And then I was here – back in Albuquerque, where my education was made more educated. It’s a quiet city, and a bit tired.
First stop: the National Museum of Nuclear Science and History, a celebration of the power atomic.
New Mexican food is delicious. (It’s not Mexican; it’s not Tex-Mex; it’s it’s own thing.) Pretty much everywhere I went, the green chili stew and the green chili, made with Hatch green chilis, was a winner.
Enchiladas and stuffed sopapillas at Los Cuates. 
Thicc Pizza at the 505 Central Food Hall in Downtown. That burned cheese on the edges IS as good as it looks. 
Blake’s – one of the places go to get a cheeseburger with green chiles. 
Even McDonald’s puts green chiles on their burgers. We had to do a taste comparison! Blake’s won quite handily, but their burgers do cost three times as much.
Albuquerque has its fair share of young, nubile, eager distilleries for the thirsty traveler to suckle from.
Still Spirits has a chill, open air vibe … 
… with a very tranquil and well-designed interior. 
And their vodka and gin alone are fine, but I’d say come here for the flips. 
Hollow Spirits Distillery gets points for their mosaic. 
The spirits were fine – the distillery’s just too young to really make good whiskey. 
Albuquerque Distilling makes that rarest of things – an American single malt that I actually wanted to drink! 
Check out those generous flight pours at AD. 
I enjoyed the first flight at AD so much I got a second so I could try their brandies … sadly, these tasted rather like cheap booze and did not live up to the standard set by their whiskeys. 
Safe House Distilling was worth a popover … 
… but nothing special. 
And a shout out to Downtown Distillery – now closed, which Google didn’t seem to know but time sure did.
Rounding out our trip, we went to Old Town to check out the American International Rattlesnake Museum. This near-oxymoronic edifice has a fascinating collection of live rattlesnakes and other critters.
