Not me, I'm still stupid re the native plants..
On the paletas -
La Michoacana de Paquime
review -
http://web.abqtrib.com/archives/neighbors04/061704_neighbors_paleta.shtml
Re italian, I like Vivace on Central in Nob Hill area, and Scalo, on Central more east. Have eaten at Vivace more. There's a wood burning oven type pizza place on Central too, forget its name (starts with V), haven't been there.
Re Old Town restaurants, there's at least three possibles.. back on that later. I've only been to one of the two main sort of tourist New Mexican restaurants there and it was charming, with patio, near drecky food. Better places around, like, um, Adelita's on 4th, just north of Montano.
So, Dys and Diane and I went over to Old Town today and had lunch at the cafe at the Best Western.
It was well kempt and cozy inside. Not very large. The menu was somewhat more varied than some coffee shops, re interesting salads, etc.
Dys said his enchiladas were "boston type enchiladas" but good none the less.
Diane's salad looked good, spinach and cranberries and whatnot, with some interesting dressing choices.
My hamburger was big and overcooked but I forgot to say medium rare, duh. The onion rings tasted good but were way too greasy, and the bun was rather greasy too. On the other hand, the underlying bun was better than many you get at various hamburger places.
The bill was fairly low.
This was off the lobby of the hotel; the lobby had two seating areas, comfortable enough, but not really a main meeting place.
Hotel is definitely convenient.
Add to say that there are better places for any of us to meet to eat than this cafe - or probably most places in Old Town - but it might come in handy.
Next we'll check out the bigger more expensive Hotel Albuquerque, which is across the street (I wanna see the pool.... )
If anyone wants more authentic new mexican food, we know a few places.
On a visit to downtown, Diane and I talked about how some of us a2kers like to walk cities, and downtown along Central is interesting, as are other parts of Central, though not always all at different times of day. Diane and I discovered two galleries and a oldfashioned malt shop that we want to check out, and that was just on one block.
Back on another post with other potentially enjoyable restaurants in Old Town. (Osso refuses to go to Little Anita's again, unless it's just for a beer on the patio; Dys tells me northerners love it.)
ossobuco wrote:
My hamburger was overcooked. The onion rings were way too greasy, and the bun was rather greasy, too.
Some very liberal fragmenting /editing of Osso's last post by me.
Yesterday, when it was 12 degrees and windy, I played around with hotels in Alb between 5/14 and 5/19. Shewolf has mentioned one or two.
Unfortunately, I didn't write down the addresses of these that I found, but I think they are close to Old Town:
Best Western (about $95/night)
Comfort Inn ($80)
La Quinta ($76)
Econo Lodge ($73)
Quality Inn ($71)
Day's Inn ($60)
Most of those are over by Coors and Highway 40. That's where Shewolfnm et al were first going to stay, at the motel 6 in that cluster. Most of them are mentioned back on the thread aways. Diane and I had checked them out - she liked Holiday Express best (she went inside) and I thought the Days Inn was ok (I went inside). The La Quinta - I think I was the one who went in, and it was a little more expensive than Days Inn - I don't remember anything negative. I mix it up in memory if it is next to the place with all the trucks... which might have been Super 8. These are all places that those coupon things might work at. I remember both of us thinking the Holiday Express was the best of the lot.
The area they are in is not very interesting, but the dollar difference vs. the Best Western in Old Town could add up.
I don't remember where the Comfort Inn is, will have to check.
The Econo Lodge is on Central and Tai Chi and hub stayed there. She said it was pretty grimy and recommended against it.
As to distance, on the top batch, it would be quite a walk to Old Town, but is not far away by freeway (don't ask me how that works....)
Will be back after I double check which motels are in that cluster, and which one had all the trucks and which one was next door - if I can figure it out.
osso: I use
www.sidestep.com as my guide because that is where my little brother, who travels much more than I do, suggested I go.
I searched for hotels that alledgedly were close to Old Town. I might have gotten bogus information from some of them; e.g. half a mile-- providing you are willing to walk along the side of an interstate highway.
I can't find Holiday Inn Express.
OK, I studied up.
Just south of the Intersection of Coors Blvd. (hway 448) and I-40 is a road with many motels - that road is Iliff. Diane and I only say the ones to the west of Coors.
Motel 6 and Comfort Inn are to the east of Coors.
Of the ones we saw, the nearest to Coors had all the trucks or was next to a place with a lot of trucks. That was the Quality Inn at 6015 Iliff. Next was the Super 8 (6030), across the street Days Inn (6031), next was Holiday Express (6100) and across the street La Quinta (6101).
I guess I'd go for Holiday Express or La Quinta of all those.
Personally, I'd skip those and do the Best Western... one could go for a nice early morning walk.
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=West+Side,+Albuquerque,+NM,+USA&sa=X&oi=map&ct=image
Click this url and see if you get a Google map of the Albuquerque west side. If that's a half mile I'm a monkey's uncle.
Just below I - 40 you'll see Iliff. The western part of Iliff is where the motels are. You are across the river (not through the woods) from Rio Grande Blvd. to the right of the map.
To follow the freeway by foot, you'd be climbing on ramps yadda yadda. Noooo. You could walk down Central. If you have x amount of time to walk in Abq, there are much more interesting walks, like other areas on Central, much of Rio Grande Blvd., much of Corrales (to the north), the Rio Grande Nature Preserve, etc.
On the good side, that's fairly close to some a2ker's homes, though others live across town.
I would recommend to everyone to stay away from Central ave hotels.
Especially west of the frontier /University ave.
I honestly don't care where I stay. Like shewolf, I only plan on being there for beauty sleep. Osso and or dys -- what's the closest place near either of you and maybe part way between?
both the Coors Ave motel cluster and the Rio Grande Old Town Best Western are handy and close to us (about 1 mile apart) I don't think it really makes any difference.
This sounds like so much fun! A bunch of my favorite people!
I have to teach through the 15th, but might be able to come for the weekend? Let me look into airfares.
I'm thinking this could be a nice end-of-school-year treat for me.
Double YAY!
( Im not excited about this. Not at all. I have not had dreams about this meeting. I have not talked to my husband about it. I have not thought about packing.. no . no .no not at all...)
We're hoping that folks who expressed interest in the first thread can work out a way to join us here..
Noddy24
Jim
Ticomaya
Occam Bill
Sglass
littleK (probably impossible dates)
Mame
It would be great, Eva, if you could join us. We are not planning, as I understand it, any kind of "main event." Rather folks can drift in and out according to their own schedules.
"Folks can drift in and out..." There is a joke in there somewhere. Some of us may have started doing that in the mid 60's; others of us when we reach our mid 60's.
ossobuco wrote:We're hoping that folks who expressed interest in the first thread can work out a way to join us here..
Noddy24
Jim
Ticomaya
Occam Bill
Sglass
littleK (probably impossible dates)
Mame
I'm still hoping it will work out for me.
Maybe Jim and I can carpool.
That would be great, and, not to mention, a beautiful drive. Uh, not that I've gone over I-40 since the fifties when I was small, or smaller. I remember red earth, but not from where, except it was NM.
