Albuquerque, Sante Fe

Thursday, April 16, 2015
We returned to the East Indian Restaurant 'AM Spices' as we enjoyed the food so much yesterday.

I talked to the women who also seems to be part owner and she does all the cooking. This time when we went we saw that there was a buffet with about six to eight different hot dishes to enjoy. Everything was so different and delicious.

We are still not used to the cold. I thought that it would be relatively warm here but it is not. It does get a little warmer in the afternoon, but not much. Instead of trying to walk in the shade you search out the sunny side of the street.

We did some shopping today but did not find lots. Ken is doing better than I in finding his Europe wardrobe. We even tried a Buffalo Exchange which has clothing more for teens and twenty somethings. But it was worth a try.

We were shopped out and decided to move on to Santa Fe, New Mexico. It was only about an hours drive. As we got closer to Santa Fe we could see that it was extremely windy and you could see dust clouds. Even on the highway it was blowing hard.

We shopped a bit in Santa Fe then were off to our reserved Motel room. We did not want to risk having to go to a different Motel as we like the location of the downtown Motel 6 in Santa Fe. This Motel room has heat which is very much appreciate.

Once checked in we walked to the very close Wholefoods Market. Yes, they are kind of pricey but we really like the buffet offerings. We have not been able to go to one for about six months. Great clam chowder and salad.

Friday, April 17, 2015
Today was a day to be coordinating our purchases for the Europe trip.

I went through everything we bought. I wrote down what we each had and what we had yet to purchase. I also thinned out my summer clothes that I took to Mexico. Many of the items from my wardrobe are looking worn or tattered. Plus there was stuff I had not worn at all so why not get rid of it.

We went out to The Pantry for lunch. Great food and service. We went here several times in the fall. It serves predominantly Mexican food. The Pantry's fried potatoes are the best.

I decided to go off on my own today. Ken had business type stuff to do today and actually wanted peace and quiet. I wanted to do something in Santa Fe. It is such an nice, artsy city. It is a shame to just sit in a hotel room. I set off on a walk to the Georgia O'Keefe Museum and Art Gallery. I was distracted on the way by a high end consignment shop. It was only about a half hour walk to the Gallery. The temperature was brisk but I was dressed for the weather.

The Museum does not have as many of O'Keefe's paintings as I would have liked. It still gives you a great representation of her work and life. There is a twelve minute video about her life which is very informative. I would advise others to go and see that first before walking around the rest of the gallery. There was also a special exhibit of her life in photos. Her husband, Alfred Stieglitz, was a famous photographer. He took most of the photos in that exhibit. Georgia O'Keefe (1887-1986) was best known for her enlarged paintings of flowers, New York landscapes and New Mexico landscapes.

After that enriching experience I needed more excitement so I decided to walk into the main square of downtown Santa Fe.  There were artisans set up, selling mostly jewellery. That took up mostly one side of the block. The other two blocks that I explored sold mostly high end clothing. I decided to explore these stores to get ideas. That was a fun adventure. Then I just walked back to the Hotel, finding one more thrift store on the way.

Ken and I went out again to Wholefoods for supper. This time we went in the day light. We could see that tulips were blooming, etc.

Saturday, April 18, 2015
Today we woke up to snow covering the van.

Can you believe it after we had to park in the shade for most of the winter to keep the van cool. The snow had melted by mid-day but all the same - snow, ugh!

I did not sleep well last night. I know, what is new about that, but because I slept good the night before I could see a distinct difference in how I felt both physically and mentally. It was like I was two different people. Not liking the sleep deprived version as much. I could barely function. Hard to explain unless you have the same problem. I went for years of not sleeping properly almost every night. I would get some relief on the weekend or during the summer but wow what a difference good sleep makes.

Ken had business activities to attend to. Mostly sitting at the computer but lots of mental activity. 
I did not do much yesterday. I caught up on the blog. Somehow I had gotten behind which surprised me that I was so far behind (four days). Then I did my Duolingo Spanish. It seems to be getting much more (or should I say mucho mas) difficult than it was. I do, however, remember thinking that back in about January. The part that was difficult then seems easy now so I must keep going with Spanish. The aim is to become conversational and to be able to understand others talking in Spanish.

I went to a nearby consignment shop to search out pieces for Ken. He came by in about an hour but no luck on finding anything for our up coming trip.

Ken is so sweet. He wanted us to get take out (para llevar) from a great little Mexican place, El Parasol, then he would eat with me at the laundry mat. It made doing laundry so quick and easy. First time I did laundry in about six months. We checked on the price of dropping off the laundry and it was significantly more expensive then Mexico.

We had supper at Wholefoods again. It is pricey but delicious.

Sunday, April 19, 2015
We ate lunch at Wholefoods as Ken had paperwork or computer type things to attend to.

I wanted to accommodate his wishes and eat quickly to. Sometimes when traveling, eating just takes up too much valuable time.

Ken drove me to an indoor mall, of which Santa Fe only has two. I guess it is so warm or hot here much of the time that an indoor mall is not that necessary. When traveling it is so interesting to think about why certain cities are set up as they are. This was a big mall that actually reminded me of the old Rutherford Mall in Nanaimo, however, it was much bigger with more stores. It has Dillards, Sears, JC Pennies and Sports Authority as anchor stores. I enjoyed Dillards and tried on a few things.

I walked a few blocks to Target and then on to Ross Dress for Less and TJ Max. I enjoyed TJ Max and actually made a purchase. I usually buy many of my clothes at thrift stores. Sometimes I wonder why I like to shop there, as we really do not need to rely on the cheap prices. Going to actual stores reminded me of the answer to this wondering. I saw tops and bottoms for well over one hundred dollars. I saw really crappy workmanship and materials on new clothes at, sometimes crazy prices. Top brand name purses were made of, well I do not know what, but it was not leather. Most items seemed over priced. I also noticed that there was a lot of clothing out there that has styles that will soon be redundant. I saw, for example, an expensive looking silk knit sweater on sale. I pulled it off the rack to look at it. The back was lace. Now in what climate do you need a warm sweater that has a lace back? Nowhere in Canada I can safely say. Actually TJ Max was at the top of my list as it had reasonable prices for mostly good quality clothes. At least if you find something good at a thrift store it is like finding treasure and it is usually not expensive. Remember, people who buy those hundred dollar type of clothing want a change or for some reason get rid of those items to thrift stores. I must say that I did enjoy my day of shopping.



Monday, April 20, 2015
I knew Ken had to finish up some paperwork kind of work before moving on today.

I had thoughts of walking to some art gallery or store in Santa Fe to amuse myself. We were after all in a great, artsy city. I ended up doing the blog and doing Duolingo instead. Between that and helping to pack up, time seemed to disintegrate. Before I knew it we were ready to move on. The hotel was not as gracious as one might think after we had stayed there for about four or five days. We wanted to stay until about two. Other hotels from the same chain have let us fudge our check out time to accommodate us finishing some business concerns. Not this place - downtown location of Motel 6. They insisted we leave as soon as we could after check out time.

We did not leave Santa Fe until about one-thirty, finishing up items in the motel parking lot. We needed the internet.

We drove through an area of wonderful scenery. Georgia O'Keefe had good reason for wanting to settle in such a scenic area. It is not a place I would want to settle into but I could certainly appreciate the beauty of the area. We took the fastest route and did not go through Taos, NM.

As it was, it took us about five hours of driving to get close to our destination, which changed as we drove along. First, we wanted to make it to Denver. Then we lowered our destination expectations to Colorado Springs. Then we lowered our expectations again to Pueblo. We even had the opportunity to shop for about half an hour in Pueblo before the stores closed. We are all stoked to buy a new wardrobe to wear in Europe. We did not really bring proper attire to wear in Europe. What were we thinking? You can not go to northern Europe in clothes design to wear at the beach in Mexico, mid-winter. We are both seem to be on the same page about this matter, even though Ken does not like shopping. He can also find some techie items that we require.

We end up camping tonight just north of Pueblo. It was kind of a chilly night for camping. The cool air is refreshing but is easy to sleep in. The back of our van is always a treat as the bed is so cozy and comfortable. It just seemed a bit odd to be camping again as we really have not camped much lately.