Four Days in Albuquerque

We had a great time on our trip to Albuquerque last week.  No, we didn't make it to Santa Fe.  The trip was a nice blend of city time and nature time.  We shopped the unique stores of old town, and got all the Christmas shopping done.  Then we visited two art museums and an anthropology museum.  Since we only had a rental car one day, we did a lot of walking.  I enjoyed walking through the residential areas - that is not something most tourists get to see.

On the nature side, we went to the Rio Grande nature center one day.  Only saw the sandhill cranes flying overhead, but it was a lovely area and we sat on the banks of the river for awhile. We rented a car our last day there and drove to the Petroglyph National Monument.  It was much different than I expected.  Most pictures of petroglyphs are on red rocks.  This part of albuquerque was formed by volcanoes, so the large rocks are black. It is amazing to think of those rock drawings still there after hundreds of years.

As we walked in the nature center, I took a few photos that have design potential.

 

We saw this cutie on our walk to the nature center.  No - it wasn't a rural area.  The center is located right in the midst of a residential area.   They must allow agricultural zoning, because this property had several animals in the fenced yard.