We were all pretty dead tired after the day we had yesterday: Hiking to delicate arch and then driving from Moab to Albuquerque, makes for a long day. We got in at about 11 pm. So, we had a low key morning. I even had groceries delivered. Grocery delivery is just about the most beautifulest thing ever. I fed the kids lunch early and then put the twins down for a nap. Then I went and got a pedicure. It was worth it just for the time in the massage chair. My back and shoulders were pretty dead from carrying the twins so much yesterday.
After I got back, Jonathan was nearly done with work, and the twins woke up, so we decided it was time to get out of the house for a bit.
A Series of Unfortunate Events
I had done a little research and thought that it would be cool to walk through the ABQ botanical garden. It is apparently really awesome. Jonas’ cold was really not sounding very good though. So he and Jonathan stayed home and did a reading party while I took Clara, Logan, and the twins.
We arrived, parked, pulled the stroller down from the top of the car, and did the other 5 million things it takes to get from the car to your destination when you have little people.
And then we went up to the kiosk, and we learned that apparently Siri had taken us to the zoo?? Apparently the aquarium, the zoo, the botanical garden, and some other things all make up the ABQ Biopark (but they are not all in the same place) so that’s where the confusion came in.
So we tried again. And, we finally found our way to the right spot. We parked, did the 5 million things, and walked up to the kiosk. But apparently they were closing early today. In 45 minutes. And it would have cost us about $30, and we would have had 45 minutes for both the Botanical garden and the aquarium (apparently, both are included in the single entrance fee). All those things would have been nice for the internet to tell us. Sigh.
I decided that it wasn’t worth it, and so, once again, we reloaded everyone into the car. The twins were feeling pretty ticked off at this point. They had been lured in by the promise of adventure, and so far we had just gotten in and out of the car.
The Old Town
I had also considered taking the kids to the ABQ Old Town before settling on the botanical garden, and so since all of our other plans had fallen through, I decided that could be an excellent backup. So we went, and managed to find parking and started walking around. And to be honest, it was pretty obvious that this was the off-season. There wasn’t a lot to do. And the church was closed even though it was supposedly during “business hours.” Basically, the whole area was covered in tourist trap souvenir shops. On the plus side, we got stickers, postcards, and patches. (Also, I later learned that there was an entire section that we had completely missed.)
Feeling a little bit disappointed by how things had turned out, we decided to head back to the car.
The Rattlesnake Museum
But as we were walking back to the parking lot, we saw a sign for the ‘Rattlesnake Museum and gift shop’. Intrigued, we decided to pop in to see what it was all about. And on a whim we decided to walk through the museum.
And it was surprisingly fun. I honestly enjoyed myself. Plus it was nice and warm. Because, reptiles! The museum itself was rather small, but it contained a surprisingly large number of snakes. And some of the snakes were surprisingly large. In addition to the snakes, there were a lot of other things to see in there. They did a great job putting together all the exhibits.
I especially enjoyed the reptile-related Far side comics, all the license plates, and there were a couple of short documentaries playing about how venom from various creatures is contributing to medicine right now. It was fascinating. And there were also exhibits about related creatures: crocodiles, turtles, etc.
And the kids loved it. Evie was FREAKED out by the tarantula, but otherwise, she and Isaac loved it. They had a great time looking at all the snakes.
Well, we are in Alba-cookie
After the museum, we all piled back into the car and went back to the Airbnb. We had dinner, and then Jonathan went and got cookies from Crumbl cookie. Because are in Alba-cookie after all. And any time you have an excuse to get crumbl cookies, you take it.
