Travel

[Kachina624]

There was a thread on Albuquerque recently and since, I've done some recent adventuring, i wanted to do a follow up.

https://community.qvc.com/t5/Travel/Albuquerque/td-p/7983586#M21287

Last week I had a couple, old friends from Boston, visit me here, and we had a glorious day.

We started with lunch at the Range Cafe in Bernalillo just North of the city which was very good.  We hadn't made reservations but should have.

We then proceeded to the Bien Mur Store on the Sandia Pueblo.  It's run by the tribe and they sell all sorts of Native arts and crafts from all the pueblos.  We were jewelry shopping for my friend and her 4 granddaughters.  We spent a couple of hours browsing and buying.  They made a significant contribution to the NM economy.

Then we headed for the tram and dinner at Ten 3, the new restaurant at the top.  Much to my surprise, we learned that you must now buy tickets online before the trip.  We sat in the parking lot and did a mad scrabble, got tickets despite their mess of a website.  They need to work on that.  It's sandiapeaktram.com.

We made an uneventful but beautiful ascent to the top, wowed by the views as usual.  Longest aerial tramway in the US.

I had made the dinner reservations which like the tram, was a big mess.  Took me at least an hour to get it done.  Reservations required, no children permitted and business casual dress code.  All this seems a bit much for a concessionaire in a National Forest.

The restaurant was beautiful, very contemporary with high soaring ceiling and wall of windows overlooking the view.  It is literally perched on the edge, about 1 ft from the edge of the precipice.

The service was excellent and very attentive but I was disappointed in the food.  It was well plated but was expensive (my meal was $66.).  I had lamb that was tough and tasteless.  There were about 8 choices of entrees including very expensive steaks.  Nothing but some bread came with it.

I would not recommend eating there.

We finished dinner and went out on the deck and watched the sun set.  It was breezy and very cold.  We'd taken jackets but people without were turning blue.

Once the sun was down and it was dark, we waited for a tram down and soon descended with the twinkling lights of Albuquerque laid out below us, a spectacular sight.

It was a beautiful day.

[rockygems123]

@Kachina624   Absolutely stunning!!

I will look again tomorrow when I've got more time, looks so beautiful. 

[just bee]

@Kachina624 

Thanks for the tour!

I haven't been to the Range, Bien Mur or the Tram in several years.  Your post brought back some memories.

I had purchased two rings from Bien Mur many years ago.  Occasionally I'll reach for them and they never fail to get compliments.  Reminders of my early days in Albuquerque when the place was a lot more Southwestern.

I feel the city has lost some of that.  I no longer see the clothes and jewelry, or horses walking down Alameda.

But at least The Range, Bien Mur and the Tram are still with us.

[thyme Patty]

Gorgeous ..

[just bee]

@Kachina624 

Curious, I checked out the menu.

A little too pretentious and ridiculously expensive.  I had to giggle at some of those drink prices.

[OKPrincess]

@Kachina624  Beautiful pictures. When DH and I were in Albuquerque the last week of April, the tram was down due to regular maintenance. That's the one thing we really wanted to do.

[Kachina624]

@OKPrincess    You'll just have to come back.  It's closed one day a week for maintenance and every morning an employee sits on top of the tram car and rides it up, sitting where he can inspect the cables.  Not a job I'd want!

[Kachina624]

@just bee    I was amazed at the number of 20somethings, who must have been on dates, we're eating there.  Both the girls and guys were all dolled up in some pretty extreme clothing.  It was quite a scene.

[rockygems123]

@Kachina624  In addition to the stunning vistas, the jewelry, wow!

Looked at their online site and what eye candy, you must have been in heaven.  Sounds like your friends were too

[just bee]

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@Kachina624 wrote:

@just bee    I was amazed at the number of 20somethings, who must have been on dates, we're eating there.  Both the girls and guys were all dolled up in some pretty extreme clothing.  It was quite a scene.

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@Kachina624 

Well, the restaurant does have a dress code on its website.