Rio Grande River Like We've Never Seen It, Isleta Pueblo, Old Town Albuquerque and Dinner with Jen and Steve

So I saw on the map, "Isleta Pueblo," and it was just a bit down the road.  I've never been to a still-active Pueblo, and I thought maybe there would be something exciting to see.  Well, we rode and road and road some more!  Our good friend Google told us to turn left after all those miles, so we did.  Right onto a dirt road that was more ruts than road.  We didn't go far, just to the third little house, which was more shanty than house.  We dead-ended into his front yard, so we turned back and returned to the main road and went a bit farther south and turned onto the next road.  It was paved, but, but not for long!  The road turned to dirt, just after a locked gate.  Hmmmmm....Google is not often wrong, but this time, she was as wrong as possible!  

Well, we went back up the road, this time, turning left (which would have been right) at the intersection.  Well, whatdoya know??  We came upon the Rio Grande River.  We knew Albuquerque was in the RG Valley, but we didn't actually ever SEE the river for ourselves.  You'll recall we spent two winters in the "Rio Grande Valley" down in Texas, but the water there was only ever a trickle.  At the very most, it was only water about 20 feet wide (the channel was wider, but there was very little water in it) and it was probably only just over ankle deep.  In other words, just about dried up.  So when we saw the river here, and saw how much water was flowing, it was really quite the shock!

Ahhh, but then we crossed the bridge and looked at the other side - it was dammed up!!  Well, no wonder there was so much water upstream!

OK, OK, so a river's a river, right?  Let's move on, besides, it's pretty warm out, and doggie is in the car.  And it's running.  And it's parked illegally.  We really need to move on.  And so we did.  Eventually, off in the distance, we could see the towers of what appeared to be a mission or church.  We used our geosense (that's the "go left, go right, zig zag till you get where you want to be" method of driving) to wind our way through the little town and finally arrived in the side parking area.  Nooo, the front would have been too easy and made too much sense.  As we approached the front, we saw a small sign that warned "NO recording, NO cell phones, NO videos.  Any recording devices would be immediately and permanently confiscated."  Uh-oh....better put the cameras away!!  What a shame, right?  Oh, but wait...there is the parish office, let's just check.  They lovely young lady working there said, oh, yes, it's perfectly fine to take photos of the outside.  The sign was intended for visitors to Sunday mass and various other Native celebrations and dances.  So, lucky us, and lucky you, we have photos to share!

Yup, Bailey's furry butt!

As we wound our way back out through the town, I was able to get some photos of what was left of the adobe buildings.

Almost every house had a brick oven or two.  Some houses had three!

After driving back north for about a half hour, we found our way to Old Town Albuquerque.  We didn't know it was built around another mission.  Funny, in the South, and so far, everywhere we've been, the courthouse was the center of the town square.  Not here.  Here we have San Filipe de Neri Church, dating back to 1706.  And, even after all these years, still looking for donations.

The square reminded us a lot of Pueblo crossed with Mexican.

When you don't find ice cream, look for hot sauce!

When we got back to the campground, we took Bailey for a walk.  Lo and behold, what do we see, but another Ventana.  And this one is dark, with a white scooter, a maroon SUV, and some herbs on the table.  That could be none other than Steve, Jennifer and Bella.  We met them up in Colorado Springs, at Peregrine Pines, the family camp on the Air Force Academy grounds.  That HAD to be them!  We rang their bell and when Steve answered the door, we told him that Bailey wanted to know if Bella could come out and play.  She did, they did!  We chatted a bit about where we each had been and what our upcoming plans were, then we decided that the only day we both had together and free, was right then!  So we finished walking the dog, cleaned up a bit and went back downtown to Lindo's for dinner.  Oh my, it was tasty!  And the margarita we split, while it wasn't quite as good as Tomasita's up in Santa Fe, it was still pretty refreshing after a long hot day! 

So much for doing laundry before we head out in the morning!  That's OK, it'll be there tomorrow.  And it was really fun sharing chips and salsa with Jen and Steve.  They are off to San Diego in the morning, for the weekend, to watch a nephew play football for Harvard.  When they come back, they'll spend a few days in town, then head up to the Balloon Fiesta.  We will be long gone by the time that comes to town.  Funny thing, we are heading to Winslow, to Meteor Crater RV Park.  And that's the same park they stayed in a couple months back.  I hope we meet up with them again, somewhere down the road!  Tomorrow is a travel day, and as I mentioned, we're heading to Winslow, AZ.  Why??  Well, so we can stand on the corner, of course!!!  Till next time, y'all stay well and safe!