48 Hours in the Burque - Part 2

Did you read Part 1?  Here it is!

When last I blogged, my buddy Tara and I had just finished the fantastic Sandia Crest Half Marathon, and we'd met up with our support crew (Chris, Ryan, Jan, and Dale) at a local Albuquerque institution to replenish all those calories we'd burned.

So many green chiles!

After breakfast, it was back to the house to shower and change, and then the four of us (Chris, myself, Ryan, and Tara) headed out in Ryan's fancy new truck to sample some of the city's finest microbrews.  We started at the west side tap house of one of ABQ's best known breweries, Marble Brewing.

Filling out our flight cards.

We also grabbed a pizza from the food truck

you can see above, and it was great!

Hooray for buddies and beer!

Glamour shot!

Another beer glamour shot!

I don't know what other people use the "Profile" setting

on their iPhones for, but this is pretty much it for me.

Marble was great, and it was conveniently located just across the road from a newer spot, Tractor Brewing.  Since it was so close, we figured we should stop there, too!

Noms at Tractor - 

they actually offer both beer and cider,

plus some really interesting combinations of the two.

While their beer might not be as solid or long-lived

as some of the other ABQ spots,

they have a neat setup for sure.

We finished our sampling shenanigans at one more well known local spot, La Cumbre, and they were great, too!

After all of our liquid refreshment, it was time for food as well (probably a good idea), so it was back to the house once more, where we found a treat waiting for us - while we were gone, Tara's brother in law had dropped her nieces, Abby and Haley, off with Grandmom and Granddad, and we had a great time hanging out with the girls before we headed to dinner.  During dinner, Kristen, Tara's sister, was also able to join us (she's studying law, so she is very, very busy, to say the least), and it was nice to see her, too.  Abby requested to sit next to me, and we had a great chat throughout dinner, covering all sorts of topics while eating queso; as we parted after dinner, she gifted me with this great picture she drew, which I proudly hung on our fridge:

It's a pineapple lady.

If you want more of the story,

you'll need to ask me in person.

The clouds that had been threatening during the afternoon hours turned into a decent rainstorm, so we brought our party back to the house for the evening.  We chatted a bit longer and listened to the rain come down (which was fun - living in Phoenix makes real rainstorms a novel experience), but I couldn't make it too much further; I was beat!  It was off to bed for this tired kiddo.

On Sunday morning, we woke up at a normal time and enjoyed a yummy breakfast of Jan's special green chile casserole with fruit salad, bagels, ham, and sausage.  Tara and Ryan would be driving all the way back to Phoenix that day, so they were packing up as well, and we bid adieu to everyone, thanking them for everything (seriously, Tara has a family jam packed with truly lovely folks).  We had a half day to kill before our flight home, and we wanted to see a bit more of the city, so we started out toward the east, back to the Sandia Crest area where I'd run the day before.  Our plan was to ride the tram up to the top of the mountain, so we could peek around the area, and since we had discounted tickets courtesy of the race, it seemed like the perfect opportunity.

Unfortunately, the weather didn't really cooperate:

Driving toward the tramway.

It's lightly raining here.

While we bought tickets, the tram had to pause due to the weather, and after waiting a while, we decided to cut our losses and find something else to do instead.  We still enjoyed getting outside the city and seeing things from a slightly more elevated vantage point.

The tram building also houses the

NM Ski Museum, which although small,

was interesting (and free, too)

Testing out the tram

It has the NM flag on the bottom!

When your plan to get high doesn't quite work out...

I'd read about the National Museum of Nuclear Science and History, which was located just across the street from where we finished the race, and it sounded neat.  At the very least, it would be inside, which was quickly becoming an important requirement for the rest of our day.  On our way to the Museum, though, we had a few other, uber-touristy stops to make.

As you may know, we're big fans of the show Breaking Bad, and its (kind of) spin-off Better Call Saul.  Both shows were/are filmed all around ABQ, and tons of blogs have addresses for the major locations.  First, we stopped at Mr. White's house:

Not the greatest shot, but they obviously don't want you stopping here.

Here it is from the show:

It might have a new paint job...

Next, it was off to Saul Goodman's law office (as a note, this is the one portrayed in BB, not in BCS).  From the show:

And our shot:

I know, I know, this is fascinating stuff.

We also drove past (and took shots of) the A-1 Car Wash.  Again, from the show:

And from our camera phones:

Anywhoodle, we eventually made it to the Museum, which was interesting.  About half of the exhibits were about the history of nuclear science, including its early pioneers, and the ways in which its been used in the past, both for productive and destructive means (some of the latter examples were quite sobering).  The other half of the exhibits were dedicated to teaching folks how nuclear science works, which came with some fun interactive displays.  Overall, we found it a good spot to visit for a few hours, and we also enjoyed wandering around in their garden of planes and other vehicles.

They have this vest hanging up on a peg for photo opps,

so I HAD to take advantage of it.

It's big.

It was about time for lunch, so we drove to downtown to see what trouble we could find there.  Our first stop was Hollow Spirits Distillery, where we had our pick of tables (ah, the life of perpetual early birds).  Although we'd planned to just grab a snack here and then lunch somewhere else, their charcuterie board was more than plentiful, and we ended up taking some cheese on the plane with us for dinner back at home!

They also had lots of super cool art on the walls

When we walked in, the bartenders had been playing with some new creations, including the use of their smoker setup, so Chris asked for whatever they'd been making.  Fun!

Smoke 'em if you got 'em!

Ta da!

Noms!

I hope Hollow Spirits continues to be around the next time we're in ABQ, because it was neat - great atmosphere, drinks, and food, too.  We made one more stop for libations, at a newer brewery right around the corner, Bow and Arrow.

The sign reads, "No Jerks!"

Wow, the blog is all about attempts at artsy beer photos today.

B&A was also great, and we snagged a bottle of one of their sours to take home and enjoy a bit later (which we've already done - we'll absolutely hit them up again).  It was finally time to head to the airport, but we had just one more stop on our Breaking Bad city tour, this time on the southern side of town.  Los Pollos Hermanos, the fast food restaurant owned by one of the big bad dudes in the show is actually a local fast food chain known as Twister's, and the location used in the show is not too far away from the airport.

From the show:

Unlike the houses/fake law offices, you can actually go inside Twisters and snag some food, which we did.  As we entered, we saw a BB-themed group finishing up their snacks inside; they all trooped out and hopped on a minibus to continue their tour - ABQ is really benefiting from the popularity of Vince Gilligan's works for sure.

We felt like this historic occasion called for sopapillas.

Mmmmmm.

We stopped to refill the tank of the rental car, and then it was on to the airport for us. The very short flight home was uneventful (hooray!), and we made it home in time for dinner.  Although our trip was short (we were gone right around 48 hours), we had a great time, and we can't wait to head back!

Later!

Amy