Exploring Albuquerque, New Mexico

1. Albuquerque, New Mexico has a lot to offer. Besides Breaking Bad, Albuquerque is also known for their annual Balloon Fiesta, which was my reason for visiting. I really wanted the opportunity to explore the city. I was only able to see a small fraction of it, but what I did see and do I enjoyed.

After we settled into the hotel my friend and I headed out to Downtown Albuquerque. It was quiet with not too many people around. There was a lot of street art and a nice fountain. I discovered a big chair which I had to get on. I slid back quickly and hit my head. There was also a basketball court in the vicinity.

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After having too much fun, we headed to Old Town to see if we could find some food. Old Town was so cute! I loved the area and will have to go back and see more one day. Almost everything was closed or getting ready to close and it wasn’t even 7pm. We stopped inside of a church that was built in the 1700s. It was very small and quaint, but beautiful. After walking around some more we stopped in a store. It was on it’s way to closing for the night very soon so we ran in.

While I was purchasing some items, I asked the owner if he could recommend a place to eat. Ironically he was from my hometown of Queens, NY and had a great suggestion for us. He pointed us in the direction of Church Street Cafe. It was a very short walk down a dimly lit street. It looked so small from the outside, but it was spacious once inside. The food was absolutely delicious and we had to take the leftovers.

After we left Old Town we went in search of an iPhone charger. If you know me very well then you know it devastated me to have to go buy one. You may be wondering why I had to go buy one in the first place. Very long story short, someone decided to steal it out of my bag. (I will save this experience for another time.) After going to a few stores I was finally able to find one at a Target right before they too closed.

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We had a 3:30am for the Balloon Fiesta, but after the day session ended we headed over to the Balloon Museum for a little while and walked around. There was so much to see and the staff was incredibly nice. Albuquerque has some of the nicest people I have met. The Balloon Museum housed so much Fiesta memorabilia including the infamous pins. The Museum had a ton of pins from over the years.

The Balloon Museum is very interactive. A great place to take the kids or for those who like history. They can learn about the Albuquerque Box Effect, the history of the hot air balloon, get into a gondola, and so much more. If I wasn’t so tired I would have stayed there even longer, but it got to a point where I needed some food and a nap. After a bit more exploring and having fun at the museum we headed to get some food.

After sitting in some traffic and dozing off multiple times we rode down the infamous Route 66. It was interesting seeing a mix of what used to be with brand new things. Motels lined Route 66 with chain stores a short distance away. Makes me wish I could have seen Route 66 in all of its glory. Either way it was fun and interesting to see.

After the night session at the Balloon Fiesta we headed back to Old Town to see if we could find a souvenir shop open. Low and behold we found one. Not only that it was a huge store with several rooms of things to buy. We spent a ton of time walking around. After purchasing some items we headed back to the hotel to get some sleep.

Although I didn’t have enough time to see everything I wanted to I still had fun exploring Albuquerque and would love to go back. There is so much more to do and see. The people really make you want to come back as they are very warm and welcoming. You can see for yourself what we did!

Have you ever been to Albuquerque? What did you do?

Disclaimer: Thank you to the Albuquerque Tourism Board. All opinions and views are my own.