Albuquerque

November 28~29

There's not nearly the charm of Santa Fe in Albuquerque, but there's enough to do to keep busy for a couple of days. 

Did I mention how much I love Christmas and parades?  As we check into the American RV Park (americanrvpark.com) we discover there is a Christmas Parade downtown.  We bundle up again, as it is still too cold to be called chasing the sun, and go directly to the parade route.  Bands are tuning up, floats are reving up and clowns are waiting their moment in the spotlight.

The main street through town is Historic Route 66 and is festively marked.  Laterns and buildings are all decorated and carolers entertain as the crowds await the parade.

We have some time until the parade launches, so we find Maloney's Tavern (famous since 1991!), that has a heated patio right on the parade route.  It's a perfect reviewing stand.

We munched on queso dip and had a great time.

On the way to the parade, we saw a restaurant called Standard Diner (standarddiner.com) that I knew sounded familar.  Then it hit me that we had seen it on TV, one of the Diners, Drive-ins and Dives shows on Food Nework.  After the parade, we hightail it back to have dinner there.

This is no diner!  The building is a former service station built in 1938 and now is actually quite chic in an art nouveau fashion.  Another thing I just adore is meat loaf, which is the recipe I saw prepared on TV.  The ingredients were exactly the way I make, but served wrapped in bacon and topped with a cabernet reduction, of course with a side of mashed potatoes and seasonal veggies.   It is fab. The sauce is definitely going to be my new topper,  though I did pick the bacon off....enough is enough!  Rick chooses a spectacular "Country Fried Tuna".  Sounds kinda gross, but actually is a lightly tempura battered sushi grade tuna served with wasabe guacamole and ginger infused basmati rice. This place is a winner!  It's also very reasonable (both entrees $14) and a has very good wine list.

Very fun day!

The American RV Park is a rather typical mid-tier kind of place, but seems to be the very best you can find in Albuquerque.  One nice thing though, they serve a complimentary continental breakfast every morning in their very comfy clubhouse. 

After breakfast we check out some of the rest of town.  Though the famous Balloon Festival is in October, there is a Balloon Museum that gives some of the flavor of hot air ballons and their history. It's free and virtually empty on Sunday mornings, a very good time to go.  While there are only a couple of life-size balloons, there are small mock-ups of very pretty historical balloons and quite a few interactive activites for kids of all ages.

                                                                                        

We stroll the Plaza for a little while....but once you've Santa Fe, it pales in comparison.  We probably didn't give it a fair shake, but we are really tired of being cold.  Tomorrow, we will begin to make our way to Phoenix via the Painted Desert and Petrified Forest.