http://www.balloonfiesta.com/
There is a reason behind our choosing Albuquerque for our latest getaway. First of all, it is another one of those illusive states we have yet to cross off the 50 by 50 list. And then second, it is home to the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta. Jason's bucket list may not be as big as mine, but a Balloon Festival has been near the top of it for almost as long as I can remember. So I cross a state off of my bucket list and he gets to cross off an activity from his.
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Check out the crazy crop circles we discovered while flying over Nebraska. Our flights today were nice and smooth, and we enjoyed the ride.
We arrived in Albuquerque around 1100 local time. We are a tired bunch, since we have been up since 3:00. We picked up our car rental and immediately drove to get some lunch. It was a 6 hour flight...Ethan was withering away. hehe . Our next stop was Sandia Mountain . We wanted to take the gondola tram to the top, but after waiting in line for an hour suddenly a weather front moved in over the mountain delaying any more trips up so we decided to come back a different day. We have just arrived at our hotel. We are going to take a nap, get renergized and get ready for tonights festivities and adventure. Pics to follow soon. Once I download some. The time change will take some getting used to.
We arrived in Albuquerque around 1100 local time. We are a tired bunch, since we have been up since 3:00. We picked up our car rental and immediately drove to get some lunch. It was a 6 hour flight...Ethan was withering away. hehe . Our next stop was Sandia Mountain .
We wanted to take the gondola tram to the top, but after waiting in line for an hour suddenly a weather front moved in over the mountain delaying any more trips up so we decided to come back a different day. We have just arrived at our hotel. We are going to take a nap, get energized and get ready for tonight's festivities and adventure. Pics to follow soon. Once I download some. The time change will take some getting used to. Well the weather didn't exactly cooperate with us today. First the rain storm cancelled the gondolas at the mountain, and then our first balloon fiesta event was cancelled by rain and wind as well. No worries though, still lots if time to explore and to do lots of other things. Plus with rain comes rainbows. We are happy and excited to be here, and looking forward to a great nights sleep. We hope to have lots of pictures and news to report tomorrow. xo Early morning, Up at 4:30 Albuquerque time to head to the Balloon Park. Got here early, and have a great parking spot. So we are here while it is very dark, so the balloons are even still arriving. Dawn Patrol happens around 6:30 am. A few balloons lift off in the dark to test the wind. And then if all goes well... MASS ASCENSION!!! As many as 800 in a 2 hour period.
The sun came up quickly...and then it was lift off! Headed to one of the National Parks, not only to get a stamp for our passport book, but to see the surroundings and learn a little history. Standing on volcanic rock, looking out over Albuquerque. We climbed the rocks and past the cacti to find the pictographs. Animals of the day. 1. Very large jack rabbit!
Traffic to the park took us a bit longer today. About an hour instead of 15 minutes. But we were there right in time for dawn patrol. It is beautiful the way the balloons are lit up in the dark. Then those early balloons lift off, and we discovered the wind was moving to the north today. So we stayed at the north end of the field so everything would have to pass right over us.
After dawn patrol was off, it only took seconds for the field to fill with hundreds of balloon teams setting up their aircraft. Around 700 teams/crews are here in Albuquerque. As soon as the balloons are up, the zebras come around and do crowd control to ensure safety for the balloon team and the crowd. Once the balloon is in the air, another balloon starts to set up right in its place. We would guess that there was hundreds of thousands of people at the park today. But even with all those people there was no problem seeing all the balloons and moving through the crowds. Emmy just loves all the colours and shapes. When the sun came out, the sky was so full of light and colour!!!! The moon added to our photos as well :) a few more favourites!
Last night we headed back to the park for the evening in hopes of seeing the Night Glow. All the balloons light up like Christmas lights. Thursday night it was cancelled because of rain, Friday night it was cancelled because of rain, and then last night a weird lightning and wind storm came in...and yep, it was cancelled again. And because it was Saturday, the busiest day of the festival it took us over 2 hours just to get out of our parking spot with all the traffic. So we came straight back to the hotel and went to bed. We were tired.
We are so happy we had such wonderful weather this morning. No night glows in the cards for us, but that's okay. We are having such a great weekend anyway. Today we are heading on route 66, and up the mountains... we'll be back later today to report about all our adventures! Radiator Springs. If you have seen Pixar's CARS, then you know all about it. Today our adventures felt like we were right smack in the middle of that movie. Desert, Butte's, and of course ROUTE 66. We left Albuquerque and drove east to the town of Tijeras. This is where we found a little gem called the singing highway. Right along a stretch of old Route 66. If you lower your speed to 45 miles per hour ,and hug the outside white line with your tire, there are rumble strips that play the tune of AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL. We continued along a section of the road called the TURQUOISE TRAIL. Home to old mining towns this part of the route was a slower leisurely pace as we headed north to Sante Fe. The scenery seemed to be true New Mexico, canyons, and tumble weeds and buttes and mountains. And as many of you know- I named my car Dixie before our last trip... well the kids thought our rental deserved the same honour... so this is ALBERT, from New Jersey. Or so our license plate says. We arrived in Sante Fe, and then turned south back towards Albuquerque. Headed down i-25. Our hike on Friday was such a big hit with the kids, we thought we would do another one. So we went off the beaten path a bit to locate the Tent Rocks. We thought it would be a nice little hike to see them, let me just say it ended up being so much more. It was challenging, it was wonderful, and Ethan says it was his favourite part of our trip so far. You drive about 20 miles off the highway up to the Reserve, then park your car and start your hike. At first it seemed like the nice easy stroll, and then it turned into canyons, and caves and crevasses, and then it went up, and up and up, and we found ourselves standing on top of a mountain, with the wind blowing around looking out over all of New Mexico. All this wonder and I haven't even mentioned the amazing rock formations known as the tent rocks. Here are some pictures from our 2.5 hour hike today. The park is located on the Pajarito Plateau between 5700 and 6400 feet (1737–1951 m) above sea level. And worth the hike!!!!! Once we reached the top, the wind really started blowing, and there was even a crack of lightning and a bit of rain/hail. Luckily for us, it takes a lot less time to go down than it did up. But it didn't take away any of the fun, and wonder of our day at Tent Rocks.
Today is our last day here. Our flight leaves later this afternoon. Just packing up and getting ready to check out of the hotel. But you know us, there are a few more adventures planned before we even get to the airport.
Because we have such a long trip home we decided we would get outdoors and soak in the fresh air for our last day here. We wanted to make sure we were good at tired before we boarded that plane. ABQ Biopark is where we decided to head. The biopark is home to a Botanical Garden, Aquarium and Zoo. We checked out of the hotel, and headed south on I-25. We drove right into the heart of Central Ave. or where Route 66 comes right through Albuquerque. This is where we would spend our day. First Stop in the Park was the Aquarium. Next we stepped into the Botanical Gardens. They had a children's area, and a Japanese Garden, and even a New Mexico garden. Check out the Prickly Pear Cacti. We lucked out and saw a little friend we had been looking for all week. Though we didn't expect to find him in a tree. MEEP MEEP! IT'S A ROADRUNNER! Our final stop in the Biopark was the zoo. We have always enjoyed zoos as a family. We like to see animals we do not have at home. But we also have to say that after reading Katherine Applegate's book, The One and Only Ivan. We look at the animals very differently. Ivan is a middle grade book about a Gorilla living in captivity. The story is told from Ivan's point of view, so when we saw a Gorilla today, we could only think of Ivan and these animals with a different heart. This zoo was a good size and we did see some animals that we do not have at the Detroit Zoo. like Wombats, and a koala. Plus Ethan is always happy to see his favourite, the polar bears. After the park we were hungry... and we needed to fill up before our long flight so we headed up the mother road. Route 66. It just seemed fitting that we should stop for lunch here... an old fashioned Route 66 Diner. Jason and I each had the New Mexico famous Green Chile Cheeseburger and a Milkshake. YUMMYYYYYY!!!! After lunch it was time to go check in at the airport. Nice to see a few of these still floating around. And now... we sit and wait... but at least we have a view... Just found out our flight is delayed... we won't make our connection... so were seeing if we can get rerouted!!!! The adventure is always interesting!!!!!!!
Looks like we are spending the night at Chicago-Midway. Our flight is delayed 3 hours and we will miss our connection. :( Just getting ready to board right now in Albuquerque. at 7:35 MST.
As you can see from Jason's face he was not happy about the late delay of our flight out of Albuquerque. They were not able to find us a connection, so on to Chicago we go. It will now be midnight or afterwards when we arrive. So it definitely looks like no school or work tomorrow morning.
It is very late/ early. The storm is here. Midway airport has a room set up with cots, pillows and blankets. Hotels are usually all booked and very expensive during a storm. We have tickets to board at 7:30 am for a 8:00 CST flight to Detroit. So we would have to be back here for 5 am. So we'll stay here since we would only be at a hotel a couple hours.
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