At Ease in Albuquerque

Hard to believe we are already a month into our three month house and catsitting job in Albuquerque. Things are going well and we feel very fortunate to be here. The cats are a joy to have around and the house is so much more comfortable than the Lazy Daze. We are not missing the RV life at all so far.

A couple weeks ago friends Alex and Ellen spent a week at a nearby Coronado Village RV park. They came over for dinner and walks around our neighborhood and I actually enjoyed cooking for them in our huge kitchen. 

Ellen and Jim on one of our walks

We took a nice bike ride along the Paseo del Bosque trail followed by lunch at Steel Bender Brewyard. Not only did they have a great seitan sandwich, there was also a very good live band playing that afternoon.

Alex, Jim and Ellen on the Paseo del Bosque.

Rio Grande 

Another day we all took the train to Santa Fe, a bargain at $6 round trip for seniors.

Waiting at the Sandia Pueblo train station

The ride was around an hour and 15 minutes. Nice to leave the driving to someone else.

Getting off at the last stop puts you about a mile and a half from The Plaza in Santa Fe. Before heading there we detoured to the State Capitol building, aka The Roundhouse, the only round capitol building in the U.S.

The best part of our self-guided tour was the artwork. The capitol is home to a collection of art from over 600 New Mexican artists, as well as a changing exhibit. We were very impressed.

Believe it or not, these are actually quilts. I am not a huge fan of most quilts, but these were absolutely beautiful.

Strange looking lion.

We all really liked this bison head.

Blog artist at work :-)

It was fascinating to discover all of the things it was made of, including plastic spoons, fishing reels, newspapers and paint brushes.

From the capitol we walked over to The Plaza then wandered through some shops and checked out the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Asisi.

 Simple but nice looking chruch.

Alex and Ellen used to have a macaw like this one so they had to stop and talk to the owner. He's had this bird for 32 years!

Jewelry vendors along the Plaza. It was interesting to see most of them sitting there looking at their smartphones

Lunch view of the Plaza from the balcony at Draft Station.

Great beer and pizza at Draft Station.

Alex and Ellen

Gayle and Jim

After lunch we did some more window shopping, then decided to head back to catch the 4:15 train. The sky was getting dark and we heard some distant thunder getting closer.

Omen of what was to come.

We didn't get too far before it started raining, and of course none of us brought our rain jackets. Then the temperature dropped and the hail began. We finally found a side entrance of a small hotel for some protection but we were already soaked and cold by then. Since it wasn't letting up Alex finally called an Uber to take us the last mile to the station. We were never so happy to get into a nice warm car!

Accumulating hailstones.

This post is getting too long so I'll save the rest for the next one, but first we have a question about mattresses. We've been to just about every mattress store in town and have been gravitating towards an all foam mattress, like a Tempur-Pedic. Reading reviews online is confusing us as there are so many choices these days. If anyone has a recommendation we would love to hear it, especially about the bed-in-a-box type that seem to be all the rage. We are looking for something softer but supportive. Appreciate any input!