Ned and Steve's Visit to Salt Lake City
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Day 1:
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| Sandia Crest is the peak of the Sandia Mountains, one mile above the surrounding plains, and two miles above sea level. From the crest you can see in all directions, 100 miles on a clear day. The Sandia Mountains were created by a geologic uplift. The Eastern Slope is heavily forested, while the Western Slope is craggy, dry, and cliff-like. The rosy colored granite of the western face turns crimson when the setting sun reflects on it. Early Spanish settlers named the mountain Sandia, Spanish for watermelon, because of the color. At the foot of the Sandia Mountains, the city of Albuquerque spreads out across the Rio Grande river valley. A line of extinct volcanoes dots the western horizon, and on a clear day, visitors can see Mount Taylor, 11,301 feet above sea level. | ||
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Old Town at Night - Albuquerque, NM
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A good place for dinner! |
Albuquerque was founded in 1709 as Villa de Alburquerque. The Old Town area is where the first village stood. The old town was founded in 1706 by Don Francisco Cuervo y Valdés, the governor of New Mexico, and named after the Duke of Alburquerque, the viceroy of New Spain. Today, the Greater Metropolitan Albuquerque area has a population of about 753,988 people with a median age of 32-33 years. The word Albuquerque comes from the Latin words "albus" and "quercus", meaning "white oak". The first "r" in the city's name was discarded over time. The original town of Alburquerque (notice the different spelling) is in western Spain near Portugal and has a population of about 8,000. |
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