Day 12 of our ultimate road trip we left our dear friends and drove north to Albuquerque for a two night stay. This city is one of the places on our trip that we wouldn't care to return to; perhaps it was because the house we stayed in was our least favorite, or maybe because of the letdown of leaving friends, either way, these weren't our favorite days of the trip.
The first afternoon that we were in Albuquerque, Ben gave me the afternoon off for errands and he headed to the Children's Museum with the boys. It sounds like it was a neat place, but not the best they have ever visited. It was a good change of pace for all of us from the hiking we'd been doing almost daily.
They enjoyed being pilots.
And building with life sized blocks.
And diverting water.
The next day we went first to the Albuquerque zoo. Again, it just wasn't our favorite. A lot of the exhibits were closed, and the things we really wanted to see (like the koalas and Tasmanian devils) weren't out.
Sam, Josh, and Seth
A cougar
The kangaroos were definitely the highlight.
They hopped right past us!
Mr. Polar Bear was pacing waiting for his lunch. That was fun to watch!
Next, we drove to the aquarium. The zoo, aquarium, and botanical gardens are all in a large complex and you can take a train between each place. We opted to drive our own car, however, so as to not be constrained by the train schedule (and speed). The aquarium was small, but nice.
Seth
The sharks were awesome and obviously very scary.
Our favorite park of the three was 100% the botanical garden. It was awesome. I wish that we had started there with fresh feet, because by this time we had walked a ton and were pretty tired.
Poppies and pansies, two of my favorite flowers.
This area reminded me of Portland gardens and made me so happy.
Wisteria in the Japanese garden.
The Japanese garden was beautiful!
There was a super cool mechanical train.
One of the neatest parts was the children's section, where everything was over sized so that the kids could feel like insects. It was super fun to explore.
Giant pumpkin behind Josh.
Check out the dragon.
The boys and I doing a silly pose by the willow tree. Unfortunately our non-silly picture was out of focus, so this is it for the pretty willow picture.
After the gardens, we went to old town Albuquerque for some souvenir shopping and ice cream. It had a beautiful church.
Then we took a tram to Sandia Peak, overlooking the city. It is the second longest tram in the world, so we felt like we couldn't miss it, even if it was ridiculously expensive. I'm still trying to decide if the views were worth it.
It was cold at the top!
The clouds were beautiful that afternoon.
The views were spectacular.
It was fun to pass the other tram car!
Here it comes!
The only thing good about the house was the bunk beds for the kids.
We were ready to leave Albuquerque. Our house wasn't in a great neighborhood and overall, we just didn't have the greatest experience. Day 14 we drove from Albuquerque to Flagstaff, AZ with detours through El Morro National Monument and the Petrified National Forest. We drove for a little over six hours, but with lots of stops and the kids did great!
El Morro National Monument has a short trail that brings you past tons of petroglyphs that span 700 years of human activity. Behind the boys is a pool, or watering hole, that was the main reason so many groups of people passed by this spot. It was some of the only water around for Pueblo Indians, Spaniards, and eventually American settlers.
We especially enjoyed the Spanish inscriptions.
We stopped at the visitor center first and they gave us a neat booklet to help with a self-guided tour. The trail was only about 1/2 mile long, so it was a nice opportunity to stretch our legs while learning some history.
One more of the boys.
Further down the road we turned off to explore the Painted Hills and Petrified National Forest. It was very interesting country with some very unexpected landscape.
Some of the coloring and layering reminded us of southern Utah and the Vermillion Cliffs, but just a lot drier.
Me and my boys.
Not only were there crazy pieces of petrified logs everywhere, there was also crazy landscape.
I enjoyed finding the occasional bright flower.
Petrified log bridge.
Morris' keeping it classy and finding "the perfect pooping spot"
We were all fascinated by the colors and textures of the petrified wood.
Sam
The boys were troopers with lots of driving and hot trails.
Ben took the boys to see some of the bigger logs, while I confess, I stayed in the air conditioned visitor center.
So, overall, this stretch of the trip was good, but we wouldn't visit any of the places again. The Petrified Forest is definitely worth a one-time visit, though, as it is truly unique.
No comments:
Post a Comment