Albuquerque posts

by Katie Hammel (RSS feed) (9 days ago)
Nov 16th, 2009 at 2:30PM:
New Mexico, like much of the western US, has long been home to many Native American tribes who shaped the history of the region every bit as much as the white settlers and cowboys who came after them.
Around Albuquerque, Santa Fe, and Taos, you can't drive more than a dozen or so miles before you see another sign pointing the way to a Pueblo that is open to visitors. Each of these can ...

by Katie Hammel (RSS feed) (2 months ago)
Sep 12th, 2009 at 2:00PM: New Mexico's State Fair kicked off Friday and to celebrate, the Nativo Lodge is offering a special package. For $129 per night, families of up to four people will receive accommodations (with one king or two double beds), daily breakfast, four one-day passes to the Fair, and one parking pass.
The Nativo Lodge offers spacious rooms decorated with Native American touches. The property features a ...

by Jamie Rhein (RSS feed) (3 months ago)
Aug 25th, 2009 at 10:30AM: So what if it's almost the end of August, kids are heading back to school in droves, and Labor Day is almost here?
There are ways to drag out that summer feeling with easy-going, inexpensive travel. Pick places that you haven't been to before to heighten a sense of adventure -- something that summers are made for.
Here are 12 ideas to get you started into dragging out summer--at least until the ...

by Tom Johansmeyer (RSS feed) (4 months ago)
Jul 2nd, 2009 at 12:00PM: Keith Wright, a New Yorker (damn!) felt restricted by more than just cramped airline seating today. On a flight from Charlotte to Los Angeles, he ditched his clothing and did not respond (vocally, at least) to flight attendant requests to put them back on. The mile-high nudist also wouldn't accept the cover of a blanket.
As a result of Wright's defiance, the US Airways flight was diverted to ...

by Jamie Rhein (RSS feed) (6 months ago)
May 29th, 2009 at 9:30AM: When my daughter was about five we went on a wildflower hike for Mother's Day. The hike was free and I remember the day's loveliness even though this was over 10 years ago. May's flowers are one of life's great pleasures. It's a visual feast with the world's locations offering their own special palate.
With this weekend being the last chance to see May flowers as in "April showers bring May ...

by Tom Johansmeyer (RSS feed) (7 months ago)
Apr 18th, 2009 at 3:00PM: Who thought that Tennessee and New Hampshire would be some of the top towns in the country for art lovers. AmericanStyle magazine just issued the results of its twelfth annual arts destinations poll. Some spots are predictable. Others, like Chattanooga, will just blow your mind. This is the first year Chattanooga made the list, shooting all the way up to second in the mid-sized city category. If ...

by Jamie Rhein (RSS feed) (10 months ago)
Jan 22nd, 2009 at 11:30AM:
Summary: Albuquerque, founded in 1706 by a group of Spanish colonists on the banks of the Rio Grande, has grown into a sprawling southwestern city that creeps up the Sandia and Manzano Mountains to the east and out onto the mesa to the west where it meets the National Petroglyph Park Monument. On the southern end, Isleta Pueblo halts it's sprawl, and to the north is Sandia Pueblo.
If you drive ...

by Jamie Rhein (RSS feed) (1 year ago)
Oct 28th, 2008 at 10:45PM: "An author knows his landscape best; he can stand around, smell the wind, get a feel for his place." --Tony Hillerman
Yesterday, when I read that Tony Hillerman died, I flashed back to one afternoon when I went as a guest to a writer's group meeting at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico. As I introduced myself, was I surprised when I shook one man's hand, and his warm ...

by Jamie Rhein (RSS feed) (1 year ago)
May 31st, 2008 at 10:30AM: Sex and the City was the hot topic the summer between our two years living in Taiwan and our two years in India. I saw it once at a friend's house when I stopped over in Albuquerque for a few days visit. I liked it, but nothing I couldn't live without. I was jet-lagged anyway. Two years later, I saw one more episode. Friends we were visiting in Pochetello, Idaho had TiVoed it---something else that ...

by Jamie Rhein (RSS feed) (1 year ago)
May 20th, 2008 at 9:00AM: In Albuquerque, New Mexico, it's not uncommon to see people selling velvet paintings from a parking lot stand. Whenever I passed by these makeshift displays, I always wondered who might buy such paintings. I have an answer. There is one couple in Portland, Oregon who has bought more than 1,000 over the past ten years.
Collecting velvet paintings is an endeavor they take seriously and have a ...

by Jamie Rhein (RSS feed) (1 year ago)
Dec 13th, 2007 at 6:00PM: Here's a heads up for next year since the day has passed. Still, since this is a month of holidays, I didn't want this one to go unmentioned. December 12th is one of the most important holy days in Mexico and much of Latin America. The Lady of Guadalupe Feast Day is when people honor Mexico's patron saint, the Lady of Guadalupe. She appeared in the 16th century to Juan Diego, a poor farmer in ...

by Jamie Rhein (RSS feed) (2 years ago)
Nov 16th, 2007 at 1:00PM: The story about Bill Inman, a rancher who is traveling across the U.S. on his faithful steed, Blackie, caught my attention. Inman's stated purposeof this journey is to find out the good things about the America amid the bad news. The war in Iraq, the housing market bubble burst, the gas prices, etc., etc., etc. All of this what's wrong news can make people feel downright crabby. Anyway, Inman ...

by Jamie Rhein (RSS feed) (2 years ago)
Oct 21st, 2007 at 3:45PM: When I lived in Albuquerque, New Mexico, heading to Juarez, Mexico for the day was a fun day outing. I didn't do it often, but at least twice a year we'd walk across the border at El Paso, Texas, have lunch, shop for presents at the market, buy a bottle of Kahlúa and Jose Cuervo and head home. Going across the border was a snap--quick. There was nothing to it. I found the same thing when I ...

by Jamie Rhein (RSS feed) (2 years ago)
Jun 30th, 2007 at 9:55PM: When I've describe my house, I often say that it looks like a Unicef store without the price tags. If you've ever been to a Unicef store, you'll know what I mean. They are filled with high quality crafts from around the world and the profits go towards Unicef's humanitarian projects. Or perhaps, I should say, the stores were filled with quality crafts.
I'm not saying that all the craft items in ...

by Erik Olsen (RSS feed) (3 years ago)
Apr 18th, 2006 at 12:01PM: New Mexico residents we hardly knew ye. If youda
asked me how old the city of Albuquerque is, I might have said a hundred or so years. I'm picturing cowboys roaming the
range, settlers in Conestoga wagons. Well, all that is true, but it all goes back much further than a century.
Albuquerque, it turns out, is gong to be 300 years old in just a few days, and you, dear friends, can go there and ...