Day 14 - Around Albuquerque

After a motel breakfast, we headed for Old Town and found a free place to park central to what we wanted to see.  The walk to the New Mexico Museum of Natural History was leisurely, as we had about 1/2 hour to go about 1/4 mile.  We bought our NM Culture Pass, one visit to each museum & historic site, visited with the dinosaurs

"Steggy"

While Bill perused a giant map of current earthquakes:

Part of the visit was a 3D movie about National Parks - OK, once all the school kids got quiet.  Then we went to the Plaza area.  First stop was lunch at the Church Street Cafe, second was a T-shirt shop

Sandra's new T-shirt (Bill got a different one)

Bill paid a visit to a couple of relics of Sibley's misadventures in the area, replicas of a couple of the mountain howitzers buried nearby during his retreat after his supply train was destroyed.

Kind of interesting how certain parts of the gun are some much shinier than the rest of it

Now it was time for a visit to Bill;s favorite store on the Plaza - a book shop.  He ended up with 6 Steven Havills and the new Anne Hillerman - lots of reading when we get home.

After a trip back to the motel to recuperate, we hiked across the street to the Pueblo Cultural Center.  The lobby features one of New Mexico's 'painted ponies'

The museum is much improved over our first visit many years ago, but certain aspects of the center's Plaza remain very similar to the old appearance.

Interpretation is a lot more confident and even 'in your face' than many years ago- confident in their Pueblo identity. The featured exhibit was a series of cartoon paintings by Ricardo Cate', whose strip makes pointed pokes at White-Indian relations.    Dinner was a Tewa Taco at the center's restaurant.

Only 6 miles today, but 3066 for the trip. Tomorrow we're off to Santa Fe for a couple of days.