Diner 66 on Route 66 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, is super cool.
There’s lots of neon lighting, retro-styled waitresses, a Classic American style menu, and great rock’n’roll playing on the jukebox.
The service is quick and friendly, and the food is good. The chili chese fries are a must if you visit here: it’s worth having those as a starter and ordering a 66 Burger without any sides, or even just having them as your meal. They are sensational.
This was a fantastic Route 66 dining experience. I absolutely loved it.
Author: wordynerdbird
Albuquerque’s Old Town.
Albuquerque was established in 1706 as an important south-western outpost.
Some of the town’s early character and Native American influence has been maintained in the “old town” sector. The streets surrounding the old town square are home to shops, restaurants, museums and galleries. Most of the buildings are stucco and painted in assorted shades of terracotta, yellow and brown with accents usually in white or turquoise.
There is some beautiful jewellery and artwork created by Navajo and Zuni artisans for sale at quite reasonable prices. There are also some more individual pieces that are more expensive and unique, for those with a budget that allows them to be more discerning. Of course, there are also the cheap, junky “souvenirs” that come from assorted places across the seas.
It’s true enough that, as the saying goes, there is always something for everyone.
I refuse to come to a place like this and buy things that come from someplace else. For me, it’s important to support the economy and people of the local area. I want to take home something that has something of the character of the place I have visited.
The old town of Albuquerque has plenty of character. The people are very friendly and apparently don’t have many Australians visiting here. They were all very enthusiastic about our “cool accent”.
The shops are all quite different even though they sell similar types of things.
The Church of San Felipe de Neri is prominent in this part of town. It has been beautifully maintained and still operates as a working church. It offers visitors a place for prayer or reflection as well as the freedom to take photographs as long as it’s done respectfully.
The restaurants offer mostly Mexican food, as is only to be expected. We had lunch at Hacienda del Rio. The decor was very attractive and the restaurant was clean and well maintained. Tables did not remain messy for very long at all.
The waiter was very friendly and attentive. In response to my food allergies, the chef was more than happy to create my meal using only wheaten tortillas and no corn at all. I had a chicken fajita salad in a crispy tortilla bowl. The salad was fresh and crisp; the chicken and the salsa were both feisty. The combination was sensational.
We also had sopapilla – a warm, dense bread eaten with warm honey. I had never had that before, but really enjoyed it.
I thoroughly enjoyed the day I spent in this part of town. I will leave Albuquerque with some very happy recollections as well as some beautiful locally crafted souvenirs.
Funny Things I’ve heard in America #5
“Have you heard of Bill Gates?”
Jetsetting #5
It’s been a huge day.
In addition to exploring downtown Houston, we have flown to Albuquerque via Dallas with an almost 2 hour layover during which my husband went out for a cigarette and nearly got himself locked out of the airport. I’m still laughing about that one.
It’s almost midnight Central US. time, but an hour earlier in Albuquerque because that’s in the Mountain Time zone. That makes today a 25 hour day for us.
I’m tired and yawning more widely than most stereotypical caverns. I can’t wait to get to our hotel and get horizontal.
I can see the lights of the city as we come in to land. It’s quite an extensive array of lights, and very pretty. Cities always do look rather impressive when you fly in at night, now that I come to think about it.
These airline pilots are impressive. We haven’t had a rough landing yet, with all the travelling we’ve done since leaving home on Friday, March 28.
We’re on the ground again and taxiing to the gate.
Bed is just that little bit closer. Bring it on.
Jetsetting #4
It’s much greener around Houston than I ever realised. I always thought Texas was dry and dusty. I guess I have based that assumption on too many movies and TV shows.
Is it bad form to blame John Wayne and Chuck Norris?
Flying into Dallas, I can see that the same presumption is wrong there, too. Hollywood has a lot to answer for.
The city lights in Dallas are just coming on as dusk falls. It looks really pretty from the air.
I wonder if Dallas has free-range cowboys. Houston didn’t have any that I could see. The only cowboy boots I saw all day were my own.
Oh, the irony.
Tonight, on the plane, I saw a man who was so big that he had no neck at all.
He was wearing a shirt that said “McStud”.
Really. Not a word of a lie.
Houston #2
While I was in Canada, one of the things I wanted to see was a Mountie.
That didn’t happen.
Today in Houston, I saw a mounted policeman.
He had another policeman mind his horse while he went into a building. When he came out, he got back on his horse and calmly rode down the street.
This chain of events made me happy, even though he wasn’t a Canadian Mountie.
Security #2
As we were riding the bus back to our hotel, we were stopped at a red light when we saw the Police pull a car over on the highway nearby. There were several police cars with lights flashing, officers with guns drawn and pointed, and several “alleged baddies” with their hands in the air, then getting handcuffed.
The light changed and the bus drove on, leaving the unfolding drama behind us.
I thought at the time that it was reassuring to know most of the police in Houston are working to serve and protect the community instead of yelling at tourists who clearly have no idea where they are going.
Security #1
Today we got stopped by a fare inspector and a policeman as we alighted the train at Main St Square Station in downtown Houston.
Thankfully we had figured out to “swipe on” with our Metro Q card before we got on the train, or we would have been in as much trouble as the very unhappy young man who was insisting there was money on his card even though there clearly wasn’t.
The fare inspector told me to keep going, so I walked ahead. The policeman, who had not heard him tell me to go ahead, decided I was disobeying orders yelled at me and told me I had to wait.
Well come ON guys, get your act together! I didn’t mind waiting my turn, and I hadn’t done anything wrong, so don’t go yelling at me in your big bossy policeman voice!
The fare inspector was very apologetic, but he didn’t let the railway cop hear him saying he was sorry.
Clearly, I’m a bigger security risk than I realised.
Houston #1
Houston is very business oriented.
When we went “downtown” we expected a lot more foot traffic, shopping and restaurants. We looked around but couldn’t find anything of the sort.
As we discovered, that’s because all the eateries and most of the shops are to be found in interconnected tunnels under the business precinct of the city. I had never seen that before.
Houston is quite a clean city.
Rail and bus networks keep the car traffic at quite a low volume. We invested in a Metro Q day pass which cost $3 and gave us access to any public transport around the city that we needed. There’s also a ‘GreenLink’ tourist bus that does a loop around the city for free. It’s a good way to get around and see what’s in town.
There are lots of trees and gardens that help the city to be less of a concrete jungle, even though it still has lots of high-rise and modern buildings.
We found everyone to be very friendly and helpful. Some of the locals in Starbucks were keen to chat and offer help and advice for getting around the city.
I had a great conversation with a guy named Keith, originally from San Francisco but now driving a taxi in Houston for eight months of the year. He was interested in Australia as well as in hearing our observations of the various parts of the US and Canada that we had visited. It’s people like him that really make a place more welcoming and memorable.
An Aussie Maple Leaf, adrift on the wind... 