Day 6: Santa Rosa, NM to Albuquerque, NM

Miles Traveled: 81
Travel Time: 5 hours, 24 minutes
Pictures Taken: 78

Today was a deliberately short travel day - we had to do laundry!  On our way into Albuquerque, we drove part of the Turquoise Trail up to Sandia Point, which has an elevation of 10,678 feet! It was a pleasant 20 minute drive with gorgeous views along the way. The top afforded a beautiful view of Albuquerque and surrounding mountains.  The sudden change in altitude reminded me just how out of shape I am!  But the views were worth it!

Despite numerous signs warning of bears in the area, the only wildlife I saw was this little chipmunk munching on wildflower seeds.

And this deer munching on grass along the road on the drive back down the mountain.

Near the bottom of the mountain I couldn't resist stopping at the incredibly cheesy and dated  Tinkertown Museum.  Words cannot begin to describe this mish-mash of animated miniatures, collectibles, painted platitudes, and general kitsch. Here are a few pictures I took.  Many of the walls are built out of bottles.

 A few things were kind of cool, like this display from the first (only?) Native American-owned circus - the carousel horse has a blanket instead of a saddle!

Cheesy sayings and proverbs were hand painted onto signs EVERYWHERE.  Probably the most elaborate was this one.  Can you spot the ironic "typo"?

At least admission was only $3.00!

We then drove into Albuquerque proper.  Lunch was Panda Express - one of our few chain stops this trip, but as we don't have Panda Express in Toledo, it was new to me and very delicious!  Laundry was next - I forgot how much I hate laundromats!  After laundry was done, we checked into the hotel and just relaxed for a little bit.  Then it was off to Old Town to do a little shopping - we were a bit late for most shops but found a few still open past 5:00 pm.

This statue of the founder of Albuquerque marks the beginning of Old Town.

Then it was off to the ballpark! Albuquerque is home to the AAA farm team for the Dodgers, the Isotopes! I so wanted their mascot to be an atom, but alas, it isn't.  The mascot is called Orbit and looks sort of like a dog.

The park is pretty cool and the views of the mountains around the park make for some pretty cool views - especially at sunset and with a far-off storm!

The Isotopes won, and my Diet Coke was upsized for free thanks to a ditzy concession stand worker, so it was a good night! 

We took a drive through downtown to see some of the famed neon - it was a bit too congested to hop out and take a lot of pictures, so most of mine didn't come out very well.  This one came out OK.

One of the oddest quirks in Albuquerque was a few of the residential streets had posted speed limits of 18mph.  Very odd.

Tomorrow is a long day of driving - all the way to Williams, AZ.  We'll be there two nights so we can spend all day Friday at the Grand Canyon which is about a 45 minute drive north.