We were up way before John had to get up to go to work so we got a coffee and pastry at the hotel before we picked him up to take him to work. We had our real breakfast at Google. After breakfast, Jerry and I went to see some redwoods at a state park on the way to the coast. They are such awesome trees!!! We were both a bit surprised at the price of a trail map....$3 for an 11 x 14 piece of paper!
After trekking through the redwoods for a while, we headed on over to the coast. It was kind of a misty, overcast day so we did not get the sunlight on the water. John had given us his GPS so we could find our way. He had programmed it with a male voice and named it Jack. Well, Jack sometimes didn't know Jack! At one point Jack took us the long way and at another point, he took us a "scenic" route through a town (we wound up making a loop from the highway we were on, left on one street, then 2 right turns right back to where we had been! The good thing about 'Jack' is that he doesn't talk back. If you don't do what he says, he says "recalculating". He had to do that a lot with us because we would either turn around to go back to a gas station or lookout point but there were many times when he should have said, "I TOLD you to go THIS way!" It was kind of fun and a lot of times handy to have, but it could also be distracting for the driver.
We were picking John up from work about 6:30, so we headed back to the hotel and arrived there about 5:00 p.m., crashed for a bit then went to get John. Had dinner with him then back to hotel.
Thursday, October 25, 2007
10-15-07 Monday
We were pretty much packed last nite so up early this a.m. and downstairs for our breakfast. Left for airport about 9 a.m. and after following some misguided information we finally got there. Jerry dropped me at the gate and he turned in the car. Arrived San Jose about 2:15 or so. John had been waiting a while and we actually walked right past him, but he caught up with us in the baggage claim area.
We went to get our car and almost had a confrontation in the parking lot w/ one of the car rental employees, but we finally got where we needed to be and got our car. John had to go back to work for a bit so we went on to the motel and got ourselves checked in. John called when he left work and we went to a sports bar in Palo Alto to watch the football game and got the bonus of watching the baseball playoff games as well. It was crowded and noisy, but the food was good. Susan came by for a bit and it was good to see her. We were more than ready for bed tonite. Won't post any pix today as I did not take any so will move right along.
We went to get our car and almost had a confrontation in the parking lot w/ one of the car rental employees, but we finally got where we needed to be and got our car. John had to go back to work for a bit so we went on to the motel and got ourselves checked in. John called when he left work and we went to a sports bar in Palo Alto to watch the football game and got the bonus of watching the baseball playoff games as well. It was crowded and noisy, but the food was good. Susan came by for a bit and it was good to see her. We were more than ready for bed tonite. Won't post any pix today as I did not take any so will move right along.
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
10-14-07 Sunday
Can't believe the week has gone so fast! This is the day that seemed so far away just 9 days ago. At the same time, our trip to the Petrified Forest and Painted Desert seems eons ago as well. Funny how time does that. Of course we crammed so much into this trip and stayed so busy that I know that is part of the reason as well. Had decided to leave for the airport about 7:00 so we were downstairs again for breakfast about 6:15. Carol and Annie checked out and we loaded their luggage and headed for the airport. Jerry and I will be staying another night as our flight to CA is not until tomorrow and we could not get it changed.
We were able to get Carol checked in on line but for some reason, Annie had to go through check in. They opted to do that outside and with Southwest, it is pretty painless. We did even get a glimpse of the balloons from the parking lot while we were waiting for them to get checked in. There was one last farewell mass ascension this a.m. We said our good byes and they made it through security so we headed out to do our thing today. We had checked maps to see if there was someplace new we could go but did not want to drive 4-5 hours to get there so we decided to return to Bandelier. Jerry had looked at a map and found an alternate route over a dirt/gravel road through some back country and....you know us...that always seems like a good idea so we went for it.
That is when the adventures began!!!! We had done 2 other gravel/dirt roads that I think I mentioned earlier in the blog and they were pretty good roads, especially since we were able to avoid rain on the one we were really concerned about. Well, what is that saying about "third time's a charm???" This road.......well, it was an adventure to say the least! As we started out we noticed another national monument - Tent Rocks to be exact that was just off the hightway we were taking so we kind of detoured there for a bit. It was interesting rock formations that were cone shaped and many of them still had boulders on top of them. The geology here owes it uniqueness to volcanoes and erosion. There was a HUGE volcanic eruption millions of years ago that spewed ash as much as 1000' thick over a very large area. Through time this ash has eroded and the erosion patterns here have created these unique tent shaped spires. They are know also as white rocks because of the color of the rock...they are not the red rock that is so common out west. Very interesting shapes indeed. We walked on a trail for a short while and saw some of the formations and I thought it was very interesting. Jerry did not want to spend much time here as he wanted get on to Bandelier so it was a quick visit.
After Tent Rocks we got back on the road and missed the turn for the road that would take us up to Hwy. 4 and Bandelier. After we backtracked a bit, we got on the road and this is where things began to get interesting. It was very rough. Fortunately we were driving a Toyota Highlander SUV and it had 4 wheel drive. As we bounced down the road, we met a truck coming in the opposite direction. Jerry flagged him down and he assured us we could get through in our vehicle. The scenery was spectacular and the fall colors were gorgeous. There were bright yellows of aspen and cottonwoods, rusts, reds and russets of oaks and the green of the junipers and pines. The guy in the truck said that this first 2-3 miles of the road was the roughest and then it improved. Well, it did for a while, then we found ourselves driving over solid rock which was VERY rough and Jerry was getting a bit worried I think. But we took it slow and there were other cars on the road so we did not feel alone. At one point we pulled off at a place where there was a gorgeous view and obviously a popular place for campfires, camping, etc. (I will post a picture taken from there as well as one from the road...just to give you an idea). We FINALLY made it to HWY 4 and then on to Bandelier.
Since we had seen the first cluster of cliff dwellings on our earlier visit with Annie and Carol, we walked on the trail past those and on to Long House. Bandelier is a very interesting place to visit. Consulting our trail map there was another ceremonial house 1/2 mile down a trail that followed the creek. We had seen signs at the ranger station/visitor center warning of a bear in the area. As we walked down the trail, everyone coming the other way told us the bear was very visible and close to the trail and to be on the lookout. As we continued down the trail, we kind of caught up with a younger couple who were celebrating their anniversary by coming to Santa Fe. About that time we spotted the bear in the distance off to the side of the trail. The guy was ready to turn and run and was not going to continue on to Alcove House. I was ready to return with him because according to the trail info, Alcove House is a bit difficult to get to - not recommended for those leery of heights....ME!!!! His wife was ready to continue as was Jerry of course, but for the moment we decided to see what the bear was doing. He started lumbering down the trail towards us and we had to really persuade the guy with us not to take off and run which is the worst thing you can do....don't want to look like prey! We convinced him that we needed to stay together and look REALLY BIG! At this time he (was about 150' from us and went to the left of the trail and climbed a tree and was out of sight - but that did not last long. He came down out of that tree, crossed the trail and wandered through the bushes looking for something to eat. The only problem with this was that he was still coming in our direction and decided the trail was the easiest route to get to us so here he is loping down the trail right at us. I got a picture of that, but as my heart was pounding that is the only picture I got of him. We were sort of frozen in place. He got to a stand of pine trees just ahead of us on the trail and proceeded to climb them. At this point he was maybe 20 feet from us. I had a good look at him through the trunks of the trees, but as I was focusing my camera he started down the tree and I reminded everyone that this would probably be a good time to SCREAM!!!!! Those were the instructions posted all over AK and Canada this summer....make yourself look big and make lots of noise to let the bear know where you are so you don't surprise him. Well, as we are still around to tell the tale, the screaming worked. We made all sorts of loud noises and yelling, etc. and he took off through the bushes. We stood and watched him to be sure he stayed on the other side of the stream and he did. A couple of guys from some foreign country said they had seen him but did not know what to do and then they heard us making noise. Close encounter of the scary kind. A very obvious way to get your heart rate up!!!! It worked - mine was pounding!
Thrills and chills of a different sort awaited us when we arrived at Alcove House (the end of the trail). You access this site by climbing pole ladders that are anchored to the cliff face. Well, Alcove House is 140' almost straight up. There are 5 ladders! The first ladder had 35-40 rungs and it looked like it went forever. There were three more like that and then one shorter one. I made all of them and when we got to the top, there was a kiva type place with a pole ladder descending into the kiva. Fortunately this ladder was only about 8 rungs so I went down into that and it was kind of cool. The hard part was going back down. Getting started was the WORST!!!! Until you got down about 2-3 rungs, there was nothing to really grip...you had to hang on to the large upright poles and they were too large to grip your hands around so it was a bit insecure. Of course you kind of had to look down as well to see where to position your feet.....yuck! However, I made it and my arms were trembling when it was over. Back down the trail we went, keeping a sharp eye out for the bear, but he was nowhere to be seen on the return trip fortunately. He was a rather large bear...Jerry was guessing 300-400 lbs. - he looked bigger than that when he was coming at us on the trail. When I told the rangers about him they did not seem too concerned and they did remind me that he is fattening himself up for a long winter's nap. After all that excitement, I was glad to get inside the car and get back on the road. The road back was highway all the way....no backroads back to Albuquerque this afternoon!!!! We had dinner reservations at High Finance Restaurant on top of Sandia Peak at 6:30. We made a quick trip back by the hotel to get out of our dusty trail jeans and then headed to catch the tram up the mountain. We had a good evening sky - very windy and cold on top....we were there early so we kind of walked through the museum part where you catch the tram to go back down and then went for a drink at the bar while we waited for our table and missed the actual sunset. I did get a good pix of the evening sky with the sun behind some clouds. Also got some pix of Albuquerque at night. Back down and back to the tram for our last night in ALB.
Since our flight out is in the morning, we spent the rest of the evening back at the hotel packing and going through all the stuff we had accumulated after 10 days of travel.
We were able to get Carol checked in on line but for some reason, Annie had to go through check in. They opted to do that outside and with Southwest, it is pretty painless. We did even get a glimpse of the balloons from the parking lot while we were waiting for them to get checked in. There was one last farewell mass ascension this a.m. We said our good byes and they made it through security so we headed out to do our thing today. We had checked maps to see if there was someplace new we could go but did not want to drive 4-5 hours to get there so we decided to return to Bandelier. Jerry had looked at a map and found an alternate route over a dirt/gravel road through some back country and....you know us...that always seems like a good idea so we went for it.
That is when the adventures began!!!! We had done 2 other gravel/dirt roads that I think I mentioned earlier in the blog and they were pretty good roads, especially since we were able to avoid rain on the one we were really concerned about. Well, what is that saying about "third time's a charm???" This road.......well, it was an adventure to say the least! As we started out we noticed another national monument - Tent Rocks to be exact that was just off the hightway we were taking so we kind of detoured there for a bit. It was interesting rock formations that were cone shaped and many of them still had boulders on top of them. The geology here owes it uniqueness to volcanoes and erosion. There was a HUGE volcanic eruption millions of years ago that spewed ash as much as 1000' thick over a very large area. Through time this ash has eroded and the erosion patterns here have created these unique tent shaped spires. They are know also as white rocks because of the color of the rock...they are not the red rock that is so common out west. Very interesting shapes indeed. We walked on a trail for a short while and saw some of the formations and I thought it was very interesting. Jerry did not want to spend much time here as he wanted get on to Bandelier so it was a quick visit.
After Tent Rocks we got back on the road and missed the turn for the road that would take us up to Hwy. 4 and Bandelier. After we backtracked a bit, we got on the road and this is where things began to get interesting. It was very rough. Fortunately we were driving a Toyota Highlander SUV and it had 4 wheel drive. As we bounced down the road, we met a truck coming in the opposite direction. Jerry flagged him down and he assured us we could get through in our vehicle. The scenery was spectacular and the fall colors were gorgeous. There were bright yellows of aspen and cottonwoods, rusts, reds and russets of oaks and the green of the junipers and pines. The guy in the truck said that this first 2-3 miles of the road was the roughest and then it improved. Well, it did for a while, then we found ourselves driving over solid rock which was VERY rough and Jerry was getting a bit worried I think. But we took it slow and there were other cars on the road so we did not feel alone. At one point we pulled off at a place where there was a gorgeous view and obviously a popular place for campfires, camping, etc. (I will post a picture taken from there as well as one from the road...just to give you an idea). We FINALLY made it to HWY 4 and then on to Bandelier.
Since we had seen the first cluster of cliff dwellings on our earlier visit with Annie and Carol, we walked on the trail past those and on to Long House. Bandelier is a very interesting place to visit. Consulting our trail map there was another ceremonial house 1/2 mile down a trail that followed the creek. We had seen signs at the ranger station/visitor center warning of a bear in the area. As we walked down the trail, everyone coming the other way told us the bear was very visible and close to the trail and to be on the lookout. As we continued down the trail, we kind of caught up with a younger couple who were celebrating their anniversary by coming to Santa Fe. About that time we spotted the bear in the distance off to the side of the trail. The guy was ready to turn and run and was not going to continue on to Alcove House. I was ready to return with him because according to the trail info, Alcove House is a bit difficult to get to - not recommended for those leery of heights....ME!!!! His wife was ready to continue as was Jerry of course, but for the moment we decided to see what the bear was doing. He started lumbering down the trail towards us and we had to really persuade the guy with us not to take off and run which is the worst thing you can do....don't want to look like prey! We convinced him that we needed to stay together and look REALLY BIG! At this time he (was about 150' from us and went to the left of the trail and climbed a tree and was out of sight - but that did not last long. He came down out of that tree, crossed the trail and wandered through the bushes looking for something to eat. The only problem with this was that he was still coming in our direction and decided the trail was the easiest route to get to us so here he is loping down the trail right at us. I got a picture of that, but as my heart was pounding that is the only picture I got of him. We were sort of frozen in place. He got to a stand of pine trees just ahead of us on the trail and proceeded to climb them. At this point he was maybe 20 feet from us. I had a good look at him through the trunks of the trees, but as I was focusing my camera he started down the tree and I reminded everyone that this would probably be a good time to SCREAM!!!!! Those were the instructions posted all over AK and Canada this summer....make yourself look big and make lots of noise to let the bear know where you are so you don't surprise him. Well, as we are still around to tell the tale, the screaming worked. We made all sorts of loud noises and yelling, etc. and he took off through the bushes. We stood and watched him to be sure he stayed on the other side of the stream and he did. A couple of guys from some foreign country said they had seen him but did not know what to do and then they heard us making noise. Close encounter of the scary kind. A very obvious way to get your heart rate up!!!! It worked - mine was pounding!
Thrills and chills of a different sort awaited us when we arrived at Alcove House (the end of the trail). You access this site by climbing pole ladders that are anchored to the cliff face. Well, Alcove House is 140' almost straight up. There are 5 ladders! The first ladder had 35-40 rungs and it looked like it went forever. There were three more like that and then one shorter one. I made all of them and when we got to the top, there was a kiva type place with a pole ladder descending into the kiva. Fortunately this ladder was only about 8 rungs so I went down into that and it was kind of cool. The hard part was going back down. Getting started was the WORST!!!! Until you got down about 2-3 rungs, there was nothing to really grip...you had to hang on to the large upright poles and they were too large to grip your hands around so it was a bit insecure. Of course you kind of had to look down as well to see where to position your feet.....yuck! However, I made it and my arms were trembling when it was over. Back down the trail we went, keeping a sharp eye out for the bear, but he was nowhere to be seen on the return trip fortunately. He was a rather large bear...Jerry was guessing 300-400 lbs. - he looked bigger than that when he was coming at us on the trail. When I told the rangers about him they did not seem too concerned and they did remind me that he is fattening himself up for a long winter's nap. After all that excitement, I was glad to get inside the car and get back on the road. The road back was highway all the way....no backroads back to Albuquerque this afternoon!!!! We had dinner reservations at High Finance Restaurant on top of Sandia Peak at 6:30. We made a quick trip back by the hotel to get out of our dusty trail jeans and then headed to catch the tram up the mountain. We had a good evening sky - very windy and cold on top....we were there early so we kind of walked through the museum part where you catch the tram to go back down and then went for a drink at the bar while we waited for our table and missed the actual sunset. I did get a good pix of the evening sky with the sun behind some clouds. Also got some pix of Albuquerque at night. Back down and back to the tram for our last night in ALB.
Since our flight out is in the morning, we spent the rest of the evening back at the hotel packing and going through all the stuff we had accumulated after 10 days of travel.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
10-13-07 Saturday
Up early again...4:45 a.m. to go back to the Balloon Fiesta. Today was a mass ascension with regular balloons with a few special shapes that decided to participate as well. There were over 700 balloons that were participating this a.m. They were EVERYWHERE. This a.m. a balloon from the United Arab Emirates (I think from Dubai) was chosen to carry the American flag while the national anthem played. It took off from our end of the field. We went to the same end of the field as we were yesterday, but of course today the wind was from the opposite direction so the balloons were floating away from us. I walked down among the balloons and it was INCREDIBLE!!!! Talk about being surrounded by nylon!!!! It was so crowded on that field. Turns out Jerry, Carol and Annie also walked down among the throngs of balloons. Pictures cannot even begin to depict the enormity and scale of this. Propane burners were whooshing, whistles blowing as wave after wave after wave of balloons floated up in the sky. There was not a great deal of wind so they did not drift away too fast. I love the special shapes, but the scope of this was just breathtaking!!! In terms of mass ascensions this was just incredible!!!
Stopped by the hotel then headed out to Sandia Crest to take the tram up the 10,300+ ft. mountain that shadows Albuquerque. When we got there the line was UNBELIEVABLY long...would have taken at least 2 hours just to purchase tickets...trams only run every 15 min. or so b/c it takes so long for them to get up the mountain. This is the longest tramway in North America at over 1 1/2 miles long. We decided not to wait in line for tickets and opted to drive up the back side of the mountain instead. The view from the top was amazing...you can see forever it seems. It was very windy on top and at that altitude, it was also very cold. To get in out of the cold and wind we went into the snack bar and although none of us were very hungry we decided to split a large Frito pie (layer of fritos topped w/ chili, lettuce, tomatoes and olives) and get something to drink. The chili turned out to be VERY hot....even made my lips burn, but we ate most of it anyway. After that we headed back down the mountain and after getting directions and a brief stop at the hotel we headed for Old Town.
In Old Town Albuquerque we poked around in some shops. There is lots of jewelry for sale here...lots of turquoise and silver, and lots of weaving. Annie had already gotten her jewelry and this afternoon Carol found a woven rug that she liked and bought to hang in her kitchen. After walking around looking at everything, we went to eat at La Placitas. It is a Mexican restaurant located in an historic building that, according to the placard was built in the early 1700's. The town itself was established in 1706. The Cathedral of San Felipe de Neri on the square is also beautiful. We had a wonderful time and enjoyed our evening. None of us can believe it is all over as Carol and Annie leave in the morning. Back to the hotel where they finished packing and I spent some time on the computer and made some DVD's of all the pictures I had taken so far on the trip....actually took 2 DVD's for each of them to get all the pictures on them.
Stopped by the hotel then headed out to Sandia Crest to take the tram up the 10,300+ ft. mountain that shadows Albuquerque. When we got there the line was UNBELIEVABLY long...would have taken at least 2 hours just to purchase tickets...trams only run every 15 min. or so b/c it takes so long for them to get up the mountain. This is the longest tramway in North America at over 1 1/2 miles long. We decided not to wait in line for tickets and opted to drive up the back side of the mountain instead. The view from the top was amazing...you can see forever it seems. It was very windy on top and at that altitude, it was also very cold. To get in out of the cold and wind we went into the snack bar and although none of us were very hungry we decided to split a large Frito pie (layer of fritos topped w/ chili, lettuce, tomatoes and olives) and get something to drink. The chili turned out to be VERY hot....even made my lips burn, but we ate most of it anyway. After that we headed back down the mountain and after getting directions and a brief stop at the hotel we headed for Old Town.
In Old Town Albuquerque we poked around in some shops. There is lots of jewelry for sale here...lots of turquoise and silver, and lots of weaving. Annie had already gotten her jewelry and this afternoon Carol found a woven rug that she liked and bought to hang in her kitchen. After walking around looking at everything, we went to eat at La Placitas. It is a Mexican restaurant located in an historic building that, according to the placard was built in the early 1700's. The town itself was established in 1706. The Cathedral of San Felipe de Neri on the square is also beautiful. We had a wonderful time and enjoyed our evening. None of us can believe it is all over as Carol and Annie leave in the morning. Back to the hotel where they finished packing and I spent some time on the computer and made some DVD's of all the pictures I had taken so far on the trip....actually took 2 DVD's for each of them to get all the pictures on them.
10-12-07 Friday
Up again at 4:45 and back to Balloon Park. Annie and Carol opted to sleep in as this a.m. is a repeat of yesterday in terms of special shapes. Jerry and I grabbed a quick breakfast downstairs and again headed to the mall to catch the bus. It is cooler this a.m. When we arrived at the Balloon Park, we decided to go to the end of the field where the VIP tents are located. This seems to be the prevailing directions the balloon take as they ascend. What a reward that turned out to be...All the balloons floated over that end of the field and we had a ground view of all the overhead action. There were also a few high spots there and we could get better visiblity over the whole field. Again the shapes and sizes of the balloons were amazing. Most of the special shape balloons are manufactured in South America as it is most cost effective to do it that way. I cannot even imagine the complexities of designing and building balloons in some of these really complex shapes that actually fly! We truly enjoyed the morning and wish Carol and Annie had been with us as we felt we had a much better view and LOTS fewer people at that end of the field.
There was another flying competition this morning as well so we watched most of that before heading back to the hotel. Back @ 10:30. Carol and Annie had slept until 7:30 a.m. and that was late for them. They really needed their sleep and felt much rested. We loaded in the car and headed for Santa Fe and the chapel of St. Loretto. This is the famous chapel that has the suspended spiral staircase and it was beautiful. There was a craft/art show on the grounds of the chapel as well and we enjoyed that. We decided to take a city tour and signed up for that as well. Went on that at 1 p.m. and it lasted an hour. We saw much of Santa Fe and got lots of information on the area from our tour guide who was very good. I only wish I could remember half of what he said. When the tour was over several people had recommended Pasqual's as the place to eat in town. There was a huge line, even at 2 p.m. and we had a 30 min. wait. While we were waiting, we walked down the street and did some window shopping. Annie had just about decided to get a necklace and earrings, but was going to think about it at lunch. We had a great lunch and then Annie went back and got her jewelry. It was very very pretty and I think she was well satisfied with her purchase. We walked a bit more, entranced with all the adobe in Santa Fe and then went back to the car and headed back to Albuquerque. It is about an hour's drive. Had a quiet evening in the room.....since I had reportedly gotten some flack from some family members about posting some pictures of this event on the internet......I decided to do another blog so I spent my time recounting each day and loading pictures that I felt appropriate.
I had a hard time getting to sleep tonite for some reason so it was a late (and short) nite for me.
There was another flying competition this morning as well so we watched most of that before heading back to the hotel. Back @ 10:30. Carol and Annie had slept until 7:30 a.m. and that was late for them. They really needed their sleep and felt much rested. We loaded in the car and headed for Santa Fe and the chapel of St. Loretto. This is the famous chapel that has the suspended spiral staircase and it was beautiful. There was a craft/art show on the grounds of the chapel as well and we enjoyed that. We decided to take a city tour and signed up for that as well. Went on that at 1 p.m. and it lasted an hour. We saw much of Santa Fe and got lots of information on the area from our tour guide who was very good. I only wish I could remember half of what he said. When the tour was over several people had recommended Pasqual's as the place to eat in town. There was a huge line, even at 2 p.m. and we had a 30 min. wait. While we were waiting, we walked down the street and did some window shopping. Annie had just about decided to get a necklace and earrings, but was going to think about it at lunch. We had a great lunch and then Annie went back and got her jewelry. It was very very pretty and I think she was well satisfied with her purchase. We walked a bit more, entranced with all the adobe in Santa Fe and then went back to the car and headed back to Albuquerque. It is about an hour's drive. Had a quiet evening in the room.....since I had reportedly gotten some flack from some family members about posting some pictures of this event on the internet......I decided to do another blog so I spent my time recounting each day and loading pictures that I felt appropriate.
I had a hard time getting to sleep tonite for some reason so it was a late (and short) nite for me.
10-11-07 Thursday
Up at 4:45 and a very quick bite in the hotel before heading to the mall to get our bus to ride out to Balloon Park for the fiesta. This morning is special shapes mass ascension and it was awesome. The day started with three Wells Fargo balloons ascending w/ American flags flying below the baskets and the national anthem playing over the loudspeakers! What an awesome way to start the day!! After that the special shape balloons started inflating. All this is just before sunrise. The sky is that peculiar pinky color just before sunrise and it is gorgeous except the balloons show up better in sunlight.
To inflate the balloons, they start with gas powered fans to blow air into the balloon......when enough air has inflated the balloon they fire the burners to heat the air and the balloons start rising up off the ground. There are lots of "zebras" out on the field - these are kind of like referees and they give the signals for each balloon to launch. They have to clear an area around the basket of the balloon and when they give the thumbs up, the balloons start their ascent. Imagine hundreds of balloons in all sorts of shapes and colors that are sitting on the ground waiting for the signal to launch. There was a cow, Darth Vader, a scarecrow, a haunted house, a jack-0-lantern, beer stein, champagne bottle, moving van, the Brandenburg gate, Noah's Ark, a frog, turtle, witch, fish a HUGE stagecoach and even the Energizer Bunny who is unbelievably BIG! Amazing! The best part is that you can walk down among the balloons and watch the crews get everything ready - you are not limited to grandstand viewing. There is even a website where you can volunteer to crew - they always seem to need help. Also walking around the balloons you can get trading cards that have info on each balloon - they pass those out as souvenirs. Some have even more elaborate souvenirs, etc.
Before all the special shapes we noticed two rows of regular shaped balloons at the far end of the field. We think these were balloons that had paying passengers as you could pay to fly in a balloon. These guys took off before the national anthem even.
Carol and Annie could not believe the number and shapes of the balloons. Got some great pix of some of the special shapes. After the special shapes cleared the field we could see hundreds of balloons inflated and ready to fly beyond the borders of the balloon park. These balloons were participating in the key grabs and flying competitions. They cleared the field of spectators and set up tall poles in various places. These poles had envelopes attached to the tops. The envelopes had either money inside or one had a key to a brand new Honda truck. The object is to fly your balloon close enough to the pole to grab the envelope attached to it. That was fun to watch too. There was also a competition to drop markers onto targets. It was awesome to see waves of balloons flying into the field. We left the park around 10:30 and were very tired when we got back to the hotel as we had such a late nite last nite and such an early morning this morning. We all took naps, then got an late lunch or early dinner depending on your point of view. Went to Range Diner and had wondeful meat loar w/ mashed potatoes and veggies. LOTS of food so we brought the rest back to the hotel as we have refrigerators and microwaves in our rooms so we can reheat stuff.
Back to the Balloon Park about 5:00 p.m. and it was fairly hot (85) this afternoon. We bought some hats/visors and then walked the concessions area some and found a table to sit and watch the Special shapes Glowdeo. It was really neat. The balloons inflated and stayed tethered but at intervals they had an "all glow" where all the balloons turned on their burners illuminating the balloons from the inside. That was really cool and the pictures do not do it justice. Thousands of people there....multitudes in fact. We opted for not staying for the fireworks so once the glowdeo was over we headed back to catch the bus. Back at the hotel by 8:30 (an early nite for us) and we finished off our lunches, looked at the pictures from today and then ready for bed. Carol and Annie have decided not to go back to the balloon park tomorrow a.m. - they are going to sleep in and relax. We are headed to Santa Fe tomorrow afternoon so it will be another busy day.
To inflate the balloons, they start with gas powered fans to blow air into the balloon......when enough air has inflated the balloon they fire the burners to heat the air and the balloons start rising up off the ground. There are lots of "zebras" out on the field - these are kind of like referees and they give the signals for each balloon to launch. They have to clear an area around the basket of the balloon and when they give the thumbs up, the balloons start their ascent. Imagine hundreds of balloons in all sorts of shapes and colors that are sitting on the ground waiting for the signal to launch. There was a cow, Darth Vader, a scarecrow, a haunted house, a jack-0-lantern, beer stein, champagne bottle, moving van, the Brandenburg gate, Noah's Ark, a frog, turtle, witch, fish a HUGE stagecoach and even the Energizer Bunny who is unbelievably BIG! Amazing! The best part is that you can walk down among the balloons and watch the crews get everything ready - you are not limited to grandstand viewing. There is even a website where you can volunteer to crew - they always seem to need help. Also walking around the balloons you can get trading cards that have info on each balloon - they pass those out as souvenirs. Some have even more elaborate souvenirs, etc.
Before all the special shapes we noticed two rows of regular shaped balloons at the far end of the field. We think these were balloons that had paying passengers as you could pay to fly in a balloon. These guys took off before the national anthem even.
Carol and Annie could not believe the number and shapes of the balloons. Got some great pix of some of the special shapes. After the special shapes cleared the field we could see hundreds of balloons inflated and ready to fly beyond the borders of the balloon park. These balloons were participating in the key grabs and flying competitions. They cleared the field of spectators and set up tall poles in various places. These poles had envelopes attached to the tops. The envelopes had either money inside or one had a key to a brand new Honda truck. The object is to fly your balloon close enough to the pole to grab the envelope attached to it. That was fun to watch too. There was also a competition to drop markers onto targets. It was awesome to see waves of balloons flying into the field. We left the park around 10:30 and were very tired when we got back to the hotel as we had such a late nite last nite and such an early morning this morning. We all took naps, then got an late lunch or early dinner depending on your point of view. Went to Range Diner and had wondeful meat loar w/ mashed potatoes and veggies. LOTS of food so we brought the rest back to the hotel as we have refrigerators and microwaves in our rooms so we can reheat stuff.
Back to the Balloon Park about 5:00 p.m. and it was fairly hot (85) this afternoon. We bought some hats/visors and then walked the concessions area some and found a table to sit and watch the Special shapes Glowdeo. It was really neat. The balloons inflated and stayed tethered but at intervals they had an "all glow" where all the balloons turned on their burners illuminating the balloons from the inside. That was really cool and the pictures do not do it justice. Thousands of people there....multitudes in fact. We opted for not staying for the fireworks so once the glowdeo was over we headed back to catch the bus. Back at the hotel by 8:30 (an early nite for us) and we finished off our lunches, looked at the pictures from today and then ready for bed. Carol and Annie have decided not to go back to the balloon park tomorrow a.m. - they are going to sleep in and relax. We are headed to Santa Fe tomorrow afternoon so it will be another busy day.
Friday, October 12, 2007
10-10-07 Wednesday
Up early for breakfast at the lodge, again not a wonderful experience as many items on the continental breakfast menu were not available. After breakfast we headed to the Visitor Center to get our tickets for the tour to Cliff Palace. Annie and Carol both made the trip...we were all huffing and puffing at the end, but we climbed all 5 wooden ladders and went down all those steps. Jo Schrock was our ranger for the tour and she was EXTREMELY knowledgable and told us many stories of Indian culture. She was really awesome and we loved her tour. We were the first tour in and we were a pretty small group as well so it was really great. Got some really good pix of the ladders and narrow steps we had to traverse to get to the cliff dwelling.....it was a great morning. Annie kept saying, "My family is not going to believe this...Michael was here this summer and he told me - Mom, you will never be able to do this!" Guess she proved him wrong. Thanks to inhalers and plenty of rest stops we made it!!!! Around every turn, especially where there was a VERY narrow staircase or one of the 5 log ladders we had to climb we could hear either Annie or Carol saying, "Oh my God!! Look at this!" It was truly an awesome trip!!!
From Cliff Palace we went to the museum to stock up on videos or books. We left there and began our journey to Bandelier National Monument. It took us far longer than we anticipated and we also took a shortcut. There were thunderstorms in the area and the road we needed to take that was the most direct route was impassable after a rain. You never know which way mountain roads will take you...so after some hesitation we decided to go for it and if it got muddy or started raining we would just turn around and head back. It was another beautiful drive and we dodged the rain. The aspen were glorious in places and in others had already lost their leaves.
We finally arrived at Bandelier about 5:15 and it closed at 6:30 so we had to hurry. The Visitor Center was closed so we did not get our stamp but we did walk back to some of the ruins and were able to get up to them. It was awesome. Annie and Carol opted to wait at the car for us, but when they found out it was a level walk they decided to walk down to where we had gone up to the cliff face. These were much different cliff dwellers than the Pueblo Indians of Mesa Verde...they seemed to use the cliff faces as they found them or they carved the rooms out of the stone walls of the canyons. Of course these cliffs are honeycombed with caves and hollows, etc. that kind of make it a natural for dwellings. There were ruins in the valley that had been constructed of adobe bricks and some of these were quite large. We kind of rushed through this as we still had to make Albuequerque tonite.
We had to go to Santa Fe and then on to Albuequerque from there. Took us about an hour once we got to Santa Fe. Finally arrived at the hotel about 8:30 or 8:45 and walked to Applebee's for a light dinner. Turns out that this is the same hotel we stayed at when we were here in 02 with Jean and Richard. Got to bed rather late, and had to be up early for the sunrise special shapes mass ascension.
p.s. Sorry the pictures for this day seem to be a bit out of order, but I think I am no longer in the state of New Mexico, but in the state of confusion!
From Cliff Palace we went to the museum to stock up on videos or books. We left there and began our journey to Bandelier National Monument. It took us far longer than we anticipated and we also took a shortcut. There were thunderstorms in the area and the road we needed to take that was the most direct route was impassable after a rain. You never know which way mountain roads will take you...so after some hesitation we decided to go for it and if it got muddy or started raining we would just turn around and head back. It was another beautiful drive and we dodged the rain. The aspen were glorious in places and in others had already lost their leaves.
We finally arrived at Bandelier about 5:15 and it closed at 6:30 so we had to hurry. The Visitor Center was closed so we did not get our stamp but we did walk back to some of the ruins and were able to get up to them. It was awesome. Annie and Carol opted to wait at the car for us, but when they found out it was a level walk they decided to walk down to where we had gone up to the cliff face. These were much different cliff dwellers than the Pueblo Indians of Mesa Verde...they seemed to use the cliff faces as they found them or they carved the rooms out of the stone walls of the canyons. Of course these cliffs are honeycombed with caves and hollows, etc. that kind of make it a natural for dwellings. There were ruins in the valley that had been constructed of adobe bricks and some of these were quite large. We kind of rushed through this as we still had to make Albuequerque tonite.
We had to go to Santa Fe and then on to Albuequerque from there. Took us about an hour once we got to Santa Fe. Finally arrived at the hotel about 8:30 or 8:45 and walked to Applebee's for a light dinner. Turns out that this is the same hotel we stayed at when we were here in 02 with Jean and Richard. Got to bed rather late, and had to be up early for the sunrise special shapes mass ascension.
p.s. Sorry the pictures for this day seem to be a bit out of order, but I think I am no longer in the state of New Mexico, but in the state of confusion!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
