Santa Fe, ABQ & Las Cruces

The last few days have been relatively low key compared to the previous few weeks. On Monday we woke up in Santa Fe and went and explored their historic district until lunch time. It’s a nice little placed filled with boutique shops, art galleries and a few museums. We strolled around the shops, had a wander through their Cathedral and then spent a few hours at the history museum and The Palace of the Governors, which is a museum housed in Santa Fe’s oldest building. The whole area is very touristy and quaint and doesn’t really feel at all ‘American’, I guess it is obvious really but the whole of New Mexico so far has felt more Spanish than American. After lunch we set off for Albuquerque.

We had two nights in Albuquerque but due to a busy day today we only had yesterday to explore. We decided to buy a combination ticket for a measly $12 each (about £8) that gave us parking, access to the Rio Grande Zoo and then a free 45 minute train ride on a narrow gauge railway to their Aquarium and Botanical Garden. We weren’t expecting much from the zoo but a few Lions, Elephants, Giraffes, Chimpanzees, Rhinos, Polar Bears, Komodo Dragons, Kuala Bears, Zebras, Sea Lions and Golden Eagles later we were amazed how good it was and both agreed how unbelievably ripped off you get in Britain for equivalent attractions.

That evening we went for dinner at a restaurant called The California Pizza Kitchen, which is best described as an American equivalent to Pizza Express. Jenny would like me to note that our waiter looked a lot like Orlando Bloom...whatever...

Today we set off early from ABQ (that’s hip local abbreviation for you) as we decided to take a detour on our way to Las Cruces and stopped off at an area called White Sands National Monument. White Sands is run by the National Park association and in short is 275 square miles of sand dunes in the middle of the Tularosa Basin in New Mexico. We didn’t stay long as we wanted to get to Las Cruces for the afternoon and there wasn’t a great deal to see (sand all looks the same!) but we did spend a while running up and down the dunes and watched kids sled down the steepest ones.

We arrived in Las Cruces late afternoon and just had enough time to visit Old Mesilla:

“Mesilla was a lively social center in the 1880s. People came from as far as the City of Chihuahua and Tucson to attend bailes (dances), bullfights, cockfights and theatrical presentations. As a social center, the town attracted more than its share of violence. It was not uncommon to see differences settled in the streets with guns. Outlaws such as Dutch Hubert, Nicolas Provencio and Billy the Kid frequented many of the bars and dances in town. It was at the jail and courthouse on the southeast corner of the plaza that Billy the Kid was tried and sentenced to hang in 1881. The town of Mesilla was as wild as the West ever was.” 

We browsed around the shops, including the Billy the Kid gift shop which is located inside the old court house and then went for dinner at La Posta Restaurant which they claim is ‘famed for Mexican Food and Steaks since 1939’. It wasn’t that great to be honest but I guess we can’t be treated to an Orlando Bloom lookalike every evening!

Off to Roswell tomorrow, UFO capital of the world! Perhaps they’ll come and take Jenny home...