Petroglyph Monument? Check. Old Town? Check. Sandia Peak Tramway? Check.

Yesterday

When we last spoke, I was still waiting for the UPS driver to show up with my boxes. I can only imagine the suspense that you've been in over the last 40 hours or so. I can just hear you now...

Did the packages arrive? How long did they have to wait? Did Amanda's things arrive in one piece?

Well, I can tell you right now that my packages did eventually arrive and they were even intact. There goes my dream of UPS buying me a new iMac after they broke and/or lost mine.

The day was long and Carrie and I got a little stir crazy here in my miniature house. I escaped for a little while to get my student ID. It was my first visit on campus, but I quickly found the Student Union Building and the "LoboCard" office and got my new ID. The kindly fellow taking my picture was nice enough to show me the mugshot before he printed the card. Everything seemed fine on the screen, but when it came out my head seemed to be distorted a little bit. Either my head is squashed in the picture or I'm getting fatter. One of the two. Here I am with the new ID:



I had alerted my landlord (currently living in the main house), that my packages were arriving and that I was waiting for them. He suggested I put a note on the gate to help the UPS man find me. Fortunately for me, when the driver finally pulled up around 5:30pm, the landlord was outside and able to alert me so that I could meet the truck on the street and guide him to the guest house.

After sitting in the boring house for ten hours, we were anxious to get out of here. I quickly unpacked my boxes and put things away and then we headed out for dinner. Unfortunately, in our haste, neither of us remembered to bring a map or guidebook of any sort and we had no idea where to go. We wanted to go somewhere away from my neighborhood, but we also didn't want to go too far or get lost. So we drove downtown and then turned around and ended up at Saggio's which is right across the street from the Tamarind Institute.

Here is a evening shot of Tamarind:



And here is Carrie waiting for our yummy Margherita pizza at Saggios:



After we got home, we watched Babel and then got really depressed and went to bed.

Today

We got up early and drove a few miles west to Petroglyph National Monument. Thankfully, we got there early enough that it wasn't too hot and we were able to enjoy walking the trails and looking at the rock carvings. For some reason, I didn't really give much thought to what we'd actually be doing at the park. I certainly didn't anticipate having to walk up this hill:



Despite my out-of-shapedness, I made it to the top.



We saw lots of cool petroglyphs and lots of vandalism and lots of wildlife (lizards, rabbits, snakes, and something that looked like a prairie dog). Here are a few of the petroglyphs:





Since we were already out that way, we decided to stop at Old Town on the way home. As the name implies, Old Town is the oldest part of town, situated around a plaza that is home to the 300 year old Church of San Felipe de Neri. These days, this is a tourist trap. The shops are filled with southwesty things and t-shirts and windchimes and turquoise and silver jewelry. There were people there with jewelry spread out on blankets and a lot of it was pretty, but we didn't get anything. We had lunch at the Church Street Cafe which is located in the oldest home in Albuquerque. Our food was good and I especially enjoyed the Sopaipilla that came with my soup.

After lunch, we went home, ran a few errands on campus, then showered and hung out in the apartment for the afternoon. As much as we hate being in the apartment, we hate the sun more. So we stayed in the house as long as we could and then headed back out to ride the Sandia Peak Tramway!

I was a little bit nervous about the ride. I get motion sick easy and also am not the biggest fan of heights. However, Carrie was super excited to go up to the top of the mountain, and I'm not one to ruin her fun. So off we went. Here is me with a look of terror hesitation while waiting for our tram to come back down and pick us up.





Once we got on and started going, it was fine. I took a lot of pictures. In fact, I took so many pictures that I failed to notice that Carrie was having a bit of an anxiety attack. It was a little weird being up so high, but I quickly adjusted and was able to go out by the rail and snap some pictures of the view.



Carrie, on the other hand, was content to stay as far away from the edge as possible.



We probably stayed up there for an hour or so. It was nice and peaceful, but I wish they had more places to just sit and enjoy the view. There weren't really a lot of benches. Just rickety looking rails and decks that seemed like they might collapse at any moment and hurl you 10,500 feet to your death. Thankfully, there were no deck collapses and our descent back to the bottom of the peak was without incident. I'm glad that we went up there, but I guess we won't be doing it again anytime soon. It's kind of like the Arch in Saint Louis. Everybody has to do it at least once.

Now that we have exhausted every possible touristy thing to do in Albuquerque, I'm not sure what tomorrow will bring. Maybe a day trip to Sante Fe. I guess we'll wait and see.