March 31, 2012

ALBUQUERQUE

Today I did another AVA sponsored walk of Oldtown/Downtown Albuquerque organized by the local Double Eagle Hike & Bike Club.

The 5K walk begins at the Hotel Albuquerque.

The walk starts in the Old Town of Albuquerque.

San Felipe de Neri Church (1793)

Typical shops in the Old Town

Albuquerque Museum

Tiguex Park

Interesting homes along 17th Street and Lomas Blvd.

La Posda de Albuquerque (1939)

One of the first Hilton Hotels in the world.

Lavish southwest lobby of the hotel.

Civic Plaza

Albuquerque Convention Center across from Civic Plaza

Holocaust Memorial in Civic Plaza

New Albuquerque Transportation Center

Occidental Insurance Building (1917; 1934)

A re-creation of the Doge's Palace in Venice, finished in glazed terra cotta tile

Central Ave - formerly historic Route 66, "America's Main Street."

KiMo Theater (1927)

Built as a Pueblo Revival showcase filled with Indian motils, the KiMo (Tiwa for "king of its kind") has been restored as a community arts center.

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Mid afternoon I visited the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center.

Lobby of Cultural Center

History rooms

"Gathering the Clouds" is an exhibition of Pueblo textiles and pottery (no photos allowed.)

The exhibition includes textiles from the Hopi of Arizona, all of New Mexico 19 Pueblos and the Piro-Manso-Tiva of Las Cruces, New Mexico. The exhibition also features a 100-year-old Hopi loom.

In the Museum on the lower level there is a wonderful exhibit of pottery made by each of the 19 Pueblos in New Mexico. I particulary liked the pottery of the Cochiti Pueblo.

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Late afternoon I drove to Sante Fe and checked into my hotel.

March 30,2012

ST. LOUIS, MO to ALBUQUERQUE, NM

This is a travel day. On my drive from Memphis to St. Louis yesterday, I spent the night at the Comfort Inn in Perryville, Missouri.

This morning I took a short tour of the city before heading on to St. Louis.

Perry County Courthouse (1904)

I arrived in St. Louis about 10:00 a.m., returned my car to the rental agency, and took a cab to the airport.

I left on Southwest Airlines about 1:30 p.m. and arrived in Albuquerque about 4:00 p.m.

I rented another car and drove to my hotel.

Tonight I had pizza and beer at JC'S New York Pizza Department on Central Ave NW at 3rd St in Old Town. I sat on the patio and watched the people go by. There were several vintage cars from the 1950's and lots of motorcycles cruising slowly and many interesting-looking people walking by. It was a balmy evening, the pace was slow, and the people were friendly. Albuquerque has its version of "critical mass," but there were only about 30 cyclists, they were curtious, and they were having fun.

My hotel, The Hotel Blue in Old Town, provides Swedish Tempur-Pedic beds in each room as well as an artificial fireplace - the "flames" are mesmorizing.

I definately have a very good first impression of Albuquerque. Tomorrow I'll explore it further.

March 29,2012

MEMPHIS

Since I have a lot to see today, I got up early to get a head start on sightseeing.

GRACELAND

I got to Graceland shortly after it opened and elected to take the basic tour which includes only the mansion.

Elvis bought this Mansion when he was 22 years old and it was his home until he died.

Living Room

Dining Room

Kitchen

Jungle Room

TV Room

Pool Room

Trophy & Award Hall

Guitar

Costumes

Relaxing Room

Den

Gravesite

Car Museum Entrance

I did not visit the Car Museum, but his famous Pink Cadalac is on display here.

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NATIONAL CIVIL RIGHTS MUSEUM

This National Civil Rights Museum begins with early slavery in this country and presents a detailed history of the struggle for equality.The museum was built on site of the Martin Luther King, Jr. assassination.

It is very well organized and begins with a general overview of the stuggle up to the present. Then each element is explained in detail with photos, videos, and atifacts. Here are just a few of the categories.

Visitors are able to walk through the bus and see where Rosa Parks sat.

The Lorraine Motel was where Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated on April 4, 1968. It is next door to the museum and is actually part of the exhibit.

And here is the balcony of Room 306 where the wreath is seen.

Across the street is this memorial. It was a very moving experience.

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BEALE STREET

I returned to Beale mid afternoon to hear some more live music and to eat.

B .B. King's Blues Club had an interesting menu.

This is the Sampler Plate of fried pickles, catfish nuggets, and barbequed chicken wings. I had a Blues Brew beer to go with it. - yum!

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W.C. HANDY HOME & MUSEUM

The W.C. Handy Home and Museum is on Beale Street at Fourth St.

I got a private tour of the home, as I was the only visitor.The tour guide was quite knowlegable and showed me the photos and memorabilia in this small cottage. He played for me a recording made by W.C. Handy when he was nearly 90 where he described the various aspects of his life and then sang one of his compositions, The St. Louis Blues. He had an amazingly fine voice for his age. This was a real treat.

He wrote mostly blues, but later in his life he composed some gospel music from his church upbringing and to please his father who thought blues was the work of the devil.

Down Beale Street in the park is a nice statue of him with his coronet.