Reby's Weight Loss and Breast Cancer Journey: Albuquerque

We finished up in Santa Fe yesterday with two capitols, the current one and the oldest one. The current one is the only round capitol building in the US. The oldest one in the US is the Palace of Governors, which was built in 1610 and was used until the mid-1800s. It is the oldest continually occupied public building in the country since Governors or Captains General resided in the building from 1610-1910. Now it is a museum with another big museum behind it. We did both museums.

After lunch we drove to Albuquerque, which is only about an hour from Santa Fe. The plan was to go to the art museum, but the plan changed. I have had plantar fasciitis for a little over 20 years. It comes and goes, but lately it's been gone. I guess I got cocky because I did not bring my sneakers with the orthotics in them on this trip and only one pair of socks. I have been wearing two different pairs of Walking Cradles sandals that I bought to keep my toes open. Up until a few days ago they have been great for walking; however, two days ago I could feel a little something in my right foot. Yesterday I woke up with more pain in the foot and some pain in my leg and hip from favoring it the day before. After we did the two capitols, I could barely make it to lunch and back to the car. While driving to Albuquerque, we decided to put the art museum off to this morning and go to Walmart instead. I got a $10 pair of velcro sneakers that seem okay and a $10 pair of Dr. Scholl's orthotic inserts and a $5 pack of six pairs of socks. I put them on in the motel and was able to walk around Old Town Albuquerque to go to dinner at one restaurant and for drinks with Rudy at a different restaurant. With regular Advil for a few days and walking with these cheap orthotics, I think it will clear up. It's going to take a week probably to do that though. I feel kind of stupid that I did this, but at least it didn't cost a fortune yesterday to fix it.

We had dinner at an historic old house, now a restaurant, in Old Town. Oh, my, did I eat, which explains the three pound gain this morning. No worries it will go away soon. Mark and I picked that place because it had a Navajo taco on fry bread on the menu. We split that and also split a veggie combo platter of a tamale, enchilada, chill relleno, spinach, and beans. I also had a glass of sangria and Mark had an interesting beer called Outlaw. Cool.

Rudy wasn't ready for dinner, so he didn't join us, but just as we finished up, he texted and said he was at the High Noon saloon, just around the corner, and would buy us a drink if we joined him. We walked over right away! Mark got a flight of three anejo tequilas, and I got a skinny margarita, which was fabulous. Unfortunately, I also ordered the apple cobbler with ice cream and coffee. I could barely walk the half mile back to the hotel. Then during the night I got a horribly painful cramp in the right thigh. Those are the worst! It took nearly an hour to get it to relax enough to get back in bed. I am blaming it on the walking without the orthotics for two days when I was actually limping. That probably caused the muscles to be a little off. Hopefully, it will be better tonight.

So today we will do the art museum in the morning and the Pueblo Indian museum in the afternoon before driving 125 miles to the small town of Santa Rosa as a stop on the way to Fort Sumner and Roswell for the rest of our NM visit. Rudy really liked Santa Fe and is not interested in Fort Sumner or Roswell, so he has canceled his hotels there and made new reservations in Santa Fe. After the two museums today, he will head to Santa Fe while we go to Santa Rosa. We will see him again next Friday because after NM he is going to San Francisco and plans to drive down to see Evey's new house and dog and visit with us for the day there. Then he concludes his vacation with some time in Portland before going back to Maryland.

It's day 23 of 64, a smudge over a third of our trip, and we are still having fun!

The only round capitol building in the USA.

There was an art gallery encircling the entire main level. Mark really loved the chilis hanging everywhere.

Mark explaining the symbolism of the New Mexico state seal on the floor of the rotunda.

Boys having fun.

Palace of the Governors, which is twice this long.

Outside the Palace the Native Americans and others were stretched out the entire length of the building selling hand made items.

Inside the Palace, there were several places that showed how the original foundations or walls or beams are underneath what we currently walk on or see..

Many rooms full of the history of this building, the Spanish and Mexican governments, and the Pueblos.

Our the back of the Palace and over to the New Mexico History Museum.

Kit Carson's tobacco punch

Mark is looking at the cowboys from further south in Lincoln County. We will be learning more about the Lincoln County wars and Billy the Kid tomorrow when we are down in Fort Sumner.

Harvey House exhibit because wherever there was a railroad stop, there was a Harvey House.

The old section of Santa Fe around the Palace and the Plaza was chock full of adorable shops. I ended up buying Emily a real pretty turquoise pendant in this shop.

After we went to Walmart and CVS for a prescription refill, we checked in to the Old Town Econolodge, a short walk to the entrance to the original part of Albuquerque.

The original church in Santa Fe, still in use.

Except for cars, Old Town still looks like it always did from the 1700s. This Church Street Cafe was owned by the same family for hundreds of years. It looks small, but it goes really far back. It was an old adobe home in a U-shape with an inside courtyard.