Greetings!
Well, I am sufficiently settled in and decided it was time do something fun - so yesterday I took the Sandia Peak Tramway to the crest of the Sandia mountain range to have a look around. Magnificent! I picked a perfect weather day - clear, sunny, no wind -- and COLD! It was a brisk 34 degrees at the top (approx. 10,600 feet) when I arrived, but I was bundled up and prepared. I decided to take a hike along the crest, and was feeling a bit smug as I thought to myself, "Hey, the altitude isn't affecting me at all!". Then I realized I had been hiking gradually downhill for the past 20 minutes. I was humbled a bit on my return, but still handled it quite well for a flatlander (relatively speaking). The Sandia Peak Ski Area is on the other side of the crest, and Albuquerque locals just hop on the tram and ski down the other side to the base area come mid-December. How cool is that? Glad I brought my ski boots with me, hoping for a good snow year!
My quest for adventure still not satiated, I arose before the birds today to witness the mass ascension of 600 + hot air balloons. My housemate Carol & I arrived at the shuttle pickup site about 5:40am, waited in line and finally boarded a bus just past 7am, and got to the launch field just after the first balloons had taken off. The crowds were overwhelming; we spent far more time waiting for a bus and being transported round trip than we spent at the field, but it was worth the effort. It was a bit cloudy very early (the first clouds I've seen since I've arrived!) but by the time the last of the balloons were aloft, the sun was shining brilliantly. It was a challenge to decide where to point the camera. There were people and balloons everywhere!
This afternoon I found and fell in love with the locals' coffee spot, Satellite Coffee, and I'm settled in with my green tea latte and free wifi teaching myself how to download pictures onto my blog. See the photos of the Sandia Mountain adventure, below. It seems I can only add 5 pictures to a post, so I'll put the balloon pictures in a separate post.
Oh -- by the way -- a tip regarding commenting on blog posts. I won't see your comments unless you choose a "profile" when you comment. If you don't have a membership with any of the profiles listed, just select "anonymous" and then sign your comment so I know who you are. Thanks for the comments so far - it's fun to hear from you!
PICTURES!
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Rugged terrain on the way up - note the limestone layers on top of the granite. These mountains were a seafloor many millions of years ago... and I didn't enhance these pictures - the sky really IS that blue!
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