Dan recently mentioned our shuttle run to Albuquerque from Phoenix. Dan had some interviews in Albuquerque that he was supposed to fly out to. Unfortunately for us, all the rental cars in Albuquerque had been taken up by attendees of some kind of environmental conference. So, we had a last minute road trip. I don't know that I would recommend road trips with a toilet-training toddler. Alyssa did a pretty good job, though.
As usually happens, Alyssa and I were able to see more of the town than Dan. This is the entrance to the old town. Alyssa loved it, because there was a fountain. I thought it was a little strange, because the fountain water was actually dyed an unnatural shade of blue.
This is the front of the old Spanish style church in the main plaza of old town. Old town is a great place to find interesting jewelry and artwork. Unfortunately for me, that doesn't interest Alyssa as much, so we ended up going to the Children's Museum. Albuquerque museums were actually quite impressive in their quality.
Here are some highlights from our museum trip. Alyssa loved watching the colored balls move through this intricate maze.
Her fascination with water met this great fountain that had water shooting from the sides and the center. It made it look like the water was bouncing. We spent a long time by the fountain. And we kept revisiting it. Again. And again. And.....well, again.
I just love this picture. There was a long tube lined with mirrors that created a kaleidoscope effect. Alyssa could see me reflected at her end, and I could see her reflected at my end. I loved how this museum really let the children experience applications of scientific principles. We had a great time exploring.
Stay tuned for more Albuquerque adventures!
Our first stop was the Natural History Museum. This is Alyssa in the lobby by the T-Rex. She looked at it for a while, then started walking hunched over. When I asked her what she was doing, she said in as deep a voice as she could manage, "Walk like a dinosaur." Every so often, she still walks like a dinosaur.
This was one of Alyssa's favorite rooms. Have I mentioned she is obsessed with water? There were sharks and sea stars in a tank, and fossils and replicas of aquatic creatures. I had a hard time getting her to leave so we could see the rest of the museum.
I had heard about a train that made an hour long loop between the zoo and the botanical gardens. Little did I know that in waiting for the train, we would also see the spot where the world's largest trout had been caught. Don't you just love random things like that? Alyssa really liked the fish. She kept running over to touch it.
And here we are on the train. Alyssa wanted to ride in the red car, so we did. There were two tunnels, which she absolutely loved. After the train we picked Dan up and headed back to Phoenix. The ride home wasn't quite as smooth as the ride out, but we made it! Then of course, in keeping with our crazy summer, less than 48 hours later we were in Las Vegas.
