Albuquerque, NM

We wasted no time after arriving in Albuquerque. As soon as we checked into our hotel we were on the move to see some things. Our first activity was a visit to the National Atomic Museum which chronicled the invention and dropping of the atomic bomb and also highlights the good things nuclear power is used for today. It was a very neat museum, with some cool exhibits, but I have to admit it was a little over my head with the physics stuff.

We still had some time to kill before we were hungry again so we went to the Rattlesnake Museum with great trepidation on Sara's part. Note to Max, Jeremy and Liv: Yup your cousin Sara saw live rattlesnakes! They were all behind glass and I was totally afraid of them. They moved and watched us and freaked Sara out, but she earned herself a certificate of bravery from the museum.

Afterwards, another snow cone. The official snack of the Sara/Gale 2008 Roadtrip. Then a little exploring of some of the shops in the Old Town section of Albuquerque. Time to eat!

We stopped into the Church Street Cafe for some New Mexican cuisine and it was delicious! We befriended our server Marcus who gave us free food (we'll be adding that to a Random Thoughts Food Edition post soon) and invited us to see his punk band's first performance that night. So after dinner and relaxation in the hotel we made our way to Atomic Cantina to watch Marcus' band and we had an amazing time. Marcus rocks in many ways! Bandmate Landon not exactly rocking the shiny purse though.


Our second day in Albuquerque was spent checking out another one of our nation's historic monuments, the Petroglyph National monument. At this site there are three relatively quick and easy trails where you can see tons of rock etchings dating way back. It was really cool. Also a little yuck when you see this amazing rock etching right next to an "Irene <3 Chavez" graffitti. I mean seriously?


We relaxed back at the hotel and then walked around the main streets of Albuquerque some more. It's a quiet town during the weekdays, but it definately has a great energy about it. We're digging Albuqueque for sure!