Читать книгу Walking Albuquerque. 30 Tours of the Duke City's Historic Neighborhoods, Ditch Trails, Urban Nature, and Public Art онлайн

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1 THE DOWNTOWN SCENE (AND WHAT’S BEHIND IT)

BOUNDARIES: Broadway Blvd., Gold Ave., 7th St., Lomas Blvd.

DISTANCE: 2 miles

DIFFICULTY: Easy

PARKING: Numerous lots and free street parking north of Central Ave., west of Broadway Blvd.

PUBLIC TRANSIT: Buses 66 and 1618 on Central Ave. at Broadway Blvd. Numerous routes serve the area. Railrunner station is on 1st St. south of Central Ave.

Albuquerque is geographically divided into four quadrants that are officially part of any street address: NE (northeast), NW (northwest), SE (southeast), and SW (southwest). Central Ave. delineates north and south, the BNSF Railway tracks divide east and west. This walk hits all four quadrants, following a route as creative as the area it explores. Inspiration for this walk comes largely from expert wanderer David Ryan, author of the book and blog The Gentle Art of Wandering, who said, “When I walk in cities I hope to find a combination of interesting streets, alleys, paths, stairs, and whatever else is available along the way to make the walk special.” With that in mind I sketched out a route using the alleys, an underpass, and the viaduct; then David and I set out to walk it. As expected we wandered off course, dropped in on businesses where we had no business, talked to strangers, gazed upon murals, waved at security cameras, debated the purpose of seemingly pointless structures, reminisced about what used to be here, took guesses on what might be there in the near future, and generally spent an entire afternoon in awe of everything around us. In these mere 2 miles (an abbreviated version of our meander that day) are enough sites and stories to fill volumes. What follows then are the briefest possible descriptions of 30 or so random things that captured our attention.