Cold War and saw a replica of what a bomb shelter looked like and what some of the supplies you might have found in a shelter are. Multi-Purpose Food…sounds yummy, right? I have this image of grey gloppy gruel.

The displays take you through Nuclear Medicine, Radiation, Atomic Pop Culture, and then…we got to play! I mean, we got to conduct some very interesting, very educational, science experiments. Even the big kids found something interesting here.

It’s a good thing this exhibit was toward the end of the museum because I’m not sure how much of the museum we would have actually seen if this had been first. We all played with the magnetic blobs. I mean…we all conducted the experiment to see if size really does make a difference.

They had to kick us out of here. Seriously. They were trying to close and we just kept wanting to stay. My little nerds were in science heaven.

In an effort to learn more about the 19 tribes that call this area home, we visited the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center. We learned more about Native American’s beliefs, customs, ways of life, and art.

We also learned that Native Americans don’t really like being called “Native Americans”. They prefer to be differentiated by their tribe. I can understand that. 

I think the biggest thing we learned at the IPCC is that there’s still a lot of animosity between our cultures. We met a guy who worked there who…made it his mission to prove the white family was ignorant about the “true history” of America. It was extremely awkward as Jerl and I watched our boys answer correctly every single question he threw at them. When he finally found out they were homeschooled, he was actually impressed and gave Charlie (who answered most of the questions) a music CD. When it was over, we felt pretty unwelcome. I’ll be honest, the whole interaction left a bad taste in my mouth and colored the way we look at ABQ as a whole.

All in all we had a wonderful experience in Albuquerque and plan on going back…someday.

See y’all down the road!

Gallup, NM

Gallup, NM

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Gallup is often called the “Indian Capital of the World” because of its location in the heart of Native American lands. Some of the tribes that call this area home are the Navajo, Zuni, and Hopi. We spent our first week in New Mexico learning about some of the local peoples and customs.

I have a plan for each area we go to. My list. But we always look for new things to do and check out what the locals say. When we stopped by the New Mexico Visitor Center near the border I grabbed a Gallup brochure even though I was pretty sure I’d found everything I wanted to do for our time there. I’m so glad I went ahead and got the brochure. We wouldn’t have known about the Red Rock Balloon Rally! Score! When we came back from Alaska and I was planning this Fall/Winter, we’d discussed trying to make it to the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta, but it would have been a big rush and we’d just come off of a week of 12 hour drive days. So, we put the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta on our Someday List. It was a wonderful surprise to realize we were going to be in town for the Red Rock Balloon Rally!!

We were told if you go early and help the balloon teams set up you might be rewarded with a ride. We’re not ones to pass up a chance to learn something new and a chance to ride in a hot air balloon sounded awesome!

We got up early (for us) and made it to Red Rock by 7AM. We got there right as most of the balloon teams were starting to set up. One of the teams called us over to see what the inside of a hot air balloon looks like. It was huge inside!

They start airing up the balloons with big fans. Once the balloons reach a certain size, they add the fire to heat up the air.

It’s at this point that they have a couple of people hold on to a tether attached to the top of the balloon. As the balloon fills and starts to stand up… well, it’s a lot like skiing, but on sand.

Seeing all of those balloons being filled and taking off into the early morning sky is definitely a memory that has gone onto my Favorites List. We didn’t get a ride. We had to leave so we could do some school/work stuff. The balloons like to dip in and out of the canyons at Red Rock. They’ll perch on the rock and take off again. We saw several people getting rides…for free.

We went back to the park that night for the Balloon Glow and Indian Dances.

The Indian Dances were spectacular. Really. We’d never seen anything like it and we felt very honored to be able to witness each dance. Two different tribes had dancers there. The first tribe had more of a traditional dance and explained the parts of their clothing. The second tribe was a little more primal. They were fierce. We left in awe.

Even if you’re not planning on buying anything, one of the must do things in Gallup is to go visit a Trading Post. Trading Posts are really Pawn Shops. I don’t remember the exact percentage of Native Americans who are unemployed, but it’s high. There are several reasons and I’m not going to get into it, but if you go to a Trading Post try to make sure it’s legit. We went to Richardson Trading Post because they’ve been in business for over a hundred years. Families from the different Tribes will bring in their crafts to sell at Richardson’s. You’re guaranteed a locally made product there. We were surprised to learn that many of the families from the different local Tribes will bring in their family heirlooms, saddles, and ceremonial pieces to store at Richardson’s because it’s safer there than in their homes. We got to have a backroom tour and we saw close to 2,000 saddles stored there along with ceremonial bear and sheep skins. It was really neat!

We went to El Morro National Monument where we saw Inscription Rock and the over 2,000 inscriptions that cover it. Native Americans, Spaniards, and Anglos have all left their marks on the sandstone rock. Some of them were impressively fancy. I can’t write my name that nicely with a pencil let alone carve it into a rock. Some travelers gave a description of why they were there or who they were. In the photo above you can see one of the oldest inscriptions at El Morro.

It says “Governor Don Juan de Oñate passed through here, from the discovery of the Sea of the South on the 16th of April, 1605.” Notice how dark the inscription looks in the photo above compared to the other two photos? The Rangers used to try and preserve the inscriptions by going over them with pencils.

At the end of the Inscription Trail you can head up 250 feet to the top of a mesa for a 2 mile trail to the Atsinna Puebloan dwelling. 250 feet doesn’t sound like much of an elevation gain, right? Well, we were already over 7,000 feet above sea level where the air is mighty thin! The view of the Zuni Mountains was breath taking! And not just because I was huffing and puffing from the hike up!

The trail was at the top of a box canyon and was etched into the top of the rock. The Rangers ask that you stay on the trail so you won’t fall off the side. That’s easier said than done when the wind is trying to blow you off. It was a great hike. I would go back just for the hike…and the views.

The pueblo was very cool! We were able to see some of the inner workings of the pueblo. There were doors and windows all connecting the different rooms.

Y’all know we’re foodies…we couldn’t wait to dig into some New Mexican food! Now, the official state question of New Mexico is Red or Green? They’re talking about chili. Chili is put on everything from burgers and fries, to pizzas, burritos, and pies. It’s such a staple that the McDonald’s and Wendy’s in Gallup have modified their menus to include chili. In the photo above you’ll see what’s referred to as “Christmas Style” which is half red and half green. We, of course, are doing our own experiment as to which chili we like best…red or green? I’ll let you know the answer once we’ve had an opportunity to thoroughly explore all of the styles and options.

We ate at a little Mom & Pop place called Jerry’s where we learned that most places in New Mexico serve huge sopapillas instead of tortillas or bread. We also learned that many of the restaurants in Gallup let the local crafts people come in and sell their wares from table to table. The sellers were very quiet and non-intrusive and I like the idea of buying right from the artist. I mean, dinner and shopping all in one place?! Bonus!

This poem was on the back of the menu at Jerry’s and I think it’s a great way to leave you today.

Today may I walk in beauty.

See y’all down the road!