Casa San Ysidro

Casa San Ysidro is a historic house now owned

by the Albuquerque Museum.



This adobe home was originally built in 1875.
Its most notable history is that it was expanded by

Dr. Ward Alan and his wife, Shirley Minge, who purchased

the property in 1953. They added historic, 

cultural collectible furniture to the house.

In 1996, the property was donated to the Albuquerque Museum.

Tours through this museum property are normally lead by a docent.

Today was an open house day with docents for each room.

One docent is a substitute teacher I have known for awhile.

I enjoyed talking her by the main hallway.We chatted by this window as it was also

a bit warm to be going inside; out of the breeze!

The main building is a courtyard.

There is a hallway inside with a kitchen and few rooms,

but more rooms are along the sides with their doors

into the courtyard.

There is a garden in the middle of the courtyard.

Lanterns hanging along the portal remind me of Josefina's lantern.

We went out the open arch in the back

to the part of the property that has other collected buildings.

We appreciated the hollyhocks!

There is a cover for the wagons that has been recently repaired.

The horno in the back has been used during event days

to bake breads samples.

The building next to the horno has very wide walls!

Mano and matates were used to grind grains for bread flour.

The back property has two log cabins.

The one in the back has an oven, a table, and a shelf

set up like a kitchen.

The docent told the story about the history of people

bathing in tubs where they needed to heat and provide the water.

They did not bathe as often as we do!

The log cabin closer to the main building

had a bed and table for someone like a rancher

caring for animals.

They have a more modern, currently built building for the blacksmith.

It was not open today, but I love the slats in the window

and the display of the adobe bricks.

We walked back into the main courtyard area.

I chatted with another docent,

but it was time for us to go as I had scheduled

 a time to go hang out with a friend.

It was wonderful to be able to walk around

the Casa San Ysidro today and enjoy the summer!

Fish and Bugs

Today was a beautiful day to go to the aquarium.

Autumn volunteered to see the fish at the aquarium.

The entrance to the aquarium has an exhibit area with

the history of fish that were once in the Rio Grande,

and those that are there now.

The bridge with the car shows the location of the bridge over

the Rio Grande near the Bio Park on Central Avenue.

Central was also Route 66, and a main route through Albuquerque.

Autumn enjoyed looking at the sting rays and fish

in the open sting ray tank.

She stood by a window on the side to see what would swim by.

It was very interesting!

Next to this area, there is a slight ramp that goes down.

The remaining tanks have closed off tops.

It also has more areas of darkness.

I was thrilled to find that setting my camera

to the "low light" setting allowed me to take

better pictures of the sea animals.

Autumn was not so thrilled that I could not take

a clear photo of her in the darkness with the tank lights.

We spent some time watching the last tank,

which is known as the shark tank. There are larger

sting rays, fish, and other sea animals in the tank.

We were delighted to finally see the turtle!

Autumn asked if we could spend some time

outside to take more pictures of her.

The individuals who volunteer to operate the model trains

were not there. No model trains were running, so we went to

the next exhibit.

The Bugarium!

There are glass exhibits for smaller bugs near

the entrance of the Bugarium.

Autumn posed by the exhibit that looks more like

Arizona or New Mexico with the side rocks.

The insect that lives here is in the top of the tank.

Do you see the bug that is camouflaged with the leaves?

Autumn posed by the waterfall for another photo.

In the exhibit area up the ramp, there were many families

and children. I mean, what were able to view and photograph

were the larger spiders.

After viewing the Bugarium, we walked around the main

pond in the Botanic Garden.

Autumn saw the frog in the pond water!

Everything is so green!

The statue of two cranes danced in the pond.

The greenhouse was reflected in the pond.

We walked around the sidewalk in front of the greenhouse

to view the other direction we had just come from.

Our last stop was to walk through a fountain area

on the side of the main lawn.

Autumn enjoyed the beautiful flowers!

The weather was warm, so it was time to go home.

Adios! Until we see you again!