Nature & Books belong to the eyes that see them.
We love our non-travel days! Back-to-back days on the road don't give us much of a chance to relax and enjoy our time at a campground or RV park. A non-travel day allows us to sleep late, enjoy our morning coffee, catch up on laundry, pick up some groceries (and maybe a DVD at Redbox) and, if time permits, do a little exploring. In a perfect world, we would stay at most of our sites for at least 3 or 4 nights, but with several destinations scheduled for this particular trip, we don't always have that luxury. Today we did.
Enchanted Trails RV Park has a large, clean laundry room, so I was able to get a couple of loads washed before we headed out to run our errands. Albuquerque is a very large city, with two major freeway systems (I-40 and I-25) and very busy surface streets. Remember, we used to live in Lincoln, Nebraska and rarely had to get on the interstate. We now live on the Oregon coast and rarely get on any freeways, unless we have to travel in and about Portland. This country mouse isn't as comfortable on freeways as she once used to be in San Diego and especially not in a 26 foot RV. So, suffice it to say our "quick" trip to the grocery store was somewhat terrifying, especially when we had to merge on I-25 from I-40. Surface streets are the way to go!
After our errands, we headed to Old Town and found a large parking lot with plenty of space for the RV. Always on the lookout for a good Mexican restaurant, we were happy to find Church Street Cafe, which had come recommended by my dad and stepmom. We had a delicious lunch and would definitely go back, if ever in the area again.
It was a long day and we were anxious to get back to the RV park and relax for a while before watching our movie. We took a walk around the park and checked out the vintage trailers (and cars), which are available to rent.
With our Passport America discount, we paid $18 per night, which is quite a bargain. The RV park isn't fancy, but it has a clean pool, laundry, showers and full hookups. There was a lot of road noise from I-40, but with the windows closed and our fan running, it's was just white noise. This was our first visit to Albuquerque and I'd love to go back and spend more time exploring the area.
What cool cars and trailers! Bet you had fun looking at those. Also looked like some good Mexican food. We'll get to that area again at some point I imagine.
Kay, we thought the cars and trailers were very cool! If we didn't already have an RV to sleep in, we would've loved to have rented one of those trailers. Yep, very good Mexican food!
Those vintage trailers and cars are awesome!
Kathy, we thought so, too!
Very, very pretty. But I don't think I could do the highways and traffic. Even in our little state, they are too busy and full of crazy drivers. Not comfortable being on them.
Nan, I'm thankful that we don't have to travel on the larger highways and interstates very often. It would really put me off of this kind of travel if we did!
Non travel days are the reason we travel, LOL!! The longer we travel, the longer we want to stay places. As you said, 3-4 days (or longer in really interesting places) feels just right.
Oh, how I love that area of New Mexico—especially Santa Fe and Taos. We haven't given Albuquerque enough time, but it's on the list. Great shots of the vintage trailers!
Laurel, I'm hoping we get a lot of non-travel days in this year! I think we'll spend the spring and early summer months focusing on Oregon and Washington, so we won't have to drive quite as far, which will allow longer stays. Those vintage trailers were beautiful! I imagine they're nicely done on the inside, as well.
I recognize some of this pics - especially the Santa Fe ones - love that town, as well as Old Town in Albuquerque. I used to work for a healthcare company headquartered in Albuquerque and visited many many times. Even went to the fabulous 2000 Balloon Fiesta. I do miss all those trips over a 6 year period.
I do love traveling with you through these posts.
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In the case of good books, the point is not to see how many of them you can get through, but rather how many can get through to you.
A day out-of-doors, someone I loved to talk with, a good book and some simple food and music—that would be rest.
The time to read is now, not hereafter. We must make time or miss our joy.
how did you spend your life?
lying on the sofa reading.
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