The Madigans visit Albuquerque

Doug wants the world to know that he is the first 4-time visitor to Casa Marino!  This is visit #3 for Katie.  We were honored that they would use their precious summer vacation time to visit us!

Thursday: Stephen was in Texas for work.  I drove to the airport straight from my last lesson at the studio.  Perfect timing!  The three of us stopped at Cafe da Lat (Vietnamese place on Central Ave.) for a late dinner on the way home.

Friday: We visited the Abq Bio Park in the morning. Then we headed to Old Town for some New Mexican cuisine and shopping in the afternoon.  In the evening, K and D went to an Isotopes game.

rose garden

in the children's garden

The pollinators really liked this yucca!

Old Town

Saturday:  Mr. Stark taught Earth Science across the hall from the band room at Schuylerville H.S.  His cross-country adventure brought him to Abq on this day in between Texas and Colorado.  If you have an Earth Science teacher handy, you had better take advantage of that opportunity to go for a hike, so that's what we did.  Not far from our house is the Three Gun Spring trailhead, just  at the base of the Sandia Mountains.  I learned about igneous and sedimentary rocks and lots of other fun stuff that I had wondered about while hiking here.
After the hike, we all went to the Greenside Cafe in Cedar Crest.  They had a great black bean burger with green chile.  

The group.

Katie taking a picture.

The picture she was taking.

Identifying a rock, or holding it up?

View from the top.

Sunday:  I played at church in the morning.  After eating lunch at the house, Doug and Stephen went to the Unser Racing Museum in the Northwest, while Katie and I went to the Natural History Museum near Old Town.  The guys had fun crashing the simulator.  Katie and I learned more about the rocks we had seen the day before, and confirmed everything that Mr. Stark showed us, plus we learned how and when those rocks were formed.  After our various museum experiences we met at the house and went to El Pinto for some outstanding New Mexican food.

Monday:  Stephen went to work while the rest of us prepared to go to Bandelier National Park.  Stephen and I had explored a bit of Bandelier previously, but I wasn't feeling well and I wimped out before we had gone very far.  It was my goal to get to the parts we had left unexplored on the previous trip.  It takes almost 2 hours to get there, and then we had to take a very unpleasant shuttle bus ride (hot, standing up, with screaming children) from the visitor's center to the park.  But once we arrived, it was fantastic.  The Pueblo cave dwellings are amazing and the scenery is awe-inspiring.  The Alcove House is accessible only by climbing long ladders (140 ft).  Katie kindly offered to hold our backpacks and water bottles while Doug and I climbed.  There's actually a kiva in the cave at the top!  We wondered what happened when Pueblo mom got all the way to the bottom of the cliff and realized she'd forgotten something in the cave. 
Doug's iphone app said we had gone 5.4 miles by the time we were done hiking.  Since a good portion of that was vertical, I'd say we got a decent workout.

The beginning of the trail.

Eroded rocks and a cave.

I think the ancient Pueblo people must have been shorter than Doug.

Some of the flood damage along the trail.

This tiny stream did the damage.

Up we go!

Some of the ladders.

I'm climbing!

I stopped part way up to take a picture.

We made it to the top!

The view from inside that room.

The kiva in the cave.

Another view from inside the cave.

See the tiny pink dot?  That's Katie.

When we left the park we were quite hungry, so we had pizza (I had salad) in White Rock.  We met Stephen at Casa Marino and made pasta primavera for dinner.  Doug says that every time they visit now I have to find something slightly scary for us to do while Stephen and Katie watch (last time we rode the chair lift down Sandia Peak).  I'll accept that assignment!

Tuesday:  Stephen went to work and the rest of us slept in after our long day at Bandelier.  After breakfast on the patio, we headed out to the East Mountains to visit the Tinkertown Museum.  On Monday, the forest was officially closed due to fire danger, but the Tinkertown website assured us we would be able to get there.  "Ignore the sign," they said, "The road is not really closed until a half mile after our parking lot."  I'm glad I read the website, because we might have turned back at the sign and missed this truly unique folk art museum.

We had another delicious lunch at the Greenside Cafe after our Tinkertown fun, and still had time for a hike in the open space behind my house before Katie and Doug dropped me off at the studio for my lessons.

When my lessons were over, Stephen picked me up and we met K and D at the Taj Mahal for a delicious Indian feast.  

Wednesday:  I brought Katie and Doug to the airport to say a fond farewell.  Until next time!