Pics of Albuquerque, New Mexico

[Mith242]

I posted this in the photo forum but I guess I should also put it over here as well. More to come soon.

I was out in New Mexico last week visiting family. I took a few shots around Albuquerque although I must admit they aren't the best shots or views of the city. My family generally prefer rural life so I didn't get around Albuquerque as much as I would like but I thought I'd share a few pics. Albuquerque isn't particularly built up, it's the more typical western city that is spread out. The first group of pics is from the volcanoes on the West Mesa which as the name implies is west of the city. A bit far out and you don't get to see the city very well. In the first pic you can see the part of theSandia Mtns on the left background and just the edge of the Manzano Mtns on the right. Both have peaks over 10,000 ft. The second pic is a zoom in on the downtown area. The third has a volcanis rock in the foreground and the fourth shows a bit more of the Sandia Mtns with the northern part of the city.

I'll post some more pics in the near future.

[Mith242]

Another group of pics, mainly taken from I-40. Once again not exactly the greatest views of the city. Thought I'd throw out a little info while I'm at it. I generally see the city population listed around 450,000 to 500,000 and the metro around 750,000 to 800,000. Most of the city is close to the same elevation of Denver. Some areas around the Rio Grande River lie just below 5,000 ft with some of the outskirts around 5,300 to 5,400 ft. But anyway back to the pics. The first pic is from I-40 coming down the West Mesa looking east towards the city and the andia Mtns in the background. Then the next two pics are of the Big 'I', the intersection of I-40 and I-25. The third is another shot from I-40 looking towards the Sandia Mtns. The last is a bad shot I tried to take of some of the downtown buildings. I had to stick my camera above the fence at the zoo to get it and as you can see it didn't work out too well.

I'll post some shots of an area of the city called Old Town in the near future.

[The ATX]

Excellent pics. The SW US is my favorite part of the country.

[Mith242]

Here's some shots around Old Town. It's the original downtown area of town. But when the railroad came it drew development away from this area so it was never built up. I'll mention some more info about Albuquerque. It was founded in 1706 almost a hundred years after Santa Fe. It was named after the Duke of Alburquerque in Spain. Over time the first r was dropped. It pretty much remained a dusty little town till the railroad came in and it eventually overtook the older towns like Santa Fe and Bernalillo. The first few pics are of the adobe style of architecture found in New Mexico. Then there's a couple of pics of the center plaza where the gazebo is. There's also a couple of Civil War canons. There was a small battle/skirmish fought here.

A little later I'll have some pics of the centerpiece of Old Town, the San Felipe de Neri Mission Church.

[Mith242]

Here's some pics of the San Felipe de Nero Mission Church in Old Town. It was orginally built in 1706 but it eventually fell into disrepair and was rebuilt in 1793.

I believe I have a few more pics to post later, including a few around Taos.

[colin]

Good to see that they finally finished that damn I-25/I-40 interchange. What was it, ten years? It's beautiful though.

ABQ is a really beautiful city.

[peaceloveunderstanding]

Looks like a neat place. Great Pics.

[Mith242]

Good to see that they finally finished that damn I-25/I-40 interchange. What was it, ten years? It's beautiful though.

ABQ is a really beautiful city.

Yeah now they're working on another big project that the locals have nicknamed the Little Big 'I', the intersection of I-40 and Coors. It is a nice city though. It doesn't seem to get the accolades that Santa Fe or Taos get, but then again they are pretty small compared to Albuquerque.

[Mith242]

Finally getting around to posting a few more pics. I posted one of these earlier in the Pic o' the Day topic. Anyway here's some shots of Albuquerque in the evening from Sandia Crest. Still surprises me to see how small it looks. Certainly doesn't look like a city of 500,000. But when you're above 10,600 ft I suppose a lot of things look pretty small. In the second pic you can see a plane I managed to get in the shot as well. I'll certainly have to go back next time I'm out there. Maybe I won't have to worry about clouds and wind as much. Even with a tripod a number of my pics turned out a bit blurry from the strong winds that night.

[Rickydavisfan21]

god I wish photography like this was possible in charlotte or savannah :-(

[Mith242]

god I wish photography like this was possible in charlotte or savannah :-(

Yeah New Mexico is known for it's 'light'. It's attracted quite a few painters and for that matter photographers as well.

[dimebag1980]

Awesome. My wife lived there for a while as a child, and although she didn't remember much, she did remember how everything was so flat and then there were the mountains.

Very cool.

[Mith242]

Awesome. My wife lived there for a while as a child, and although she didn't remember much, she did remember how everything was so flat and then there were the mountains.

Very cool.

I'm hoping to eventually have some pics of Santa Fe. I'm going back out this summer but looks like I'll be spending most of my time camping and seeing some of the National Parks out in that part of the country. Maybe this fall when I should be back out there again.

[dimebag1980]

I'm hoping to eventually have some pics of Santa Fe. I'm going back out this summer but looks like I'll be spending most of my time camping and seeing some of the National Parks out in that part of the country. Maybe this fall when I should be back out there again.

The west is somewhere I've still yet to be. I can now fly from Shreveport to Vegas for cheap on Allegiant Air, so my wife and I have been considering just making it a weekend in Vegas sometime. She also wants to get back out that way toward Midland, TX and possibly even Albuquerque if we ever get the chance.

I'd be interested in seeing your Santa Fe pics.

[Mith242]

The west is somewhere I've still yet to be. I can now fly from Shreveport to Vegas for cheap on Allegiant Air, so my wife and I have been considering just making it a weekend in Vegas sometime. She also wants to get back out that way toward Midland, TX and possibly even Albuquerque if we ever get the chance.

I'd be interested in seeing your Santa Fe pics.

This fall I'll certainly have to try to stop by there then. If you ever do make it to Albuquerque feel free to ask any questions.

[Mith242]

A bit off topic here, but didn't think it was worth trying to start a new topic for this. Forbes recently listed Albuquerque as the top place to do business. Cost of doing business was 1st, job growth was 60th and educational attainment was 54th. Giving it the overall number one spot. I have noticed while I was out there visiting just how many tech jobs there are located there.

[Jerseyman4]

Albuquerque will be one of the places ill visit sooner or later

[Mith242]

Albuquerque will be one of the places ill visit sooner or later

If you do feel free to ask any questions. I'm no expert on the city. But I do visit it a couple of times a year.

[pdxheel]

Beautiful city! Please post more pics when you have them.

[Mith242]

Beautiful city! Please post more pics when you have them.

Sure thing. Probably won't be till this fall though.

[johnnydr87]

Very nice. I was albuquerque 3 years ago.

[Mith242]

Very nice. I was albuquerque 3 years ago.

So was I. Of course I always go at least two or three times a year.

[Mith242]

Nothing to get too excited about but here's a couple of pics around the downtown area I took in my trip recently. But I spent almost all of my time in Natl Parks out west than in Albuquerque. But as you can see Albuquerque certainly fits into the usual 'western' pattern of being very spread out and not built up too much.

[colin]

The Campus Lofts (the old school in the pictures) have been there for a while, but I turned to check them out and found some more new development:

The amount of For Sale signs on the lofts kinda worried me.

[Mith242]

Thanks for the pics Colin. Don't think I've seen that area of Albuquerque yet.