New Mexico Turners: May 2010

On Monday, Allyson had a field trip to an afternoon Isotopes game, and as Summer picked me up outside my office, I commented that I was proud of my little girl had her priorities straight--skipping class for baseball. Well, today was another such day--playing hooky as a family.

To be fair, the kids weren't missing much. Today was the annual play day at their school, a day that last year we celebrated by skipping school for fun in ABQ. This year we decided to up the ante and get out of town.

Our plan was simple--catch the Rail Runner from downtown ABQ to Santa Fe, walk to the plaza and go to a museum or two. We figured we'd eat lunch in the City Different and make a day of it. So after a lazy morning at home, we drove downtown for the 10:35 northbound train.

The kids, as you can imagine, were excited to ride the train. I had taken the Rail Runner once before, and I thought it was great. But riding an evening train down to a stake priesthood meeting by yourself is nowhere near as fun as taking four kids on a trip. And that it cost all of $17 for the tickets (the boys all rode free) made it even better.

The station in ABQ is adjacent to the bus depot, and it's nice, although there are not nearly enough benches. Apparently a lot of old people ride the Rail Runner, and they show up 45 minutes before the train leaves the station, claiming every available bench. This would be even more pronounced coming home later in the day.

The trip itself was uneventful, which is how train rides should be. The kids read the comics (I had wisely picked up a newspaper at the station) and enjoyed watching the mesas and mountains fly by.

We disembarked at the Santa Fe Depot stop, the end of the line. The railyard area is undergoing some exciting development, and in a year or two it will be a rather hopping place (by Santa Fe standards, at least). We, however, were thinking of but one thing: food. So we ran across the parking lot to Tomasita's, a pretty standard New Mexican eatery, of which more in a few days at Table for Six. The Cliff Notes version: fast, filling, unimpressive.

Then the fun began in earnest. We walked the 3/4 mile to the plaza, eschewing the shuttle. It's a fine walk, and the day was nice--not hot, a gentle breeze. Along the way we spotted some nicer dining options for the next time we make this trip, along with a frozen yogurt establishment that we would patronize later in the day.

We strolled past the New Mexico Museum of Art, a swell place that we've been to before, on the way to the plaza and our true destination: the new New Mexico History Museum, which was completed a few years ago, adding a marvelous jewel of a museum to the already-great Palace of the Governors.

The museum was great--well organized, just interactive enough, educational and fun. And we were smart about our museuming, not trying to do too much, focusing and making the experience meaningful.

It was now a shade before 3:00, so we starting making our way back to the depot, stopping to pick up some kettle corn from a vendor on the plaza and getting frozen yogurt at the aforementioned place. Then we got the station and caught our ride home. We meandered home happy with the day and vowing to do it all again--both the hooky and the train to Santa Fe.

And now, a few pictures from the trip: