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.
The alarm sounded at 4 a.m. The first day of the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta. And we wanted to be there in time for the mass ascension.
We dressed in layers and ventured out into the forty-degree pre-dawn to drive to the local mall where Disney-like lines were forming for the shuttle buses. We had tickets for the 5:30 a.m. shuttle which in reality meant get in line by 5:30, go through a security checkpoint, and board a school bus, eventually.
We finally boarded and joined the crowded route to Balloon Fiesta Park, arriving a bit before 6:30 a.m. It was still dark. When we disembarked, we could see several balloons up in the air already.
The six of us traveled as a pack through the crowds, out onto the field where hundreds of balloons were laid out with their gondola baskets tipped on their sides, in various stages of inflation.
We chose a spot next to one blue and white balloon and watched the process from hook-up to ascension. The heat from the propane blasts felt exceptionally warm and welcomed in the crisp air.
As I tried to figure out a way to organize and share the many, many pictures we took in the chaos between seven and seven-thirty a.m.with a mass ascension of balloons all around us, light dawned. The best way to show how fun and amazing it was, and to replicate some of the chaos, is to throw all the photos at you. Let’s start with the fly-over, just before the mass ascension. Here goes . . .
Had enough yet? Wait! There’s more . . .
It’s hard to wrap your mind around just how big each of these balloons is until you look for the gondola basket hanging below. And there are people in those baskets! If you can, read this post on a full computer or tablet screen to get the best view of all the different balloons.
And in case you need proof we were really there and having fun:
Definitely put the Balloon Fiesta on you bucket list. We’ve checked it off on ours! 🙂
Albuquerque did not disappoint! (If you need to catch up on the beginning of our road trip, check out Part I and Part II.)
When we arrived at Liz’s & Dan’s in Albuquerque, we were immediately immersed in New Mexican culture with Dan’s green chile stew for dinner. A bit spicy for my palette, but perfect for Mark’s. Liz & Dan even gave us a welcome bag! A custom printed canvas bag with Greetings from New Mexico on one side. It’s filled with thoughtful gifts: commemorative Balloon Fiesta pins, guava hand cream, green & red chile olive oils, lip balm, green chile hot chocolate mix, Watermelon Mountain soap, a bumper sticker, an official Balloon Fiesta calendar, Fiesta literature & maps. Everything we never knew we needed.
We pulled the van around and through a gate into their backyard where it stayed for the remainder of our visit. Our friends from North Carolina, Cathy & Don, had arrived the day before and were set up in the one guest bedroom. So our van served as our backyard bedroom.
Our first full day in Albuquerque was a bit laid-back. We all started the day with a walk, or, in Mark’s case, a run. I saw my first roadrunner that morning! (The bird, not Mark.) Of course, I didn’t have my camera, so Liz took a few pics with her phone.
Later, the women went shopping around Albuquerque while the men stuck close to home, relaxing with a few good craft beers.
We stopped at a local market to watch the traditional green chile roasting. The smell of roasting chile is one that permeates the state this time of year. The store was chock-full of spices and chile products. What a tantalizing mix of smells!
After the market, we headed for The Center for Action and Contemplation. Both Cathy and I have read and been inspired by Fr. Richard Rohr who founded the Center. As expected, it was a peaceful, inspiring, yet unassuming place. We bought a few books, checked out the enormous cottonwood tree in the back, then walked the labyrinth at the Center’s former location down the road.
At the end of the day, Dan, originally from Louisiana, served up some gumbo for dinner. He and Liz graciously opened their home to us for laundry, showers, and use of their stove and oven to restock our prepared foods in the van. And we certainly took advantage!
The next day, the day before the Balloon Fiesta, we spent our time hiking Carlito Springs in the Sandia Mountains, visiting the small, touristy town of Madrid (emphasis on the first syllable), and walking along the Sandia Crest at an elevation of 10,678 feet to end the day. Surprisingly, the altitude has not been an issue for us on this trip. My two previous visits to Colorado (Breckenridge and Denver) resulted in massive three-day-long headaches. This time around, we didn’t fly in, so the introduction to the altitude was more gradual. I’ve also been taking — don’t laugh! — chlorophyll. Apparently it’s a thing. It’s supposed to help with oxygenation. Anyway, I’m guessing it’s the combination of these that has helped me acclimate to the mile-high-plus destinations.
Here are a few pics from our hike at Carlito Springs:
And these are some pics from our trip to the eclectic old town of Madrid. Note the hat shop in one of the photos. The owner showed us photos of hats he’d made for Tim McGraw & Faith Hill and the cast of 1883. And he’d just finished one for Beyonce. The hats were cool! But he didn’t have a single one to sell because he was so behind on all his orders.
Lastly, our drive up the mountain and our walk on the Sandia Crest:
We slept well after such an active day, but we were up early the next morning to catch a 5:30 am shuttle bus to the Balloon Fiesta. I don’t mean to disappoint anyone, but the Fiesta deserves it’s own post. So, I’ll leave you to anticipate those photos and hope that I can bring a bit of the Fiesta magic to you, wherever you may be reading . . .
In case anyone’s been wondering, we did make it to Albuquerque. If you need to catch up on the first leg of our trip, you can find it in Part I. We left off with our stay at Labaddie Brewing in Labadie, Missouri, after a visit to the Gateway Arch in St. Louis.
The next day was mostly a driving day, although we stopped at Shaw Nature Reserve in Gray Summit, Missouri, for a morning walk/run.
That night we stayed at the Joplin, Missouri, KOA (Kampgrounds of America). In the morning, Mark ran and I walked loops around the campground before we got on the road. We also had to deal with a cooler leak before we left. This one wasn’t as bad as the leak that happened on our previous trip because we learned to store everything in plastic bins this time. Still, we had some mopping up to do.
As you can see from this photo, the campground was mostly gray dusty gravel that was roused into clouds of gray dust in the morning by a small tractor-pulled rake. It took days to get the dust out of our shoes!
Another long day of driving followed. We entered Oklahoma and landed at our Harvest Hosts destination just after 4 pm: The Stafford Air & Space Museum in Weatherford. We had enough time, or so we thought, to tour the museum before the 5 pm closing time. We were wrong. The museum is named in honor of Weatherford’s hometown hero, Lt. General Thomas P. Stafford, who flew on both Gemini and Apollo missiions with NASA. The museum documents the history of flight with loads of fascinating exhibits and artifacts. We didn’t even get through half of it before closing time.
Out in the parking lot, we were one of two camping vehicles staying the night. We pulled out the Weber grill and Mark grilled some chicken for dinner. The temperature was still fairly warm, so we took a walk through the cute little neighborhood behind the parking lot after dinner. Small neat houses lined wide streets with Hallmark-movie street names like Hayride, Harvest, Cloud Nine, Pumpkin, and Falling Leaves.
The next morning we made a pit stop at the local Walmart and headed west to Arizona by way of Amarillo, Texas. We’d found a Nature Reserve in Amarillo online that looked like a nice place to walk and run. Their website warned of a road closure and gave directions on how to reach their entrance. But road work popped up in every direction we tried to turn in Amarillo. So frustrating! We drove in circles and couldn’t get near the Reserve. We gave up. Our destination for the evening was Tucumcari, New Mexico, so we set our sights on that and left Amarillo behind.
The scenery (and stopping to grab lunch) helped to soothe the frustration. Lots of open land, cows, and wind turbines along the way. Central Time zone gave way to Mountain Time, so we arrived at the Tucumcari/ Route 66 KOA campground in early afternoon.
It was early enough that we thought we’d roll out the awning to shade the sliding door side of the van. The sun was intense. But so was the wind. We took the awning down after ten minutes of strong wind gusts. Mark went out for a run, instead, doing 6.6 miles on route 66 in Tucumcari.
The temperature dropped overnight and at 5 am, with the temp inside the van at 57 degrees, we decided to put the heat on. Our first (chilly) New Mexico sunrise:
We left the campground mid-morning and headed toward Santa Fe. Our friends in Albuquerque were out on a day trip to Sevilleta and wouldn’t be home until late afternoon, so they recommended Santa Fe and the Randall Davey Audubon Center & Sanctuary for us. We enjoyed another scenic drive along the way — so different from New England landscapes. Freight trains with what looked like a hundred cars became a common sighting, as well.
The Audubon Center turned out to be a gem! Beautiful views, trails, hummingbirds, artists at work, and more. I walked around, birdwatching and taking photos, while Mark ran on one of the trails.
Our Albuquerque friends texted us when they were on their way back home, but we almost didn’t want to leave the Audubon Center—it was so beautiful. Reluctantly, we did. And we arrived in Albuquerque just in time for green chile stew for dinner!
There’s so much more to say, but it’s taken so long to get this post done due to poor cell phone and wi-fi reception that I’ll stop here and fill you in on our Albuquerque adventures in my next post. Meanwhile, we continue to meet all sorts of people and see some amazing natural and human-made wonders.
Chapter 3 