A wild horse chase, a stunning school, an epicurean delight and $22 to the good

A picture perfect day took us out on a hunt for wild horses on the San Felipe Indian Reservation north of Albuquerque.

Our hosts, Terry and Susan, drove us on an obscure two-track road through the back country near Rio Rancho. While the wild horses were scarce, we believe we finally saw some as we drove away from the area, we did encounter beautiful wildflowers, a couple small lizards, a hawk and a very docile cow hiding in the shade of a tree.

Terry drove us down an arroyo (dry river bed) and we did a little rock hunting. We also found evidence of sea shell fossils from a long, long time ago when this whole area was part of an ocean.
Following the wild horse hunt we drove back to Rio Rancho and visited the most incredible high school we have ever seen.

The Cleveland High School campus, which is just starting its third year, looks more like a college or university campus with a matching sports stadium to boot.

Incredible views and modern technology and architecture left us hoping that the students at this school truly appreciate the wonderful opportunity they have here.

Our young tour guide, Matt, the son of Susan and Terry, also took us to a spot on an outside window where he knew a Black Widow Spider lives. Joan, ever the science teacher, could barely keep in her excitement at seeing a creature she had only previously read about.

She was also pretty much in awe of this very modern school.

After the school tour we headed back to Terry and Susan’s house for the next adventure of the day, a trip to dinner at Tucano’s, a downtown Albuquerque restaurant.

This was a very interesting dining experience, also a very filling one. Tucano’s offers what can best be described as a continuous meat sampling. Servers with skewers of specially prepared steak, pork, chicken, turkey, fish, baked pineapple, Brazilian sausage and a salad bar that, while nothing to me is “to die for” it certainly was good enough that I would risk serious injury.

As soon as you’d finish one course of meat another server would appear at the table ready to carve a taste of the next featured meat. If you really liked something (my favorite was the baked pineapple and fried Whitefish in a Mango sauce) they would bring you more. Joan particularly liked the chicken hearts, but no one was complaining about any of the offerings.

Terry and Susan enjoyed it enough they booked a reservation for a family meal in about a week.

After dinner we headed to “Old Town” Albuquerque" and Joan found a set of turquoise earrings that she apparently could not live without for $5. The old buildings and stores were fun to see.

Then on our way back to the campground we stopped at Sandia Casino where they were offering $25 in free play by signing up for a Player’s Club card. I chose to play only with the free money and between Joan and I we left $22 to the good, so all-in-all a great night.

Once again, we thank our wonderful hosts here in Rio Rancho for showing us such a good time. Clearly we are going to have to make a return trip to take in more of the sights of New Mexico.