leave the world behind

The title is a reference to a sign on the Knockouts Gentlemen’s Club building in downtown Albuquerque. I’m pretty sure we saw some of the strippers smoking outside, but all the girls I saw last night were dressed like strippers so I can’t be sure.

This city is totally stuck in a different decade, but in the most awesome way. We saw a bus stop decorated like the background of this Saved by the Bell DVD case I saw once. And there’s an underpass leading downtown that has flashing green, red, purple, blue, etc. lights. Lindsay was like, “If we were on acid…”

I guess we stand out, somehow, because pretty much everyone we’ve talked to asks if we’re from here, or “You’re not from here, are you?” We couldn’t really figure out why, but then some Bulgarian dude named Emile at the bar befriended us because apparently we are fellow hipsters, and we realized that what is probably borderline-hipster in Calgary is straight-up hipster in Albuquerque. Even the hipsters don’t look like hipsters.