Days 57, 58 & 59 - Albuquerque, NM

We had three nights in Albuquerque (ABQ), not because we expected there to be a huge amount to do here but because we needed a firebreak in a major town before we hit the National Parks and remote camping in Colorado, Utah, Arizona and New Mexico.

We spent 1 night and 1 afternoon (watching the World Cup) in Downtown. There was really only one bar open, The Library which was OK as a bar doing good food, beers and cocktails but apart from this place, there wasn't much around in Downtown. We did manage to find a pool bar where if you bought a drink, you could play as much pool as you wanted for free. We both had Bud Lites and then drunk them very slowly!

The first day in ABQ, we needed to get Fin's windscreen fixed. The crack was half way across the screen now and there was no way we were going to feel safe driving him any further. I'd booked an appointment whilst we were in Marfa for a company in ABQ. We arrived at 8am and were told that it would take about 2 hours to do. We were in an industrial estate which felt like in the middle of nowhere! We decided to take a little walk around and try to find a coffee shop or cafe we could wait in. Just 5 minutes down the road, we found a storm drain with a little footpath next to it that led to this amazing open space with a trail through cottonwood trees and olive bushes. The 2 hours went really quickly and before we knew it, it was time to pick up Fin.

ABQ is maybe most well known these days for being the filming location of Breaking Bad. Having managed to watch all 5 seasons, even the difficult to get into season 2 and the emotional rollercoaster that was season 5, we couldn't leave ABQ without seeing some of the filming locations. We managed to get through a number of them which you'll see in the video! Most of the sites were easily accessible and even encouraged visitors with Breaking Bad memorabilia; one place was even playing Breaking Bad on the TV! The only exception was Walter White's house which has a police car outside and we were warned that the owner doesn't even like people on the sidewalk in front of the house. Maybe she didn't realise the fame her house would be getting when she took the money from the production company for its use.

We also took a trip to the Candy Lady who made the crystal meth in Breaking Bad out of sugar. We had a lot of fun playing around in the 'Meth Lab' and actually the store was interesting too although there were a lot of adult chocolates on offer, not a place to take children! We had both forgotten that the meth was originally white in season 1, we're going to need to check this out when we get back.

After we'd picked up our ounce of meth, we then took a walk around Old Town. It was really quiet, a lot of the shops were closed but we assumed this was because it was a Tuesday and the day before the 4th July. We went into a couple of shops which were a mix of Mexican and Native American arts and gifts. In the center of Old Town is a lovely square for people watching and a church.

Whilst in ABQ, we also caught up on our laundry. The hotel didn't have laundry facilities so we had to venture out and find a proper laundrette. I'm glad we did, the one was found we huge and it was surprisingly fun to do our laundry! We even managed to find a machine big enough to do the sleeping bags which had almost grown legs and walked themselves to the laundry in protest.

We were also in ABQ for the 4th of July. We spent the day in Santa Fe which will be in another blog entry but in the evening we were back in ABQ and we headed to the Balloon Fiesta Park for the biggest 4th of July firework display in the state. It started at 4pm and there were a number of bands with food stalls and a beer garden containing craft breweries. The fireworks were due to start at 9:15pm but due to the really strong wind that had picked up, they didn't go off until 10:30pm. There was a complete lack of communication around the delays so a lot of people left before they had started but once they did go off, they were good and in time to music.

Overall we enjoyed ABQ. It's not a tourist destination or anywhere you would go on holiday for a length of time but is a good place to stop off for a few days, especially if you're a Breaking Bad fan. The Balloon Fiesta in October is a huge hot air balloon festival and looks really good. If we were to come back to ABQ, we would try to see this.