Albuquerque, Day 2

What I'm Reading: Cutting Loose by Lise Fuller
What I'm writing: Untitled short story.

This was our "both of us free all day" day. The Plan: Walk up to campus to see how far the actual meeting rooms are from the hotel. Then we'd visit Old Town and/or try a restaurant recommended by our daughter from when she used to live here.

You have to remember, this is desert (like that – don't sweat) so it was more than warm, and it's at altitude, which for a sea-level dweller is another strain. Plus, the University is located uphill from the hotel. I think everything is uphill from this hotel. We left the hotel at 10:00 am.

The hotel is a "short distance from campus" according to the conference information. On foot, it's a 45 minute walk (in the heat and uphill). But, we scoped out where my husband would be spending most of his days, and I decided he'd be doing it alone.

It's now 11:00, and we debated the restaurant, which according to my husband was "at the other end of campus." Since Old Town is the opposite direction, it seemed silly to go there first (especially since there are so many places to eat there), so we decided on an early lunch; then we'd take a bus to Old Town.

"That way," he said. "It's about 3 blocks up Central. Corner of Central and San Mateo."

Hogwash. First, his map only showed bus stop intersections, which were about 8 blocks apart each. Why didn't he check it on the Internet first? Don't ask me – he's the former Boy Scout Hikemaster. Shortly before noon, and two blocks past San Mateo, we decided to park ourselves on a bus bench and have lunch in Old Town. If nothing more, we had a very up close and personal view of the old Route 66 and its colorful inhabitants. Especially those who ride the bus.

Old town was as I remembered, and we had a great New Mexico lunch, starting with a cold beer. The sidewalk artisans were out, and I found some new silver bling.

I must say the bus drivers in the Albuquerque transportation system are super friendly and one even made a special stop for us so we were spared at least another 3 or 4 – or maybe 6 or 8 – block walk from the official stop to the hotel.

Where I promptly made an appointment for a Deluxe Spa Pedicure for tomorrow morning. I'd have done it today, but my feet were too sore to think about letting anyone touch them. I had a nice bubble bath, read some more of Lise Fuller's book, and actually caught up with my real job work while my husband crashed for 2 hours.

And, to end the day, since these rooms have refrigerator/freezers, we bought some Haagen Dazs cherry fudge truffle for dessert.