Downtown Albuquerque

While we were having breakfast in the lobby of the campground I was able to enjoy reading the newspaper. They had someone making fresh waffles and pancakes. They also had cold cereals, bagels, sweet pastry's and juices. In the metro section I found that the Albuquerque Zoo was going to have a special twilight tour this evening. What a better way to see the zoo than to have a guide and run around at night to see the animals. Before that, we had plenty of time to check out the historic part of Albuquerque.

We started our trip into town following the Historic Route 66. There are only small sections of the original route today. Most of it has been destroyed or covered up by big highways such as I-40 that dissects the lower part of the country.

Historic downtown consisted of 4 city blocks in both directions, centered with a tree shaded plaza. Old buildings leaning in one direction as to show that it is old and just needs to rest a little by leaning on something. The style is of the Pueblo buildings. Flat roofs with the red mud sides. It pretty much is a tourist trap with all the souvenir shops lining both sides of the streets.

There is one church along the main plaza. San Felipe de Neri Church. It has been here since 1793.

The inside is very simple but has some interesting paintings that show Jesus and the cross along the entire journey he made with it up until his Resurrection.

We enjoyed a great lunch at a Mexican style restaurant. I could eat this type of food everyday it is so good. With still a few hours to go before our excursion this evening I decided to get the oil changed in the pickup and get that task out of the way.

Finally, the hour had approached and we headed off to watch these animals come alive at night.

We were divided up into small groups of 10 people and headed off to explore. Each group going off in a different direction so that you felt like you had the entire zoo to yourself. As soon as we entered the zoo we were greeted by these beautiful Peacocks. Their cries almost sounded like a cat but much louder.

They were running around loose and every once in awhile one would come swooping down over you. They are not known for their flying. I think because of too many feathers.

Our first stop was to see the Lions but they were inside of their den and didn't show their face. Instead, directly across from them was the Imus's and they were very curious and wanted to see what was happening.

The Kangaroo's didn't want any part of the activity happening at night. They just wanted to go back to sleep and showed us that by stretching out and covering their faces.

Good life!

With the light fading fast it was getting more difficult to take pictures. I managed to take several more and I have added the remainder of the pictures in the slide show. Be sure to click on the box to see the rest of the animals that came out to see us. It's a small zoo but very well taken care of and with a nice layout to get around. Now its my turn to stretch out and relax a little.