Sight-Seeing, Old Town Albuquerque, Tea Time and Driving Me ‘Incense’ in a Good Way

Woohoo! I stayed up until 9:30 last night. That is a record over the past few days. It was a great sleep and although it was dropping down to 1C (at 6 am) Bill and Rob decided not to worry about disconnecting the water hoses. We left a couple of our taps on a very very slow drip, as a precaution. I was awake at 5 and noticed that Bill was too, but we relaxed until closer to 6 before getting up. Clem kept the bed warm until 7:30. Such a little sleepyhead!

It was a frosty morning, I can't see ours from my window
but Rob's windshield was covered

By 8 am, the sun had cleared half of it

We had our morning brew together and since we were both able to get on our laptops (yabadabadoo!) we read blog posts to see what some of our friends were up to. When my tea was finished, I had my long, hot shower and oh, wow, it feels so good. I love that we can pull into a park and get the advantage of their water pressure but still have a shower in the confines of our own home. Remember, at the Ridge, we rely on pressure only from a water tank. We don't miss what we don't have, but we sure enjoy it when we do!

Views from Old town

Once cleaned up, I texted Rob and Pat to see if they had anything on their agenda. We’ve had a few suggestions from friends, 'thank you, thank you very much', and the 4 of us decided to drive into Old Town Albuquerque. We left early, almost too early, because only a handful of shops were open at 9. We walked around the streets, very old and very Spanish style and before we knew it more and more of their quaint shops were open.

I met a new friend but she was too busy talking on her phone to notice me
Looking at the picture now, I don't see a phone at all so I should have slipped mine
in her hand for the photo

Pat and I had fun pointing out the fine details in this statue
pen in her hand, her jewelery, fashionable belt and sunglasses in her purse

Bill and I had debated on touring the Museum of Natural History and Science but even though the entrance fee was a minimal $9/senior, other than the dinosaurs, we weren’t so keen on walking and reading the historical trivia on much else. Sometimes we feel in that frame of mind but today, we didn’t. We'd also discussed taking the Sandia Peak Tramway but it is closed for maintenance during our time here. Darn! It was nice that Rob and Pat had never been to Old Town before so a treat for all of us.

This turned out better than I thought
The leaves on the stone wall beside Pat are real

So many pretty things to see
Look at all the red chili peppers
Behind the fence, the bright red wreaths are made from the small ones

We perused the Covered Wagon, a beautiful shop full of many interesting things, the Old Town Basket and Rug Shop and Old Barrel Tea Company to name a few. The handsome young fellow in the latter venue was very knowledgeable and pleasant. We accepted his offer and had a sample of 4 different tea blends and honey as well. When he stepped out from behind the counter, I had to comment on his height as I thought he’d been standing on a platform back there. Nope, he had to be 6’7” as he towered over me. A tall drink of water, he was.

Tea?

Pat waves again at me! Buenos dias!

A couple of sweet guys here........um, a couple of guys who love sweets

We all walked out with purchases so it will be a Teatime Happy Hour today. Bill and I also found sticks of incense at the Old Town Basket shop that were going to be neat to experience. We chose 30 at a great price and Bill bought some fudge at the Candy Shop. Boy did some eyes light up in that store! We gathered at the Plaza Don Luis in the sun to discuss our direction before heading back towards the truck.

Our tea and stainles steel spoon for measuring

Some incense burning at home

Pat and I walked through a cool store, Vintage Cowgirl’s, with absolutely beautiful clothing but way out of our price range. How I would have loved one of the western outfits that were offered. It was getting close to noon hour and we were able to catch a lot of the shops open by that time before deciding to head towards camp. Bill drove to a Walmart where we took advantage of the great diesel price of $3.06/gal that Rob told us about yesterday. Now we both have full tanks for the run tomorrow.

Wild is right - teehee

Pat and I loved these huge clay pots in the median of I-40

Back home, it was time to get something to eat and go through and record our purchases. I made myself a coffee and warmed up some of my tomato soup and Bill made himself a sandwich. Time to relax for a bit before Bill went out to check the tires on the Suite. Our neighbor to the west of us pulled out by 7 this morning so we opened the valve to the fresh water tank to drain most of our water. We don’t need the weight when we travel tomorrow to another park destination.

It was a nice walk down to the front gate and back

I love how these evergreens grow out of the rock

Quite a view from this vantage point
In 2016, I took a picture from here and it was our Suite at the bottom

I vacuumed the Suite and then went for a walk around the park while the boys got things all checked out on the trucks and the rv’s. It was our turn to host Happy Hour. I cut up some of Bill’s fudge to share and we sat inside out of the cool air. Before they arrived, I had prepped potatoes to make fries for supper to go along with the pollock filet we were having. I’d have to be patient and fry the spuds in my electric frypan since we no longer had a deep fryer. 

this worked quite well and they tasted great

 We had a good time sitting with Rob and Pat chatting about memories of our parents in the 'old days'.  so many things you forget until it comes up in conversation. Bill and I tried our new strawberry/blueberry blend of tea in our infuser teapot. It tasted nice and I can’t begin to name all of the benefits but I do know that a dose of Vitamin C and lowering blood pressure are two. That’ll do. Our company left at 4:45 for the night and we sat in front of the tv for a while. Darn, I missed the sunset tonight again.

And the fish was messy but very good

It got to 12C/53F today and in the sun it felt like that but in the shade, it was cool even without any wind and felt a few degrees colder. We have an early start tomorrow, well, early for us. Other than taking the satellite dishes down and unhooking hoses and cords, we will be ready by 8 am. Supper was delicious! Between the two of us, we made an easy transfer of the oil from the fry pan into the oil jar again. This was easier than using the little deep fryer we used to have.

We got the dishes out of the way and it wasn’t even 6:30 yet. I like early cleanups like that, it means the rest of the evening is ours. This has been a great day all around with a little bit of sightseeing, some shopping and some great chuckles with our friends. I hope you have had a good day too.

And this is a combination of olive oil, lard and bacon grease
used for frying

Thank you for stopping by!