Road Trip – Old Town and the Cottonwood Madonna, Dinner at Kitsune ABQ, and Petroglyph National Monument

After heading out from Prescott and stopping for lunch at the Turquoise Room, we made our way to our next stop; Albuquerque. Though our final destination for this road trip was Santa Fe and Taos, we wanted to take our time, do some hikes, and explore some National Monuments/Parks if possible. I thought stopping in Albuquerque might make for a nice break. I decided on staying at the Hotel Chaco as it was close to the I-40, Old Town, and Petroglyph National Monument. We really enjoyed the hotel, ample parking, a nice patio, comfortable rooms. We got to the hotel early and our room was ready! We unpacked and decided to walk on over to the Old Town.

This was a Wednesday in May and the Old Town, which was basically a block away was fairly quiet.

The Old Town seemed much larger than San Diego's version and dates back to 1706! It was fun walking around the area.

We noticed this church along the way.

This is San Felipe de Neri Church, which we'd visit in detail the next day. What really caught our attention was this.

After doing a bit of research this is what I found, this is known as the Cottonwood Madonna. It was supposedly carved by a parishioner of San Felipe de Neri in the 1970's. And according to the story, he died upon completion of this creation! You gotta love these stories!

The one place that did seem quite busy was the Old Town Plaza.

One of the reasons I chose our hotel was that the Sawmill Market, a well regarded food hall was right across the street.

Sadly, as we walked thru the stands, the Missus could not find anyplace She wanted to eat at…..

So it was back to square one…..

We decided to head on back to Old Town and we came across a bar called The Taproom.

What was interesting was that the bar was at 524 Romero Street, but there was also a 524 1/2 Romero Street. And the sign said "Kitsune", which caught our attention.

So we headed on in. 

Hmmm……I'm guessing that this is, or was the kitchen for the bar? The menu was an amalgamation of Asian fusion dishes…you know Kimchi Fried Rice, Karaage, Thai Fries…..you get the idea. Well, since we were here and there weren't many choices we were interested in, why not? So, we went ahead and placed our order and paid. Then headed on over to the bar and ordered some cocktails.

Then had a seat at one of the tables. We enjoyed our cocktails.

Funny thing was….well a great thing actually is that we gave the bartender our taste preferences and he just made cocktails for us! And they were quite good.

Soon our food arrived.

Starting with the "Loaded Fries".

The fries were quite good, crisp outside, creamy inside. The roasted pork was quite tender and nicely seasoned, the sweet-salty, slightly teriyaki-ish sauce went nicely with the pork. The only thing that felt out of place was the cheese as both the sour-palate cleansing pickled onions, a gastropub standard did well. 

The best item of the night was the Chicken Karaage.

Crisp deliciousness, the chicken thighs had been nicely marinated and was very moist. I enjoyed the addition of Togarashi and is gave things a bit of zip and the mayo did a nice job of cooling things down. The seasoning was perfect on this; a great balance between salty and a hint of sweetness, with a touch of pungency from garlic and ginger.

The Fried Rice was decent. 

The rice was a bit undercooked though evenly coated with a kimchi base. Of course the addition of Spam and that sunny side egg (which the Missus immediately poached) didn't hurt things in the least. The gochujang was a bit of overkill, but did add to the presentation.

This was pretty good bar food and we were pleasantly surprised, and after having a busy day, would end up here again the next day.

Kitsune ABQ
524 Romero St. NW
Albuquerque, NM 87104

We took a nice after dinner stroll in the really quiet Old Town.

There only a few businesses open.

Back at the room, we just sat, relaxed, and enjoyed the view from our patio.

We woke the next morning, grabbed some coffee, and then headed out to Petroglyph National Monument. We drove to the Visitor's Center which is actually several miles from any of the trails. We picked up a map and decided to do two of the trails; the Rinconada Canyon Trail, which is a easy loop trail, followed by Boca Negra Canyon.

Among the remnants of an eruption from over 150,000 years ago there are symbols carved onto basalt boulders along the trails.

The trails are quite easy' at least the one's we took.

 

And things start out quite stark and you'll wonder if you've found the correct trail.

But soon enough, you'll come across basalt boulders.

And soon you'll start getting a glimpse…..

As to the age of the carvings; I've seen things written that some go back to 3,000 years ago, though the signage and the NPS site says between 400 to 700 years ago. As for actual dating; I'm sure there are Archaeologists at work trying to determine accurate dating of the petroglyphs. 

And looking at some, like these give a good clue as to the period.

Because sheep are not native to North America and were brought with the Spaniards in the 1600's, so those must have been done after the arrival of the Spanish settlers.

We enjoyed our time here; though it was starting to get pretty warm (this was in May), so it was time to head back and grab some lunch!

Thanks for stopping by!