We have had a very busy two weeks with friends from England visiting us - it was a fun time, but we kept a very busy pace while they were here. During their stay with us we visited Old Town Albuquerque, ate at a couple of our favorite restaurants (Monica's El Portal for breakfast and Casa deBenevidez for dinner), visited the Albuquerque BioPark where we went to the Zoo one day and to the Botanical Gardens and Aquarium another day.

A special treat when we went to the Zoo was to see the newest baby, three-day old Amani who is a reticulated giraffe – daughter of 17-yr old June. What lovely animals, and how amazing it is that the baby giraffes are so well-developed at birth and begin walking right away! I took MANY photos, but here is one of my favorites of Amani with her mother:

We also drove north to take the Cumbres-Toltec Steam Train trip from Chama, NM, to Antonito, CO - gorgeous scenery! If I ever finish sorting through the hundreds of pictures that I took I'll post some photos here.

After the train trip, we spent a night in Taos and saw the Pueblo the following day - I hadn't been there for about twenty years! Back home we went to see the Petroglyphs in western Albuquerque, visited the Rio Grande Nature Center, and of course we rode the Tram up to the Sandia Crest to watch a typically beautiful sunset over Albuquerque (followed by dinner at Santiago's Mexican Grill). And, we spent their last day here by going to Santa Fe (lunch at Coyote Cafe Cantina) - that evening we sat around our newly re-built firepit and gorged ourselves on s’mores (something our friends had never before experienced!).
 

Our Newly Re-Built Firepit