Abq Open Spaces: Learning from Arroyo de las Calabacillas

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Michelle Worley here, for Live and Learn New Mexico! (L&LNM). I've blogged about Abq OASIS before. They offer great classes for people over 50, and I've been taking a lot of them. This fall, I'm taking the Abq Walks class. We meet at a different open space/neighborhood each week, learn about the area, and get a good walk in. 

 Today's walk was a little slower, more like a stroll, but that is because we were busy looking at artificial dinosaur bones and miscellaneous artifacts that had been placed into the sides of the Arroyo de las Calabacillas when they shored it up back in 1998 to better deal with flooding issues. 

 The arroyo, where we walked today, runs under Coors Blvd. but you wouldn't know it. I used to live in the area and didn't know about the arroyo and its treasures. 
Dinosaurs in the arroyo
So let's go back to 1998, when Michael Wallace took advantage of the opportunity to make the arroyo project something people could learn from. On each side of the arroyo at Coors, the artist created a provocative view of what Albuquerque's history and prehistory may have been like.
Several elementary schools were brought into his project and once completed, a few things were developed, like an online scavenger hunt and activities that educate kids about ditch danger, to bring kids/schools to the arroyo to see the project and learn from it.

And that seems to be it! Nothing else. At one point, there was talk about writing up a handbook that had more information and could be used for self-guided tours.

That never happened, however, and that's too bad. A handbook would have been helpful today. I think also that signs explaining some of the artist's motivations and historical facts about the arroyo could be set up along the walk.

Of course, I'm thinking -- why don't we do it now, write up a handbook, and get kids involved again? It's never too late. Oh, the things we could learn!

The 2016 balloon fiesta has gotten off to a good start. The photo for today's post is one I took in 2013, when we had just moved to the beautiful North Valley. I'm missing my morning walks with the dogs, watching the balloons go up. But there's a lot to be said for the east mountains, too. It's all good as long as it's New Mexico.

Wishing everyone an amazing day.

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