Albuquerque is the capital of New Mexico. But there is really not much to visit. We had a long drive the day before, both of us got pretty tired. So we just rested in the hotel until noon. Then we went to Albuquerque old town for lunch, and found a very decent Mexican restaurant. We sat down, ordered some food, listened to the music, and had some margarita, very casual and relaxing.
Around the old town plaza, many people are selling crafts. I bought a set of necklace, bracelet and ankle-let for myself. They are made of turquoise, which looks very nice. Those people who sell the crafts are so hard to bargain with, or I'm too bad at bargaining. Anyway, I didn't even get one cent off from the original price. :(
Albuquerque Old Town Plaza
BL found another way to drive to Santa Fe from Albuquerque -- turquoise drive, which was part of the famous Route 66. It's said in the tourist guide that there is amazingly beautiful view along the road. So we just headed our way to Santa Fe after lunch. As long as we got onto highway, there was this big truck in front us, and suddenly I heard a sharp noise coming from our car windshield -- a rock hit on the windshield. I looked at the window, I didn't see anything. Then we kept driving. Suddenly Bill screamed, "S***, look at the crackle!" I was frozen on my seat; shoot, there was this index finger long crackle on the windshield. It must be from that rock. And we didn't buy any car insurance this time. :( I felt so unfair, I buy car insurance every time except for this ONE time. And there was nothing ever happened for all those times! Soooo unlucky this time! :(
We kept driving, and the crackle went from finger long to palm long, then to forearm long by the time we got to Santa Fe. And our topic on the car went from what we should visit in Santa Fe to how we are going to deal with the crackle. Since I was the one who rented the car, BL said that I should contact my credit card company to see whether they would cover this kind of situation. If they don't, we'll have to go with plan B -- fix it before we returned the car.
(I really wanted to write something about the beautiful scenery along the drive, but I can't remember how the scenery is like at all. Either the scenery is not that impressive or I spend most of the time staring at the crackle.)
Unfortunately my credit card company doesn't cover this kind of situation. So BL called several car windshield companies for quotes. Luckily, there is a window company right next to our hotel. So we decided to check it out early next morning.
Even though we were pretty upset, we still didn't want to waste our vacation. So I took a shower, changed into some nice clothes, and put on the necklace, bracelet and ankle-let which I bought from Albuquerque. Then we went to Santa Fe plaza. It’s funny that every city we’ve been to has a plaza – Las Cruces, Albuquerque and Santa Fe. And the plaza is getting better and better. Santa Fe plaza is very nice. We got there around sunset time. St Francis Cathedral stands at the end of the plaza, covered in a golden coat. It looks so beautiful and stately. I left BL rest on the bench, and walked around by myself to take pictures before sun fully set down. The buildings in Santa Fe are Adobe-style, which looks simple, but very artistic. I really like it, especially the color. Usually it has the golden wall with blue window frame or door, with red flowers by the window and door, bright and colorful, very vivid. Lots of artists move to Santa Fe to live there so that they can paint or take pictures. There are many galleries and museums around Santa Fe plaza, as well as restaurants, bars, and all kinds of shops. I was wandering around and enjoying the Adobe structure, art craft ..., and suddenly I found my new bracelet was lost! :( I have only worn it for like 30 minutes. What a day!
Santa Fe Plaza -- St Francis Cathedral
