Albuquerque greetings, with a side of head tingling, green chile fudge and Rio Grande susnet

It's exactly 5 a.m., which is pretty typical for my atypical sleep patterns while traveling, especially so on this 38th birthday trip. So far, Albuquerque has been wonderful, not just for the sun and the sights, but for the people, who have gone out of their way to be kind to me, so much so I've even been invited back in May by a new friend, a lifelong resident who was kind enough to show me around. I am looking forward to tonight's erotica writing worskhop at the outstanding Self Serve, which I got to check out the other day while taking a walk and stumbling across it. I bought some cards, which are part of what keeps my relationship alive while I'm traveling, and am looking forward to teaching surrounded by sex toys. I was quite tickled and amused to see my name in the subject line of their recent email along with their head tingler sale:



Plus they stock lots of my books:



I was impressed by the bus system - I had walked and taken the bus (only $1) there from the Anderson Abruzzo International Balloon Museum, which was small and a bit out of the way but interesting, where I got to see things like the following, and it made me want to ride in a balloon, though that'll probably have to wait until my next trip (as, most likely, will the tram, so good thing I'm planning to return!):









I've been wanting to check out The Candy Lady since reading Samira Kawash's book Candy: A Century of Panic and Pleasure (she is also known as the Candy Professor, which is one of the best website names I've heard). Well, Candy Lady did not disappoint in any way. I tried green chile fudge, ate a piece each of almond toffee and dark chocolate covered peach, dried apricot and dried pineapple and sent some fudge home to my guy. If you are in Old Town, I definitely recommend checking them out:



I'm enjoying this issue of Albuquerque the Magazine and was pleased to see I'd already tried one place on their must-eat nachos list, Little Anita's. HOping to sneak in a few more while I'm here. One of the best things I've eaten was the green chile cheese fries at Gecko's. Delicious!



Something I didn't try but nonetheless admired were the fall leaf cookies at Flying Star Cafe:



And lastly, that sunset on the Rio Grande, where we took a lovely walk and I learned that the Sandia Mountains are named that for the Spanish word for watermelon, sandia, since the sky turns lovely shades of pink and red.