Albuquerque's high-tech bathrooms

I am on vacation in New Mexico with my sisters, Joann, Kate and Mary.

Monday night we spent in Albuquerque at a bed and breakfast called Sarabande. It is named after a beautiful rose that grows here. The owners, Janie and Scott, have their kitchen filled with bundles of dried roses.

One of the first things I did after checking in to the B&B was take a bath in a huge whirlpool tub that was in our private apartment. My sister, Mary, took her whirlpool bath first and I got in after she was done. Kate took her bath next, and Joann, who is the oldest, took her bath last. The tub had a shower head that was attached to the bathtub faucet to fill the whirlpool.

When Joann turned the water on in the tub to fill it up, the shower head was loose, and water sprayed all over the bathroom. Joann was screaming to one of us to come and help her. Besides this, Joann didn't know which button to press on the tub to start the whirlpool, as there were three buttons on the tub, and you had to press the start button very lightly to get the jets on the whirlpool to start working.

I had the same problem when I took my bath, but after pressing just about every button in the entire bathroom, I did finally get the jets to turn on. I acted like I was an expert on whirlpools when Joann told me that she didn't know which button to press.

I had trouble with the shower head too, and couldn't figure out how to get the hot water turned on. Mary told me after my bath was over that the hot water was on the right side, not the left. When Kate heard that I had trouble turning the hot water on, she wondered if this place was like England where the hot water runs out in homes and B&B's all the time.

But no, we told her there was plenty of hot water here. Sarabande is a very nice bed and breakfast, but we are a bunch of hicks when it comes to using electronic gadgets like a whirlpool. Well, I am a hick, but Mary, who is the youngest, appears to be the most worldly when it comes to all the gadgets. Joann, who has a PhD is the one that has the hardest time figuring out how any machine works.

I stayed in the bed and breakfast only one night. Tuesday we are heading up to Santa Fe to go hiking on Tent Rocks and then are going to some hot springs. Wednesday we are going to Taos. It is very pretty here. I am only staying four days which is not long enough.

Kate and I didn't arrive in Albuquerque until late Monday afternoon. Mary and Joann had already spent a night together at Sarabande.

Before Kate and I arrived they drove to Acoma Pueblo. This is the oldest settlement in America that still has the same ancient tribe living on it. It was settled in 600 A.D.

The people settled here, one legend says, because the mesa that Acoma is on resembled a piece of corn. About 13 families still reside at Acoma. The only way to see this place is by a guided tour.

Mary and Joann were very impressed with Acoma. Mary, who is my youngest sister, liked the fact that the youngest girl in the Acoma tribe family gets the property and makes the decisions for the family, as she usually lives the longest. Being the youngest of us four sisters, Mary has made some good decisions, like helping Joann and me to understand how to use a whirlpool bathtub.

We are having a great time together. This is a rare treat getting together as Mary lives in Arcata, Calif. and Kate and Joann live in Minneapolis. Sisters are great to have.