Colorado Trip 2015: In Which We Actually Spend A Couple Of Days In New Mexico

On the way up to the Nash family reunion in Colorado, we drove almost the entire 900 miles in one long day. We reasoned that our girls are old enough now for an extended car trip; plus, it would save us on hotel costs. However, I decided to try something different for our drive back. For one thing, Nathan was already back at work in Arizona, and I'd have to do all the driving by myself.

More significantly, I wanted to actually linger in New Mexico for a change. Even on the vacations when we have stopped in Albuquerque, we've never done anything other than crash in our hotel, sleep, and hit the road early the next morning. We've never explored the city, or tried out any of its attractions. Maybe it was time to find out if there was anything else Albuquerque (and New Mexico in general) had to offer, besides being a way-point between our Arizona home and our Colorado family.

So, with Nathan's blessing, I booked a hotel in Albuquerque for two nights. I also asked a few of my friends with New Mexico/Albuquerque connections if they had any specific places/restaurants/etc. to recommend. We formulated a basic plan, and planned on spending an extra day and a half or so in town to sightsee, before heading the rest of the way back home. We got into our hotel a little later than we'd planned, due to my last-minute desire to reach the top of Pike's Peak. It was close to one o'clock in the morning before we were safely in our beds! At least we found the hotel quickly and checked in easily...and at least there was an awesome lightning storm lighting up the night skies and keeping my tired brain entertained while I drove the dark, lonely freeway.

After sleeping in (a little bit!) the next morning, we headed to our first Albuquerque attraction: the Albuquerque BioPark!

The BioPark is a large piece of land in the middle of the city which contains an aquarium, a zoo, and a botanical garden. They're all adjacent to one another, and if you buy a multi-pass, you can attend all of them in the same day! There's even a fun (and free!) train ride that carries you from one attraction to the other. Best of all, since I am still a member of the Reid Park Zoo, I was able to score multi-passes for the kids and myself for 50% off the list price! It was a great deal, and we were hopeful that the BioPark would mean a full day of fun.

We started at the Aquarium, which was a little small but still very impressive!

A large portion of the aquarium was devoted to Gulf Coast wildlife, which I thought was an interesting choice, but appropriate (given that it's the nearest large body of water to Albuquerqe).

Just like the Phoenix Zoo, this aquarium had an interactive manta-ray pool, which the girls loved.

Things got even more dramatic when we moved downstairs, to the larger aquariums featuring Atlantic and Pacific Ocean wildlife...

It was really cool to walk "underneath" the water, and see the huge variety of fish that thrive in our oceans.

 

 

Probably the girls' favorite was the huge shark tank at the aquarium's end. There were some giant rays in that tank as well. They loved to swim close by the glass; it was awesome!

 

 

 

After the aquarium, we decided to try out the Zoo next. We headed out to the train depot to catch a ride to the zoo.

 

 

This wasn't a little-kid train. It was much larger; people of all sizes could comfortably sit (or lay down!) inside. The ride was actually about twenty minutes long; on the way to the zoo, we also passed by a series of man-made lakes that were designed to be part of the BioPark. We saw lots of people taking walks, riding bikes, and feeding fish and waterfowl next to these lakes. It looked pretty peaceful!

The zoo actually turned out to be much cooler than any of us had expected. There was a larger variety of animals there than we had anticipated, including many animals the girls had never seen live before.

There were hippos...

...a few strange African ungulates...

...and lots of large apes, including a troop each of gorillas, orangutans, and chimpanzees.

 

The girls loved the crowded alligator enclosure as well!

 

 

My favorite area was probably the Australia wing. I was not expecting to see a koala bear in Albuquerque, but we did!!

He was kinda hard to see, though...he was snoozing in his tree!

They also had a tree kangaroo...

...a Tasmanian devil...

...and a whole mob of red kangaroos!

As luck would have it, one of the keepers was in the kangaroo enclosure feeding the animals, so they were much livelier than usual. It was really fun to see them hop excitedly all over the place. SO CUTE! I love kangaroos.

The girls were starting to get a little pooped on the way out of the zoo, but I still encouraged them to try out the Botanical Gardens. They weren't too enthusiastic for it at first, but I told them it would be a beautiful, relaxing way to end our day at the BioPark.

Sadly, we didn't make it all the way through the Botanical Gardens. Not only were the girls tired, we got caught in a heavy thunderstorm and were driven out early! But we still managed to see some beautiful gardens.

 

 

There was also a butterfly pavilion there, bigger than the one in the Tucson Botanical Gardens but not as densely populated. We managed to see a couple of butterflies, but soon after that we had to head back to the entrance.

 

 

My favorite part of the gardens was the children's fantasy garden (and I unfortunately have no pictures of it, since my camera died just as we arrived there!). It featured larger-than-life insects, plants, flowers, fruits, and vegetables, interspersed with "real" plants and vegetation. There was even a vine-entwined dragon sculpture guarding the entrance! We were stuck in the fantasy garden when the thunderstorm hit, and we took shelter in a two-story-tall pumpkin, complete with "seeds" hanging from the ceiling! We cowered inside, listening to the thunderclaps outside and trying to avoid the drizzle coming in through the pumpkin's "stem." It was a little wet and cold, but it made my imagination run wild at the same time. It felt so whimsical to be hiding in a pumpkin during a rainstorm! It was a place I definitely want to revisit.

We finally decided to leave the Botanical Gardens due to the rain; we had to flee at top speed to our car, and when we made it in, we were soaked to the skin! Hopefully we can try the gardens again on another trip...there was a lot there we didn't get to see.

We drove back (through several flooded streets) to our hotel, where we napped and/or dried off for a couple of hours. Then, as the storm slacked off somewhat, we decided to try heading out to Old Town Albuquerque...and hopefully dinner, too.

Old Town itself was decent, but many of the artisan shops were closed. I suspect Old Town appeals more to older couples; it wasn't that kid-friendly. However, the girls did have fun at a few places, like the homemade soap store (we bought a few bars to take home), and the candy shop. But their favorite part of Old Town were the snails we saw crawling around on the ground.

 

 

Yes, my poor desert children had never seen a snail before. I think they're kind of gross, myself, but the girls were fascinated and couldn't get enough of them.

I also saw this in Old Town:

Just for the record: as of this writing, I haven't yet seen a single episode of Breaking Bad (an acclaimed drama about a high-school teacher turned meth kingpin, which takes place in the Albuquerque area). But I was amused at the city's pride in its own notoriety. I had no intention of taking the tour...but I was reminded that I need to try watching this show sometime!

After a little more exploration in Old Town, we headed out for dinner at a restaurant my New Mexico-raised friend swore by:

Garduno's! It passed itself off as "New Mexican" cuisine. To me, it tasted a lot like Tex-Mex...but at least it was very good Tex-Mex. The girls and I all greedily devoured our food. Then, it was time to head back to the hotel and crash for the night. The next day, we'd finally head home to Arizona...but not before a little more sight-seeing!