Nora off to a play this afternoon with her pals, so Lissa and I threw dog in car and headed for the bosque. With the big clompy brace off of her formerly broken ankle, Lissa is fully mobile again, but the doc said she should avoid cycling for another couple of weeks. (Not the cycling itself, but the getting on and off bits, apparently.) Thing is, as I mentioned yesterday, the fall colors are peaking, so we did a walk instead.

We traipsed up the levee from where Central Ave. crosses the river near Albuquerque's downtown - that's old Route 66 for those interested in Americana. They've spent a lot of time and energy since June clearing out overgrown underbrush in the woods along the river to reduce fire danger, and it's now a lovely open forest of cottonwoods. You can see out to the river from the levee bank. I'd been on a tour with the city open space guy for a story for the paper, but Lissa hadn't been yet, so it made it a learning, informational sort of walk.

It's a beautiful stretch, with moments again and again where the Sandia Mountains (see the top right picture) pop out over the cottonwoods to the east.