Sunday, June 19 Happy Father's Day

A picture in the motel. Across the USA by license plates

We met Steve at the Range (same place as dinner) at 7:30 am for breakfast.  Jennifer did not join us.  I treated George and Steve because it was Father's Day. I did not take any pictures.  It was sprinkling so George and I went back to the motel to get our jackets.  We met Steve at his place and we walked around the neighborhood.  But then we said our goodbyes.  Steve and Jennifer are both not doing well.  They both have major health concerns.  But it was 9 am and our flight home wasn't until 7:15 pm.  So what to do??! 

Millipede, they were all over 

We went to the Boca Negra Canyon. 

Some examples of the petroglyphs

Looking up. Warning "The Mesa Point Trail is steep and strenuous. Use caution."  They weren't kidding.

Looking down. Note the tiny vehicles.

We just did one trail, the Mesa Point Trail.

Then we headed off to the Albuquerque BioPark.  This is a combination of a botanic garden and aquarium, all for one price. We wandered through part of the gardens 

Miniature train garden. Sometimes they have it running. 

Entrance to the Fantasy Garden.  We ended out not going in there.

The butterfly garden

After the butterfly garden, we went to go check out from the motel and then returned. The motel was very close to the BioPark.

The Japanese Garden

Conservatory

We went to the Shark Reef Cafe for a sit-down break and lunch. 

I had a cheeseburger

Cool Reflection 

We could watch the fish while we waited for our food. They were very, very slow!

After lunch, we went to the Aquarium

River Otter

turtles

Jellyfish

tunnel under the fish

Big Sea Turtle

By this time we were tired so we left to go to the airport even though we would be quite early.  At least we could sit and it was air-conditioned.  We turned in the car and took the shuttle to the airport.  Check-in was easy.  Though this time they did not like my airplane-safe wine bottle opener.  They checked it out but let me keep it. We only got to the airport 4 hours early.

Because of the rain that we had during our visit, we never had the super-hot temperatures.  I am very glad. The rain was refreshing.  

I think I will send this off now and later do "an arrived safely" addendum when I get home.

Saturday June 18th

Morning Glory

Our hotel in the daylight

Sunrise

The breakfast room opened at 6:30 am so I was there then to get my morning coffee. 

Once both of us were ready we went to the breakfast room for breakfast. We had to tell the person in charge what we wanted.  There was a line for the waffles. George had raisin bran which was not in the picture.  Exciting breakfast.

 

It really was 7:58 am but the clock was missing a line.  It threw me off at first.

We wandered through Old Town.

We went in to a small art gallery.  The artist is closing up shop today. I am glad that we got to see her work. Very impressive. Laughing Spirits

Another potter had these baby yodas.

We headed to Steve and Jennifer at 11 am.

It is a very nice house.  We sat around and chatted for awhile.  Jennifer was able to lie down for a bit. Her Parkinson's is definitely worse. George and I drove over to Subway to pick up lunch for us all.  Subway was very close. 

Jennifer's dog Nipsy

Steve drove us over to Perry and Dan's home. Jennifer stayed home. 

Another very nice home.  Both Wyatt and Willa were sleeping when we got there.  

They tie milk jugs around their dogs to keep them from digging under the fence.  A very interesting solution. 

Willa woke up but Wyatt was still asleep when we left.  

Perry, Willa and Dan

Dan, Willa, Perry and Steve

We only stayed about an hour.  George and I headed back to the motel to give Steve and Jennifer a break.  It rained a little, but not very much.  We planned to meet at The Range (as in stove top not home on the ...) for dinner at 6:30 pm.  It had some very interesting decor.

There is chicken under the avocado.  It was yummy.

Jennifer had a hard time at the restaurant, she ate a little but then her back was bothering her so she was walking around. We headed back to the motel.

Albuquerque June 2022

 Rebecca dropped us off at the MAX station at noon.  We just missed the airport MAX but it was not a long wait for the next one.  It is pretty much an hour ride to the airport.  We waved at Nathan's apartment as we went by.  We got to the airport in plenty of time to go through security.  I had TSA Pre check.  I did not even need to show my boarding pass, just my driver's license.  Very slick.  No A concourse any more just B and C on one end and D and E on the other.  Also, they no longer have a connection between the two ends so you have to make sure that you go to the correct concourse. 

Still signs of construction and plans.  I don't know when they hope to have it all completed.  

We left about 15 minutes late which means that we got to Albuquerque late.  But everything moved smoothly.  It was an uneventful flight.  It also was not full.

Look at that rain cloud.  

Yesterday it was 99 degrees in Albuquerque and today when we landed it was 66 degrees and raining.  

Looks like a fun thing to do, as long as the pilot is not also drinking.

We took the shuttle to the rental car place and got our "compact" vehicle, our Ford Escape!! We headed off to the restaurant High Noon where we were meeting Steve and Jennifer. We were delayed slightly because we took a wrong turn and had to recalculate. Sometimes freeways are so confusing.  If you don't get in the correct lane you have to pay the consequences.  

They had appetizer waiting for us.  I guess they had been waiting a while.

My margarita was delicious

Jennifer and Steve

George and I split the Three Sisters Veggie Burrito (Wrapped in fresh flour tortilla.

Filled with zucchini, squash, beans, corn, sweet peppers, rice, and a 3-cheese blend.

Served with chips and guacamole on the side.)  It was yummy.

High Noon Restaurant and Saloon

Cool fireplace in the entryway

After dinner, we went to check in at the Econo Lodge.  We got there at 9 pm.  

Very nice room

I thought ahead and bought this wine in the Made in Oregon shop at the airport.  George forgot to bring his hot chocolate.

Good-bye to the Honda CR-V

 We were selling the Honda to our nephew, Robbie, in Chicago. At first, we thought maybe this would all happen in May.  I think that once Robbie and  Ice thought about it they decided that sooner was better than later.  We found out that it would be shipped sometime the week of the 14th but we did not know when and where we would take the car to be shipped. Monday night we found out that it would be sometime on Tuesday. We had already cleaned everything out of the car, so it was ready to go.  This morning we heard that it would be around noon but still, we did not know where.  Then around  12:30 pm, we got a  call that they would be at the Bi-Mart parking lot in half an hour.  As some of you know, the Bi-Mart parking lot is very close to us.  They would text us when they arrived.  We got the text and so we drove the car over.

I had liked this license plate.  Honoring the Oregon Trail.

The guy who was taking it took a bunch of pictures, I guess for insurance purposes. 

This is the vehicle that it was going to go on.  Ours was the last one he was picking up.

There it is, all ready to go.  

It is supposed to arrive in Chicago on Friday, the 18th. 

Bye, bye, Honda. 

The car arrived safely in Chicago on Friday. Not quite as clean as when it left here.  I hope it serves Robbie and Ice well.