Laura Warden

What's NMQHA, you ask?

The New Mexico Quarter Horse Association!

And they'll be hosting one of their amazing Quarter Horse Shows at Expo New Mexico (on the New Mexico State Fair Grounds in Albuquerque, NM) this weekend, July 9-12, 2009

Not an equestrian? So what! Come on out and watch; you'll love the show!

It's always fascinating to watch these equine athletes and their riders perform in wide-ranging disciplines. You'll see true cowboy events like team roping, western show classes, speed events like barrel racing, English showmanship and hunter/jumper classes, and so much more. Come on out and check out these wonderful New Mexico horses and watch them perform this weekend!

Warning: watching this show may be hazardous to your status as a non-equestrian!

Just click for more New Mexico horse resources and information.

A few days ago I posted a blog about the unusual fact that my most visited virtual tour was of the mall (see http://activerain.com/blogsview/1136956/my-most-popular-virtual-tour-the-mall-)

When I looked at the stats for all my virtual tours, I noticed something even odder: one of our Albuquerque Malls was far more popular than another with virtual visitors!

Coronado Mall, my "most visited" virtual tour, had been viewed by 1263 visitors. That was more than 50% more visits than the competing Cottonwood Mall, located on Albuquerque's West Side, which had only 712 visits.

Cottonwood Mall wasn't even the "second most popular" virtual tour; that honor belonged to the tour of the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta (which I would have pegged to be the top attraction, tour-wise myself.)

So what made one virtual tour more popular than the other? Until viewing the tour, non-Albuquerqueans wouldn't even have known the location of one vs. the other.

Is it something in the immediate look of the tour? Compare the two, and let me know if you notice one having better shopping "curb appeal" than the other:

Coronado Mall Tour:

Cottonwood Mall Tour:

And by the way, there's a definite pattern-- more web visitors looked at my "Albuquerque attractions and events" than looked at my property virtual tours, so maybe it's a good idea to get good community virtual tours up on the web!

Thought it might be fun to start a new series of posts asking readers to turn detective and identify the subject and location of a photo.

Here's the first in the series. I'll give you a hint--- it was taken somewhere in New Mexico!

Two questions for you sleuths out there:

1. What the heck is it?
2. Where was the photo taken?

Here's the photo:

Anyone else want to play? We could start a new group for photo detectives!

You've got no excuse to be a sour stay-at-home this 4th of July in and around Albuquerque, NM--- there's plenty to do, and plenty of venues for a super-fabulous fireworks display!

• Check out an "American-as-apple-pie" ballgame at Albuquerque's Isotopes Park. The Isotopes will take on the New Orleans Zephyrs at 7:15, and then follow up the game with an outstanding fireworks display.
• Or you could enjoy "Freedom Fourth" at Albuquerque's Balloon Fiesta Park. Admission is just $2 for adults, kids 12 and under free, and the afternoon and evening will be full of entertainment, with food vendors, a beer garden, and loads of family activities. Entertainers include South by Southwest at 4:00 p.m., Savor at 5:15, Redline 7000 at 6:15, and The Blues Brothers Revue at 7:45. At 9:30, enjoy a breathtaking fireworks display choreographed to music!
• Half an hour east of Albuquerque, Moriarty, New Mexico will be holding its "Star Spangled 4th of July" celebration that includes a rodeo, parade, dance, and fireworks.
• Rio Rancho, NM will start celebrations with a parade at 10:00 am. Families are encouraged to participate by riding decorated bicycles, with prizes awarded for best decorated, most patriotic, and most original entries. Following the parade, Rio Rancho will hold a ceremony marking the 233 anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. In the afternoon, Loma Colorado Park will be the scene of live musical entertainment, chilcren's activities, and food. A fireworks show that is promised to be "one of the state's biggest and best" will begin about 9:30.
• South of Albuquerque? Los Lunas, NM will be holding a 4th of July celebration that begins with a parade at 9:00 a.m., and includes afternoon entertainment at Daniel Fernandez Park. There will also be a Home Run Derby at 5:00 and a men's softball game at 6:30, and of course, a firworks display at night!

So get out and celebrate Freedom on the Fourth!

....................................................................................................................................................

For more information about Albuquerque and the small towns and rural areas of central New Mexico, visit my website, www.LauraWarden.com, or call or email me any time at (505)239-4796 or nmbroker@earthlink.net.

A recent trip to the Albuquerque Rio Grande Zoo took me back-- way back, to childhood and memories of trips to that same zoo when I was just "knee-high to a grasshopper."

Some of my fondest zoo memories were still present and accounted for:

• The urge to jump right in the water with the seals, who always look like they're having so much fun
• A tremendous yen, big as I am now, to indulge once again in the "camel ride."
• The futility of trying desperately to spot some of the well-camouflaged denizens whose cage labels tantalizingly promised a view of an exotic creature that really just didn't seem to be present.
• The mental calculation of a cheetah's likely jumping range vs. the height of the wall they'd have to scale in order to "get us" still leads me to conclude that those cheetahs could have "Laura lunch" if they really felt motivated!
• The amazement at how like us the great apes are, and the sadness at seeing them confined to the boredom of a caged life

I must admit, though, a few of the exhibits just didn't have quite the same effect they once had on the toddler Laura:

1. I just couldn't feel that same frisson of fear in looking at the big snakes; their somnolent behavior is just to stultifying now, or maybe somewhere along the line I've gotten over the infant's instinctive fear of reptiles.
2. The elephants just don't look as amazingly HUGE as they once did, darn it! (Maybe it's because my size has gradually more and more approached theirs as middle age set in???)

Still, my little zoo trip down memory lane was very enjoyable. I'm glad to have gone recently, and even gladder to have had the experience in those long ago days...

Parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, if your small fry haven't had a chance to make some zoo memories for themselves yet, maybe this virtual tour will spur you to get them out there!

For more information about Albuquerque homes or relocation, visit my Albuquerque real estate website any time. Or just email nmbroker@earthlink.net, or give me a call at (505)239-4796.

Laura Warden, Choices Real Estate