There was a little dance troupe of about ten kids dancing around in various traditional costume, and they had some great facial expressions.

The boys in the troupe in general didn’t seem especially enthused to be dancing with icky girls, but when they were free from the risk of cooties, they hammed it up a bit.

The one little guy on the end in particular had some great facial expressions.

After the performance, the crowd milled around a bit.  Next to me was a booth for the Rio Grande Community Farm, where Sara was helping kids plant seeds in ingenious little planters made from recycled newspaper.  Lobo Lucy watched carefully.

Meanwhile, UNM mascot Lobo Louie was chatting it up with the ladies.

That wolf sure knows how to howl!  Of course, he and I got into a bit of trouble with Mall Security when I started riding him around the mall on my Xtracycle.  Though that didn’t stop the head of security from taking a picture for his kids with his phone.

If you’ve been by the corner of Gold and 3rd downtown anytime since January, you’ve probably noticed the corner shop (formerly Ooh-Aah jewelry and before that Ruby Shoesday) undergoing some major changes.

The Albuquerque skyline is reflected in the windows of P'tit Louis

The owners are insistent on maintaining the proper atmosphere, which includes bouquets of fresh cut flowers daily.

A new French bistro – “P’tit Louis” – is opening today after much anticipation. This is John Phinizy’s first restaurant, and he’s brought with him the brilliant minds behind Scalo and Brasserie La Provence. If their menu is any indication, this is going to be quite the fancy little downtown hot spot, with daily specials including a Râgout du Jour and a Quiche du Jour.

The interior alone is really something. The folks at P’tit Louis have really poured a lot into making into an authentic bistro, with fresh cut flowers, honeycomb flooring, dark wood bar and wainscoting, and vintage photos and posters on the wall. French music happily bubbles over into the space.

P’tit Louis opens today, and if things are successful, expect to see a few more open up around town.

They’re on the corner of 3rd and Gold at 228 Gold Ave SW. The phone number is 505-314-1111.

Other photos, including some of the menu items, can be found in my gallery.

It was a long ride, about 30 miles, but we took plenty of breaks for food, photography, and taking in the brilliant autumn day.  All told we spend about 5 1/2 hours in the valley, and we were exhausted by the end of it.

These photos are from Dad’s old Nikon FE.  For a 30-year-old camera, it takes some incredible shots.  The pictures came out a little grainy; next time I’ll switch to a lower ISO.  Also, if the images appear distorted, clicking on them takes you to the original.

Crisp, juicy, beautiful apples at a farmer's market in Albuquerque's North Valley

Red Chiles on the ristra, dried and ready for cooking, at a farmer's market in Albuquerque's North Valley

A horse grazes on a luxurious estate in the North Valley

Krista reclines against a tree in a park in Corrales

Krista takes a well-deserved nap after a long bike ride

The famous neon of Glitter Gulch, on the Fulmont Street Experience

A friend of mine recently moved from San Francisco back to her home town of Las Vegas, NV.  She was upset that whenever any friends visited, all they wanted was to drink and gamble.  ”Fine,” I told her.  ”I’m flying out there for a weekend, and you can show me the Nevada that you grew up in.”

The first night we hit the Strip, not to gamble, but to people watch.  The lights, the sounds, and everything else were overwhelming, and everywhere people were caught up in the heady illusion of instant gratification without apparent consequence (the next morning, of course, would be different).

The next day we drove two hours north to Beatty, which is five miles west of the ghost town Rhyolite.  Between 1905 and 1911,  the gold-rush town grew to a population of 5,000 and then dropped to nothing.  Financed largely by Charles Schwab, the town in its heyday was highly advanced and sophisticated.  Now, all that stands are a few empty shells of buildings.

The gold dried up in Rhyolite, but its sister town, Beatty, proved to have a much more abundant, important, and reliable resource:  water.  Beatty provided the water for the gold mining town, and when Rhyolite blew away on the sands of time, Beatty stuck around.  It’s still a lonely little town, but it’s full of incredible characters.

A ghost in Rhyolite

Stuck in Beatty with not much to do, we hit the town’s three bars, which had all sorts of locals who welcomed us with arms wide open.  They were a trip and a half, and we made some memories that won’t soon be forgotten:  climbing into an abandoned basement church, wearing a viking helmet, and the urinal whose flushing mechanism was the brake lever of wall-mounted motorcycle handlebars.

See the full gallery here.

Melrose, NM

New Mexico is a state with a population density of 16.2 people per square mile, ranking 45th in the nation.  With a land area of over 121,000 square miles, it boasts huge expanses of unpopulated land, and its geographic diversity lends itself to some incredible natural beauty.

Far from the mountainous northern part of the state, the eastern and southeastern portions make up part of the Llano Estacado, a place so flat and empty that the curvature of the earth is visible.  Many of the communities on these plains tend to be small, with residents enjoying the simple, quiet life under the big blue sky.

The Llano Estacado is oil country.  Derricks dot the landscape, and the refineries fill the air with the heady smell of black gold, their facilities glowing at night against the black sky, punctuating the darkness with pinpricks of light.

It’s also ranch country, where pickup trucks and stetsons abound, and the cattle and antelope graze on the wide open terrain.  Very little rain falls, but when it does, the land is so flat that it pools together in a huge mess of mud.

Melrose is a small community just west of Clovis.  Its claim to fame is as the birthplace of William Hanna, of the famous Hanna Barbara cartoon duo.  West of Melrose, between Clovis and Fort Sumner, is the village of House, with a population of less than 100.  Near House is a large wind farm, with huge turbines spinning swiftly in the wind generated on the open plains.

Old and New Windmills in House, NM

Well south of House and Melrose is Lea County, home to the Lea County Rodeo.  Just near the Texas border, the communities of Hobbs and Lovington feel much more Texan than New Mexican.

Peeling Paint in Melrose, NM

Sunset in Lovington, NM

Fairs in general are an otherwordly experience.  There are the bright lights and tinkling, repetitive sounds of the Midway.  The sickeningly alluring odors of deep fried twinkies, roast turkey legs, funnel cakes, and other things you probably shouldn’t eat but are too intrigued to resist.  Not to mention odors that are just plain sickening without being alluring – overflowing trash bins, port-a-potties, and the livestock yards.

Ah, livestock.  This is one part of the county fair to which I’ve never had much exposure.  Down in Lea County, though, livestock is a way of life.

Lovington is just a few miles away from Texas, and it shows; it feels much more like the Lone Star State than it feels like New Mexico.

See the entire photo gallery here.