We have made two short visits to Albuquerque – nearly 30 years apart. The first was on our pre-engagement/pre-graduate school cross-country drive in 1992. The second was this week. Both times we leave slightly underwhelmed.
Maybe our expectations are too high. Maybe we have not experienced the best this city has to offer.
On this Prufrock journey, we had a tough time deciding where to stay as we left Arizona and entered New Mexico, still on our I 40/Route 66 path. The Harvest Host brewery options seemed like asphalt spaces in strip-mall parking lots, which didn’t appeal to us. The state parks were too far away from downtown; we learned from Sedona that it’s best to keep the travel time between Prufrock’s location and our recreation relatively short.
We settled on the Coronado Campground, and wound up pleased with with the choice. The campground is owned and operated by the town of Bernalillo, situated on the edge of an historic Native American site, and was easy to get to off a north-south highway.
The most notable feature is the brightly painted adobe sheds at each space, covering a picnic table. They made great remote-work spots. One woman at a site nearby was set up like an office – her laptop elevated to eye level as she wore headphones and a microphone for great video conferencing from a campground. Sadly, we didn’t meet her or anyone really at Coronado. It was very quiet, but as always a couple of strollers complimented and asked about the Happier Camper.
After a solid work day, we scheduled a late afternoon run in Albuquerque to explore the city – followed by dinner.
Karen is picking runs off of the greatruns.com website, and most have been great. Our experience in cities shows its often great to run in the historic part of the town – to learn the layout and development patterns at eye level – and also to run along rivers, which in many places have been developed for recreation with parks and pathways.
In Albuquerque, neither of these choices really give the best option.
Yes, there is a pretty long Paseo del Bosque bicycle trail (which we did run on), but we had a bit of a tough time finding an access spot. [Tip: best to park near the fishing pond toward the southern end.] We were planning on parking near Old Town and running through both that section and the river path, but once we got there, we scuttled the plan – Old Town isn’t great for running, and the connectivity was bad.
But we did have a nice fast run on the Paseo. We were struck by the sorry state of the Rio Grande. It is NOT grand. It’s nearly dried up. We were shocked. We did some online searching a little later and learned of the ecological disaster caused by too much upriver agriculture and residential usage, droughts and limited snowpack. It’s pretty sad, actually.
We walked out into the middle of what should be a flowing river to take photos. We shouldn’t be able to do that.
Don’t judge – but we’ve been in the habit of rinsing and toweling off at the car and then heading for some food or other activities. OK, you can judge. So we headed only slightly clean into Old Town for dinner.
We picked the High Noon Restaurant and Saloon, and were so glad we did.
The food was great. The building is historic and interesting – the entry portion dating to the 18th century. The server was engaging and attentive. He’s a young transplant from Ohio who is making a career in television and film [working now mainly on reality TV production], and moved to Albuquerque because it’s becoming an industry mecca. He seemed happy and fulfilled.
We also met the owner of the restaurant, who told us about its haunted history. Apparently, there’s a ghost that inhabits what is the women’s restroom. Another staff member swore he’s seen it. The building has been featured on TV shows, and is a stop on the local ghost tour. An after-dark stroll around Old Town gave us a better appreciation of the streets and stores.
Still, despite our efforts – and despite a very fun day – we don’t think we’ve really seen the best of this city. But if we have, it’s too bad.
Technical updates: Fortunately, not much to report. The campground site warned that long water hoses may be needed, and in fact ours was not long enough to reach from the spigot. But we made do with our tank, and using the hose to fill bottles and wash dishes. Carrying an extra extension water hose may not be a bad idea, but not an urgent purchase.