Albuquerque, New Mexico

I wish I could say that the drone of highway traffic noise had a way of lulling me to sleep, but unfortunately it doesn't. Sigh. I also knew that I'd have to get up pretty early to make my way to the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta. So I hit the road at 5 a.m. and the traffic wasn't too backed up, as we all were shuffled into the $15 parking lot. From there we walked to the $10 admissions gate. It was about 5:45 by the time I got into this site, and decided to have breakfast, another $11. It's probably the first time ever that I've spent $36 before 6 a.m. Little by little the balloons started filling up, and before you know it, there were literally dozens, no hundreds, of balloons in the air with thousands of people on the ground. It was almost overwhelming as they were literally within arm's reach blowing up in every direction. There were really happy, colorful and interesting designs and characters such as Star Wars theme Yoda, Darth Vader, and classic cartoon characters for the young ones. By 9am it was done. The balloons were in flight, and most had flown out of sight. I did get one last glimpse of the Rio de Janeiro Jesus statue, as well as the head of Vincent Van Gogh. It was a fun morning.

Just a few short miles from Albuquerque is the Petroglyph National Monument. Its been a while since I have done a hike and decided on the Rinconada Canyon trail. It was a 2.2 mile hike with a view of at least 100 petroglyphs. The weather was actually cool, and partly sunny so it was nice to be able to view the petroglyphs in mostly shade. It felt good to be out in the peaceful wild.

I drove three and a half hours and reached the town of Holbrook, Arizona. There were dramatic moments of hard rain, and bright sun, and the temperature actually got down as low as 46 degrees at one point. Yeah, it's fall here too. What a difference from about 4 days ago, when it was 94 degrees in Oklahoma!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

At home now… from the great 2023 Alaska Road Trip!

Image
​ Jo Jo and I are home, from the trip of a lifetime! 106 days, 11,539 miles, 675 gallons of gasoline, a ton of fun, beautiful views, and amazing experiences. Other than a brief head cold, no other mishaps, except my souvenir windshield chips. The Sylver Gypsy performed wonderfully. She kept me safe and warm. My last days were drive heavy, but I managed a quick stop at Bryce Canyon National Park. My last night was in the Coconino Forest near Flagstaff, where I also made a brief stop at Sunset Crater. I’ll need a few moments to adjust being back to reality, but it’s nice to be home!
Read more

Bryce Canyon National Park, then almost home

Image
​ A great night in the Utah desert, and a rather chilly morning, surprisingly, but I got up and hurried out of there with the intention of getting to Bryce Canyon National Park. I wondered if I would have enough time and decided it was only 20 minutes one-way, out-of-the-way as I continued on my route home. This would be my third time visiting Bryce and I’m so glad I did. As with any National Park, there are some new changes and the Ranger told me that because I’m over 20 feet I would have to park in the main parking lot and take the shuttle bus in to see the viewpoints. She gave me a tag to hang in my window. My heart sank to the bottom, since I know the shuttle buses will not except pets, and I was not willing to leave Jo Jo. However, upon examining the tag, it indicated vehicles over 23 feet to park and shuttle. My Travato is 21 feet. Hmmmm, I was annoyed. So I ignored the directions and went straight to the parking area at the sunrise amphitheater and not only did I see other campe...
Read more

Beaver, UT

Image
​ Well, another day of long driving and just two fill ups, but then I did stop at a place called Rowley’s Red Barn farm market. I wonder why they were so many people and kids and then I realized it was Labor Day. They had so many goodies there I wound up getting a fresh peach, tomato, and corn on the cob, and some apples. Of course, I had to get the chocolate covered caramel popcorn and chocolate covered blueberries, just as a souvenir from leaving the blueberry season in Alaska. Leave it to me to justify all my purchases. I kept driving and driving and got to a dispersed spot in the desert, just nearby Beaver, Utah. The first directions lead me to a very narrow roadway, which I elected not to take. Though further on down the road, about a quarter of a mile, I found a pull out intersecting between two roads and this is where I stayed. Except for a few farm vehicles, it was a restful night and a chilly morning. It’s near the highway full of sage, juniper and rolling mountains. I enjoyed...
Read more