ALBNM
Neither one of us can seem to spell Al-buh-ker-kee.
With a sad farewell to the Grand Canyon we headed to Albuquerque, NM with a stop at the Petrified Forest National Park and the Painted desert.
We stayed at the Turquoise Trail Campground, a pleasant RV park in the foothills of The Sandia Mountain outside of Albuquerque, NM with access to some forest service trails. One evening we hiked the This Way trail and the That Way trail. Cece and Odie always love a good trail.
“Hiking opportunities on the Sandias are endless. Some 200 miles of trails cover all parts of the mountain, both inside and outside the Wilderness ranging from 5,000 to 10,000 feet elevation.”
Since we were pulling the camper, we didn’t get the best photos of the Painted Desert but it was beautiful!
We also stopped at Newspaper Rock, a small area in the park with about 650 ancient petroglyphs believed to have been created between 1000-1500 CE
The Petrified Forest is known for its fossils, especially fallen trees that lived in the Late Triassic Epoch, about 225 million years ago. We took a cold windy walk through the petrified logs, which are all rock and crystal and some are quite pretty! (dogs are allowed) It’s crazy to think that these beautifully colored stones were once tall trees.
We spent one day exploring the city, starting with a partial Breaking Bad tour. We saw Walt’s house, Hank and Marie’s house, the car wash where they laundered the drug money, Saul’s office, and the Martineztown Park, the park where Mike would visit with his granddaughter. It was fun to see some of the places where they filmed.
After the tour we went to Old Town Albuquerque, had some excellent coffee, and shopped for authentic jewelry and stones. We discovered a co-op with many artists selling their original works. It was an impressive and eclectic display of talent.
Finishing our adventurous day, we stopped at Petroglyph National Monument for another hike. The monument protects one of the largest petroglyph sites in North America. The Piedras Marcadas Canyon trail was an easy hike (Cece and Odie were fans) and we were able to view over 300 petroglyphs carved into the rocks between 400 and 700 years ago.
And after it was all over, we celebrated MK’s birthday!
