The inconsistency of good cell reception and internet service has made blogging on the road a challenge. And it’s significantly slowed down the ability to post our adventures in a timely manner. Such is life.

After the excitement of the Balloon Fiesta, we took a quiet afternoon to relax. The next morning, we drove to the Rio Grande Nature Center State Park with our hosts, to walk and run near the Rio Grande River. Not a lot of water or bird activity at the Rio Grande, but plenty of ducks and turtles enjoying the pond near the Visitor Center.

Later in the day, we found ourselves at Kaktus Brewing in Bernalillo. (Interesting cloud formation as we drove along.)

The Balloon Fiesta is a two-week long event, so a couple of days after we attended, we spied a few stray balloons during our morning walk. They actually have designated “balloon chaser” vehicles that drive around the city tracking down those that blow off course. We saw one balloon coming down on a golf course and, sure enough, a balloon chaser pickup truck whizzed by.

On the day we were set to pull out of Albuqueque and head west, I finally captured a few photos of a roadrunner in a nearby arroyo on my last morning walk there.

We’ve definitely been having adventures. And we’ve had our share of non-adventure time, too, of course. The kind that doesn’t usually make the headlines: hours of driving, eating lunch in Walmart parking lots, and trying to figure out our next move. Again, such is life.

We left Albuquerque later that morning, setting our sights on the Grand Canyon and whatever adventures lay beyond.