Route 66 in Albuquerque

Leslie & I were out shopping in Albq this morning and afternoon, and after making some purchases at Jackalope's, the local gardening center, we looked for a Greek place to have a gyro at. Unfortunately, the two places we wanted to go to were closed and out of business. So we wound up driving down Central Avenue, which is Route 66 through the heart of Albuquerque, where we stumbled upon a nice Middle Eastern eatery called Sahara, a highly-reviewed little restaurant. (We had the shawarma beef & lamb combo dinner, which, of course, we shared.) And you would know this was Route 66 for sure, as there are many Route 66-era places left, including several historic motels and diners, that litter Central on both sides of the street. Some of them have been adapted for re-use, like the present restaurant that used to be the Jones Motor Company. One of these fascinating places is the Aztec Motel, which defies description. We stopped right next to the Premiere Motel in order to take a picture of the Aztec across the street. Let me provide you with a link to some of the other neon signs that remain. Hannah, I know you will be fascinated by them: Neon. Central is the southern border of the University of New Mexico, so of course, there are oddball shops and coffee shops and restaurants all along Central.

There are also several antique shops and malls on Central, so we walked through one large one for a couple of hours, then went on back to the Beelers' house for supper. Right now we are prepping for loading the car for the trip back to Joplin tomorrow. We plan to leave at about 6 am.