Route 66 Day 28 Nov 5 2019
Took my time getting up on Tuesday. When the drapes are closed and its all dark, its hard to know the sun us up. Plus, I was enjoying watching TV. Its weird, in the car, I can't wait to burn through my downloaded episodes of NCIS, I'm totally hooked. But when I'm in a hotel, I feel guilty if I don't utilize the TV. NCIS will wait until I'm back in the car, but now I have Food Network! I should watch it! Unfortunately, Food Network is basically doing a bunch of holiday themed things and now I'm in constant need craving of Turkey and pecan pie. But not just normal turkey and pecan pie. I know need fancy weird seasonings and gravies and my pecan pie must include almonds and chocolate fudge or something. These holiday themed competitions are not healthy for me. Anyway….I was lazy getting up and around. BioPark opened at 9am and I didn't get there until 10:15am. Still plenty of time I thought. And for a normal person, it would have been. But I bought new shoes the day before (sand and meshy running shoes are a bad combo) and I hadn't broken them in and they weren't the most supportive shoes I've owned. I should have considered that but I've had great luck with Sketchers in the past, so I didn't think much about it. I should have switched back to the running shoes. There was a lot of walking and it didn't take long until my knees hurt. I don't mean a little ache, I mean they super hurt. I started with the Aquarium and was able to do that in less than an hour. The aquarium is beautiful, its beautifully designed and full of interesting information. I watched a documentary on river otters that was really cool. They have my favorite Weedy Sea Dragons and I got some halfway decent photos. They have rays and sharks and coral and lots of great stuff. It is a really well designed aquarium.
From there I decided to head to the zoo to make sure I had enough time. I had missed the previous train by 15 minutes and there was a 45 minute wait until the next train. So I figured I'd do half the Botanical Garden while I waited. I'm not a huge Botanical Garden person, but I like taking photos of pretty things, so I do enjoy them. A Botanical Garden in New Mexico in November has limited appeal, but it was pretty obvious that during the right season, this garden is amazing. They have a kids fairy land, which even without the plants flowering, was pretty cool. They have a butterfly garden, but all the butterflies are removed in October due to the cold. They have two conservatories where housed a lot of tropical and desert type plants and those were pretty interesting. And they had lots of walking paths with lots of different types of plants. They were prepping for the holidays and the place was covered in unlit lights and temporary holiday light sculptures. Apparently the light show doesn't start until the day after Thanksgiving, but it takes them weeks to prep for it. There was a lot in place at the time, and I would have liked to see it, but I wasn't going to wait around a month. So, I wandered about for 45 minutes and headed back to the train.
The zoo is 2 miles away and the train goes super slow, it takes roughly 30 minutes to get there by the train. There is a park in between the two sections that include multiple fishing ponds and lots of art sculptures, it was pretty interesting. The fishing ponds are all catch and release, but its a great place to teach kids how to fish and for people that are in it for the sport and not for dinner.
I get to the zoo and I realize that I'm super thirsty, and I'm starting to need a snack. I check the map and head directly to the main restaurant at the zoo. There are a number of eateries but many are closed for the season, so I just went straight for the main one. Everything was over priced (which I expected) and huge. I just wanted a snack and one that wasn't full of sugar. I finally noticed they had a bowl of soup on display and that wasn't listed on the menu! So I asked, cheddar and broccoli soup! Perfect! So I took my time eating my soup and reviewing my map to make a plan. I knew I had limited time and I needed to catch the train back to the main section of the BioPark. The brochure stated that 2 hours was normal for the zoo, and I'd arrived at 12:30, so I would be fine. What I didn't take into consideration was that I'm not normal. And my knees hurt. When I hit the halfway part I decided to review the information again to check my progress and make sure I was on point. That's when I remember that there was a train schedule and I needed to go by that rather than the "zoo closes at 5pm" I'd been thinking about. The last train back to the main area was at 3:45. HOLY CRAP! It was 3:20 and I needed to haul ass back to the train station. Luckily I made the train, but I did miss parts of the zoo. I really should have changed my shoes, I think I would have been fine if I wasn't in such pain.
The train pulled into the main train station at 4:15pm and I speed walked over to the Bug-quirum, part of the Botanical Park that closes at 4:30pm. I really should pay more attention to things. I got there before closing and was able to see everything and ask a bazillion questions the girl that was available for questions. I admit, this was my favorite part of the entire BioPark. I've seen aquariums, and the aquarium is nice, but its not much different than other good aquariums. The zoo was nice, but now that I've seen 90% of what they have in the wild, it takes some of the joy out of taking photos of them caged. The bug exhibit was brilliantly done and I loved it. Who knew there were sooooo many types of tarantulas. And they have this entire leaf cutter ant exhibit side by side with a naked mole rat exhibit, which is weird but an interesting comparison. The leaf cutter ant exhibit is a partially open exhibit and you can see them walking above your head with their little pieces of leaf. The colony is self sufficient at this point, with the exception of food, and the people provide them with tree branches full of leaves on a daily basis. The put them in a container on one side of the room and the soldier ants cut them up and bring them back to the colony. They have sections that are living quarters and sections that are waste and its really amazing. Naked mole rates are very similar, but they have different types of food.
I was able to do a little more of the Garden but in all honesty, in November, its just reaslly limited. I would have liked to see the whole thing and I'd super like to see it all in May. But my knees hurt and I saw what I saw. Back to Walmart for the night.
I should mention that it is bad etiquette to stay at a Walmart for more than one night in a row. I don't do it very often, but I'm in a car, not an RV, so its not as obvious. And I'm trying to buy things at every Walmart I stay at. Its not always easy, money is limited, but I'm using their bathrooms at night and in the morning. Often times I'm using their internet to download more episodes of NCIS. I buy food here, I busy supplies here and when I run out of something I buy it at Walmart. I don't abuse my welcome and leave a mess behind. I do my best to repay my gratitude for allowing me to spend the night in the parking lot. Unfortunately, out of all the Walmarts in Albuquerque, there was only one that allowed overnight parking and it got 3 of my 6 nights.
From there I decided to head to the zoo to make sure I had enough time. I had missed the previous train by 15 minutes and there was a 45 minute wait until the next train. So I figured I'd do half the Botanical Garden while I waited. I'm not a huge Botanical Garden person, but I like taking photos of pretty things, so I do enjoy them. A Botanical Garden in New Mexico in November has limited appeal, but it was pretty obvious that during the right season, this garden is amazing. They have a kids fairy land, which even without the plants flowering, was pretty cool. They have a butterfly garden, but all the butterflies are removed in October due to the cold. They have two conservatories where housed a lot of tropical and desert type plants and those were pretty interesting. And they had lots of walking paths with lots of different types of plants. They were prepping for the holidays and the place was covered in unlit lights and temporary holiday light sculptures. Apparently the light show doesn't start until the day after Thanksgiving, but it takes them weeks to prep for it. There was a lot in place at the time, and I would have liked to see it, but I wasn't going to wait around a month. So, I wandered about for 45 minutes and headed back to the train.
The zoo is 2 miles away and the train goes super slow, it takes roughly 30 minutes to get there by the train. There is a park in between the two sections that include multiple fishing ponds and lots of art sculptures, it was pretty interesting. The fishing ponds are all catch and release, but its a great place to teach kids how to fish and for people that are in it for the sport and not for dinner.
I get to the zoo and I realize that I'm super thirsty, and I'm starting to need a snack. I check the map and head directly to the main restaurant at the zoo. There are a number of eateries but many are closed for the season, so I just went straight for the main one. Everything was over priced (which I expected) and huge. I just wanted a snack and one that wasn't full of sugar. I finally noticed they had a bowl of soup on display and that wasn't listed on the menu! So I asked, cheddar and broccoli soup! Perfect! So I took my time eating my soup and reviewing my map to make a plan. I knew I had limited time and I needed to catch the train back to the main section of the BioPark. The brochure stated that 2 hours was normal for the zoo, and I'd arrived at 12:30, so I would be fine. What I didn't take into consideration was that I'm not normal. And my knees hurt. When I hit the halfway part I decided to review the information again to check my progress and make sure I was on point. That's when I remember that there was a train schedule and I needed to go by that rather than the "zoo closes at 5pm" I'd been thinking about. The last train back to the main area was at 3:45. HOLY CRAP! It was 3:20 and I needed to haul ass back to the train station. Luckily I made the train, but I did miss parts of the zoo. I really should have changed my shoes, I think I would have been fine if I wasn't in such pain.
I was able to do a little more of the Garden but in all honesty, in November, its just reaslly limited. I would have liked to see the whole thing and I'd super like to see it all in May. But my knees hurt and I saw what I saw. Back to Walmart for the night.
I should mention that it is bad etiquette to stay at a Walmart for more than one night in a row. I don't do it very often, but I'm in a car, not an RV, so its not as obvious. And I'm trying to buy things at every Walmart I stay at. Its not always easy, money is limited, but I'm using their bathrooms at night and in the morning. Often times I'm using their internet to download more episodes of NCIS. I buy food here, I busy supplies here and when I run out of something I buy it at Walmart. I don't abuse my welcome and leave a mess behind. I do my best to repay my gratitude for allowing me to spend the night in the parking lot. Unfortunately, out of all the Walmarts in Albuquerque, there was only one that allowed overnight parking and it got 3 of my 6 nights.
Comments
Post a Comment