All I have already related the tale of our arrival at the airport and our first full day in America. However, we did return to Albuquerque after the Grand Canyon because I did want to meet Lorraine and Mike; so we detoured via Albuquerque and Longmont rather than heading north from the Canyon. Because of the time difference between AZ and NM we did not manage to make it back after returning to Williams from the Canyon. Apart from that we thought Lorraine and Ron might want some time together after she had been away <g>. We stayed a night in Gallup - our first experience of the room and continental breakfast deal (golden rule - get to breakfast FIRST!). We had another snow storm in the morning (does it always snow at the AZ/NM border?). We arrived at the Mournings about mid-morning where Lorraine greeted me with a Glasgow kiss though I'd always thought that she was from the East coast of Scotland (I'll let her explain that one). We visited a Mexican restaurant for lunch and, contrary to what Lorraine seems to believe, I enjoyed most of the food. It's corn I am not too fond of; so whatever the thing was that was wrapped up in the corn husk (taco?) I did not really like but the rest was fine (perhaps I should explain that it was a buffet meal with lots of different things to try). Apparently, however, one is not supposed to put the sour cream on the fruit - tasted ok to me though <g>. Then we visited Old Albuquerque. I hope Lorraine and Ron will forgive me for saying it is primarily a tourist trap and like all tourist traps you can buy what you would expect to buy there but don't bank on it being locally produced! A lot of the goods we saw were made in China or Mexico apart from some of the local "artists" who charged the usual arm and a leg. Nevertheless, there was one sight which thrilled me - a Scotswoman getting her hand in her purse (just kidding <g>). There is the old Catholic mission church building which we had a look at. When I walked in they had a life sized wooden cross at the front with a robe draped across the cross piece. This was no crucifix. It was a symbolic declaration that Jesus had risen!!! My heart just soared when I saw it. I'd love to meet the person responsible for it being there (I probably will do in heaven). Because he'd promised to take us to the high spots of Albuquerque before we left for the Canyon and we didn't get the time Ron set off for them after we had done our shopping. Of course I mean the physical high spots which was the ??? (Ron or Lorraine will have to give you the name of the place as the whole thing was just too hectic for me and I did not keep a diary). From this vantage point we were supposed to look down on the whole of Albuquerque city. Guess what? It was snowing. Actually we did get to see Albuquerque and the Rio Grande. I have also got some surreal photographs which have a snow storm in the foreground and Albuquerque 10,000 ft. below in brilliant sunshine. I have got photographs taken on the same day which show us in Old Albuquerque in bright sunshine and on the mountain in a snow storm! Brilliant memories. We rounded the day off with a (reluctant on Ron's part) visit to an Indian restaurant. Again we found a difference in terminology. Ron is a member of some sort of organisation where you can get a discount on eating out and handed me the book to sort somewhere out. He said that if you bought one main meal you got one free. I was arguing that it only applied to the starter. The reason was that it actually used the term entree which to most people in England (though not all) means a starter but which in the US means a main meal. It seems like Ron enjoyed it though and they have been back since <g>. [Slight digression - I was expecting some really spicy stuff at the Mexican restaurant after all the postings on Rnet. It's got nothing on Indian food. Get yourself a Vindaloo if you want hot <g> (though this particular place did not seem to serve them)]. My remembered impressions of Albuquerque as a city is that it was very sprawling and had lots of single storey buildings (incidentally this is not necessarily accurate, just what I remember). Ron pointed out "downtown" Albuquerque which is very small and I don't think we actually went through it but it was a small (even if it were an English city) collection of high rise buildings. I was struck by the number of wooden buildings as most houses etc. in England are brick, stone or concrete. There seemed to be houses in the most unlikely places and I don't mean individual houses, I mean large groups of them. I did not see any areas which seemed particularly poor. Somehow it all seemed so temporary as if it could all be gone in a few weeks. One thing I believe is that the friendships formed there will not be temporay. BoW. _______ To unsubscribe, send "unsubscribe rangernet" to [EMAIL PROTECTED] "Eat the hay & spit out the sticks! - A#1's mule" RTKB&G4JC! http://rangernet.org Autoresponder: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
