Thursday morning, October 17 was the last day Suzanne and I were in Santa Fe. She remembered having been to a fine art gallery when she was in Santa Fe previously that had a sculpture garden behind it. We found it (Nedra Matteucci Gallery) and went there before we left Santa Fe. They were very gracious about letting the general public (as opposed to just the have-enough-money-to-buy customers) in to walk around. They even encouraged taking pictures of the art they had for sale.

Just to give you an idea of what these things are worth: The rabbit, Mr. Tweed, below, a bronze (1 of 5) by Herb Mignery was priced at $35,000. The Hopi Maidens, of pink Tennessee marble, by Doug Hyde was priced at $120,000. The smaller of the bronze elephants, Orphan by Ostermiller was priced at $60,000. Crisita, the bronze of the Indian women with a water pot on her head (edition of 7) by Doug Hyde was priced at $37,500.

Then we drove on to Albuquerque. I had booked the last night I was going to be in the area through Booking.com. I got this 2 bedroom (one with a king, one with a queen plus pull out couch), 1.5 bath (one with a jetted soaking tub) place at a really funky, arty hotel just four blocks from Old Town Albuquerque Square called Casa di Suenos for just under $160 with all the taxes plus two breakfasts. Our place had two porches and a fireplace ready to light if we had wanted it. No kitchen but it did have a fridge and coffee maker. Plus off-street parking.

There were paths wandering through the grounds. Art was scattered throughout. There were about 20 rooms. Some were studios the owner told me for longer term rental. I am posting this because if you ever want a cute, cheap, convenient place in Albuquerque this could be the place.

Thursday evening we walked to Old Town Albuquerque for dinner. Friday morning I had to head further south for my next adventure – hiking with Road Scholar in Big Bend National Park, Guadalupe Mountain National Park and Carlsbad Caverns National Park – which started in El Paso, Texas on Sunday afternoon.