Greetings From Albuquerque, NM

A promise of a lovely day was showing as we left SeaTac airport this morning.  It provided us with the most amazing fly by of Mt. Rainier I have ever had.  Wow!  What a way to begin a trip!

Farther along we had another amazing fly over of Great Salt Lake.  Algae bloom had turned a huge portion almost magenta.

We arrived in Albuquerque on schedule, picked up our luggage and our rental car and were at the hotel before three o'clock, so we had to wait for our room.  After we got settled, we drove the short distance to Old Town.

Our first stop was a highly recommended pottery gallery, The Agape Pueblo Pottery Shop.

This shop owner knows her stuff.  I told her I needed to learn about Puebloan pottery and she recommended a book, which I bought.  I hope to have time to study it as we visit the various pueblos.

 Buying the actual pottery is probably not in my budget!


We spent a little over an hour strolling through shops. 

 This looked appropriate for the Halloween season approaching.

Christmas shops always interest me, so we checked this out.  I bought a road runner ornament.

 We visited the San Felipe de Neri Church, oldest in Albuquerque, and on the old town plaza.

 We checked out more shops before heading back to the car and back to the hotel.  At 5:00 we headed to the Sandia Mountain Tram.

 It was an awesome ride!

 At the top we had dinner at the High Finance Restaurant as the sun set.  This was the view from inside

 And outside.

and reflected in the restaurant windows, along with the photographer. :-)

 And then we ate cake.