In March, I embarked on a three-week road trip from New York to Phoenix, Arizona. I met my son, and we then flew to Los Angeles to see Wrestlemania 39! Honestly, Wrestlemania was one of the best things I’ve ever done, and sharing the premiere event with my son was incredible. It took me weeks to plan this road trip, but I knew that one of my stops would be Albuquerque to visit the Breaking Bad Store.
I am a huge Breaking Bad fan. It is one of the best-written shows on television in the last 20 years. I remember when my son first told me about it. It typically isn’t the type of show I would get into on my own, but he said, “Mom, get through the first episode. Trust me. You’ll be hooked.” He was so right.
A few years ago, I had the pleasure of interviewing the owners of the Breaking Bad Tours for the Reel Travels podcast. The tour sounds wonderful, but it’s three hours, and I was on a short visit through town. Unfortunately, I put that tour on the back burner until the next time I was in town. I would still highly recommend it to any Breaking Bad fan.
Breaking Bad Store AND Museum!
But if you only have a short time to visit Albuquerque, you must go to the Breaking Bad Store. Now here’s the catch. I did not know that this store also had a Breaking Bad museum in the back!!!! You should have seen me when I went through this doorway! It lead to so much of the memorabilia from the show — costumes, props, artwork, etc. I was so excited! (You can’t buy any of the memorabilia, but there are many photo ops.) My visit went from a quick run-in to buy a souvenir to more than an hour’s visit because I was looking through all of the stuff they had. Don’t get me wrong. I still bought many, many, many souvenirs. LOL
Above is a photo of various wardrobes they have on display, and I’m sure that you recognize the shirt and underwear from the pilot episode (I didn’t ask, but I read that someone paid $10,000 for the original underwear and this shirt looks slightly different than the pictures I see from the show, but they have other costumes that are marked with authenticity numbers).
I realized that I didn’t take as many photos as I wanted — I took many videos! So I will be posting the videos on my Instagram for my website, The Virgin Traveler.
Here are some of the photos I took. First up, I sat on the Better Call Saul ad bench (call me!). Next, there is a photo opp in Hector Salamanca’s wheelchair and you can step behind a mock Los Pollos Hermanos counter! Or visit the real Twisters in Albuquerque like I did, which stood as Los Pollos Hermanos in the show (keep scrolling).
Souvenir City
I left with some of the famous products made by Walter and Jesse (which is really just peppermint candy). I also bought the store’s candy version of what they call “crack,” which is just yummy popped cheese snacks. My haul also included two drinking glasses (one for my son), the Jesse ‘bitch’ notebook, and even a Walter White Christmas ornament. LOL I don’t know why I bought a Walter White Christmas ornament, but I did and it will go on my tree this year.
After a long time visiting this store (and a shout out to the really sweet owners, Ed Candelaria and Marq Smith, who I had a chance to talk to and tell them about my blogs), I went to Twisters, which is home to Breaking Bad’s Los Pollos Hermanos. Keep in mind if you visit, there are a couple of locations, so make sure you go to the right one on Coors Rd SW. Here I am, and don’t mind the hair. It was a very windy day.
I tried one of their delicious burritos, but I have to admit, it had too much of a kick for me to finish (Ej gladly finished it for me). Once I was done here, there was time for one more stop, and it had something to do with pizza.
Walter White’s House
Remember, it’s a windy day! Oh, that hair! I also want to say that the pizza in my hands was added in digitally by my daughter. I didn’t have a pizza and no pizzas were thrown in the making of this photo. If you’re not a Breaking Bad fan, the pizza refers to a scene in the series where Walter throws a pizza on top of his roof. Check it out here (Bryan Cranston did that on the first take!). Walter White’s house is not too much farther away. It’s readily available on the internet, but I’m not posting it here. The homeowners are nice enough to allow people to come by and take photos, but there are some stipulations. First, there is a sign out front asking fans to stand across the street and take their photos. If their garage door is open, there is a cover over their license plate. Have respect for these people, please. Don’t go closer than across the street. You will get a good shot.
I had so much fun visiting these three places, but I also know there is so much more to see as a Breaking Bad fan, including the car wash and Jesse’s home, but I had to get on my way and get to Phoenix to see my son!
