In Albuquerque, as in many Latino communities, we celebrate Day of the Dead as well as Halloween. It’s a lovely holiday that allows us to feel close to our departed loved ones. We build altars commemorating their lives, use marigolds to invite their spirits to visit and decorate with sugar skulls and other day of the dead regalia.
Instead of the scary aspect of Halloween, Day of the Dead celebrations are more like a celebration with family of loved ones.
Some additional activities in the area.
Zuni fetishes are beautiful art pieces which also have great meaning in Zuni culture. Each animal has particular powers to help people.
New Mexico Bead and Fetish in Old Town New Mexico has an extensive selection of beautiful hand crafted, artist authenticated fetishes. So recently, we made a visit there to pick up some specific fetishes for loved ones. They make great gifts, especially when a loved one is going through a difficult time.
Before we travel, we try to eat and drink things that we’ll encounter in the place we’ll be visiting. For Japan, that was sushi and sake.
For Germany, we’ve been trying out wines from Moselland, as that’s where we’ll be traveling and wine tasting.
We got an order in from Total Wine. The cat bottle wine was surprisingly good. I bought it for the bottle since I love cats. (I have two. And a dog.)
As you can tell, I’m crazy for furry animals. I take way too many cat and dog related pictures on our travels.
But my own pets are my favorites– with or without wine and sushi.
When I was younger and literally traveling on a shoestring budget, traditional souvenirs were too expensive so I came up with some no cost options.
One of my first collections was pictures of streetlights. It seems like every city has its own streetlight style and some of them are really unique and fun.
On this trip, I also collected pictures of manholes. The Japanese artistic district manholes were truly stunning.
Another friend collects pictures of doors and doorways. As you might imagine, she has found some beautiful examples.
If you want mementos that can be placed in a scrapbook, train and museum ticket stubs are great.
In Japan, most chopsticks come with beautifully decorated paper chopstick covers that would make great add ins to a scrapbook page.
The only limit to cost free souvenirs is your own imagination. What will you collect?
Ray and I had so much fun trying out Taiko drumming in Tokyo that we decided to find classes in New Mexico. Bushido Kenkyukai is a well-known dojo for taiko drumming and martial arts. We went to an introductory class which included demonstrations by local students and practice drumming.
As usual, New Mexico artists have added their own twist to a traditional Japanese art. The New Mexico version includes more drummers, extra instruments, and special riffs that aren’t heard in Japan. Still, the foundation is traditional so it’s a fascinating fusion of cultures.
Another local group NM Taiko is also seen at local events like the very popular Aki Matsuri, a Japanese fall festival.
For practicing, since taiko drums are expensive, many artists make use of old tires coveted tightly with packing tape.
It doesn’t give the depth of sound that a real drum does but it definitely is good for an active taiko workout.
So, are you tempted to try taiko drumming?
This morning we took Owen, the namesake dog for this blog, for a walk in the Los Poblanos (the village) farm. Albuquerque sensibly protected crop fields along the Rio Grande Bosque from being transformed into residential real estate tracts.Los Poblanos combines working commercial fields (corn, alfalfa, and millet) with community plots where individuals can grow their own veggies and flowers. They also have a wonderful inn.
In Los Poblanos, we’ve observed road runners, a wide variety of birds, and coyotes in this diverse environment. And, during the winter, sandhill cranes.
The western flock of sandhill cranes spend most of the year in Northern Canada and even as far away as Siberia. But like many of our Canadian friends, they flee the frozen north to vacation further south in the United States.
The eastern sub-flock use the Platte River valley as a resting point before settling in for the winter in Texas. They are hypnotic to watch.
The western sub-flock follow the Rio Grande flyway into central and southern New Mexico where they settle in the river bottoms from Albuquerque south to the Bosque del Apache. We are fortunate to co-habit the bosque with the cranes from their arrival in mid-October to their departure to the north country in February-March.
In Albuquerque, the cranes graze in the farm fields along the river and move further afield into city park land and drainage arroyos. Everywhere, they make one or another of their distinctive clicks and clack calls.
I love wandering around Old Town as there is always so much to experience, from shops to museums to live music to festivals.
The museums are exceptional. Explora is a hands on science exploratation place for children. It is so popular with adults that they also offer adult nights.
The Natural History Museum and Planetarium has fun and unusual shores in addition to all those cool dinosaur skeletons. A recent exhibit brought all of Leonardo day Vinci’s inventions to life by making full sized working models. It was extraordinary.
Tiguex Park is a fun place for a picnic and includes some interesting public art.
If you’re interested in Zuni fetishes, New Mexico Bead and Fetish has a great collection.
And while you are in Old Town, stop in for some fun candy at Old Town Candy & Sweets.
San Felipe de Neri is an iconic Southwestern church. It is also still actively used for services, including both traditional and vampire weddings.
Most weekends, this gazebo is filled with entertainers playing music or demonstrating tango.
The entrance to the Albuquerque art museum sculpture garden hints at the delights inside. Its a great place to relax with a coffee and a sketchbook.
Many of the Albuquerque Museum’s sculptures are in front of the facility. 
A recent sculptural addition (about border crossing) in front of the museum needs to be seen from all sides to be fully appreciated.
Wouldn’t you like to wander through Old Town with me?
Taxis were delightful. They were always immaculate and the seats were invariably covered in white lace fabric. When it was time to get out, the doors opened as if by magic–though I’m sure it was through the driver’s command.
In Kyoto, foreigners aren’t particularly welcome as they overwhelm this small town. In that town, taxi drivers hesitate to pick ip foreigners. so a whole separate cab business has developed: “foreigner friendly taxis”. The term is emblazoned on the taxis so foreigners know that they can effectively flag these taxis down. Not surprisingly, these taxis are often driven by foreign immigrants, who often also speak English.
So would you be like me– a little worried about inadvertently soiling the pristine white interior of a taxi? (I’m a klutz by the way.)
We were planning a trip to Boston for a business meeting and said, “Hey! We’re well along the way to Europe. Let’s go!” We settled upon Germany, because Brenda wanted to finally put her German language minor in college to good use.
Lufthansa offered flights from Boston/Logan to Frankfort, so we opted to visit that area. Once there, we considered our options: travel hither and thither, staying in various places, or establish a base of operations in one place and explore the environs. We opted for the latter, eschewing the multiple unpack/pack cycle. We also travel light, so readily finding a laundry with time to use it is a must. (At least, our seatmates on the flights home would prefer it.)
The next decision was where to establish our home away from home. There’s where the DK travel guides for Germany came in handy. The Rhineland offers an abundance of pleasant towns to choose from, so we felt we couldn’t make a wrong decision. We opted for Koblenz because it was convenient to both the Rhine and Moselle attractions, and was large enough to provide lots of different fun things to do and enjoy over our stay.
What about touring the countryside? Car or train? We opted for the convenience of the German railway system. We will use their affordable and convenient rail pass to avoid dealing with auto insurance, parking, and foreign language highway signage. The train system offers direct service from the Frankfort airport to Koblenz and convenient service from Koblenz to other towns and cities that we wanted to visit. And we won’t have to worry about driving after Wine tasting our way through the countryside.
Just a few more details to take care of and we’ll be ready for our trip. What about you? Where in Germany would you like to go?
Elvis Presley changed the world of rock n roll as completely as other stars like the Beatles, Michael Jackson, and Jerry Lee Lewis. So when we were in Memphis, TN visiting our daughter’s family, we had to see Graceland.
My husband, who was not a fan of Elvis, was shocked to see the huge quantity of gold and platinum records awarded to Elvis.
According to Wikipedia, “In August 1992, he was awarded with 110 gold, platinum and multi-platinum albums and singles, the largest presentation of gold and platinum record awards in history. According to the latest data from the RIAA website, Elvis has a total of 117 gold, 67 platinum and 27 multi-platinum album awards by the organization.” That’s a lot of award winning songs.
His house, while large, isn’t as palatial as those of modern day rock star homes, although it does include more than 37 acres. And it was designed to also house his parents.
Today Graceland is a huge tourist draw for the area. We took the walking tour but there are lots of other options. Expect to wait in line for tickets, and then for entry to the house. Once inside, traffic is controlled so it isn’t crowded.
Here are a few photos from inside:
The exterior looks very southern with its columns portico and the lions and white iron benches at the front.
The peacock room with its stained glass was probably my favorite even though I can’t imagine living in an all white room. Still, that stained class was gorgeous.
The pool room was very dark and cozy.
We had a great time in Memphis. Another not-to-be-missed site is the Rock n Soul Museum.
So what do you think. Do you want to visit Graceland?
Travels with Owen 