Albuquerque in June – Porcupine butts and other outdoor adventures

The next day, John and I went to the biopark. I’ve posted many biopark pictures before, but never of this guy.

Can you see what that is? It’s the underside of a porcupine. It’s sleeping up high on an overhead pergola covered in vines. We’re standing under it, looking straight up.

We always have a good time at the biopark.

Next we went to Old Town. It’s not usually a good idea to go to Old Town on a summer Sunday unless you like throngs of tourists. But it’s strange, the tourists don’t seem to stray more than a hundred feet from the plaza, even though Old Town has tons of nooks and crannies to explore. Here’s one of several wonderful courtyards not more than a block and a half from the plaza. And no one was there.

I discovered a fabric artist in an empty shop in one of the overlooked courtyards. I have been collecting fabric (from old clothes) and have been thinking for awhile about what I want to do with it. I want to make pictures with the fabric, but I haven’t decided on my exact technique. I’m collecting ideas, so I bought this cute little clutch.

I think whatever I make will be less cute and more – hmm, well, we’ll see. I haven’t made anything yet.

Laura is getting a peacock tattoo, so I have been inspired to send her pictures of peacocks. I’ll write all about her tattoo when it’s finished. Here’s a metal peacock from Old Town:

Eventually we got the big thunderstorm and monsoon rains that had been threatening all week. John and I enjoyed watching the storm from our covered back porch. Except once the lightening struck so close that I screamed! You know how you’re supposed to count, one-hundred, two-hundred…to estimate how far away the lightenings? There was no counting. There was no time to even register what had just happened and consider counting. Just a simultaneous flash, hiss, sharp snap, and booming. (And screaming, lol, followed by swearing, followed by my husband quietly reminding me that the close-by neighbors have small children. Oops.)

After the monsoon rains, they opened the forests back up. It’s common in New Mexico for the forests to close during May and June until the monsoons start, as a wildfire precaution, because spring is dry and windy.

John and I were among the many people waiting for the announcement that the forests were open. On the morning of the opening, we eagerly headed up into the Sandias. But didn’t get very far. The road was still blocked off. What’s the deal? The news reports said the forests were open.

While we pondered what to do, suddenly it looked they were opening – yay!

But no, all they did was let the ranger through the barricade and close it again. We waited around speculating with fellow hopeful hikers. Word spread – yes, the forest was open, but the road wasn’t open due to downed branches. We were welcome to park and walk in. So we did.

The first trail was only a short walk up the road. We had never been on that trail before, because we always drive up higher. It was a nice trail, plenty green.

By the time we returned from our hike, they had removed the barrier. I suppose all the later visitors passing by wondered why there were so many cars parked at that spot, which wasn’t even at a trailhead.

We had a nice time in Albuquerque, and John got lots of work done. We had driven out separately, so I headed back to Tucson a couple of days before he did. I spent the drive thinking about our unwieldy 7 hour commute.

Before John even got back to Tucson that week, he found out he would need to go back the next week. We had hoped to spend the week of July 4 in Tucson, but he ended up flying back out again on July 5. He used to be able to spend weeks at a time working from home in Tucson. But no more. Even though the pandemic is not over, it’s no longer as deadly, and his online meetings are being replaced with in-person meetings.

We knew this day would come. Maybe it’s time we move back to Albuquerque?

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