Santa Fe, New Mexico

Our last stop before crossing back into Texas was Santa Fe, a short drive from Albuquerque but at 7,000 feet, another 1,000 feet up.  For the past month, we've spent very little, if any, time below 6,000 feet above sea level.  And our lungs have reminded us of it any time we've exerted ourselves.

The weather was rather chilly at night (SheM would say 'cold') and the days were pleasant for the most part.  The aspen were turning, and we took a mile hike along Aspen Vista in the Santa Fe National Forest to enjoy them.  (Once again, we were hiking at 10,000+ feet above sea level.  What is wrong with us??)

Santa Fe is the capital of New Mexico, and we visited the capitol building.  We found this one to be the most unique of all we've seen so far.  Quite unassuming in its stature, one can almost miss it if not looking for it.

The outside appearance belies the very modern look and feel of the interior.  Artwork is everywhere--very colorful and interesting (some REALLY 'interesting').

Downtown Santa Fe is the picturesque Southwest.

We drove to Taos, and found its plaza to be very much the same, not surprisingly.

While in Taos, we wandered through artist shops.  We found one that featured furniture pieces made of steel treated with chemicals and/or heat to create really pretty color patterns.  Most of the pictures we took in Taos were in that shop.  We're thinking that we may want to add one of these tables to the decor of our next house.

We're glad we stopped here.  We're also really looking forward to getting down to lower elevations.  We'll head to Amarillo where it's only 3,600 ft.  Ahh, we're breathing better already just thinking about it.

Balloon Fiesta 2013

We arrived in Albuquerque a couple of days before the balloon fiesta began.  That gave us a chance to get settled and to see any other attractions that interested us.  Our friends arrived, and we all stayed in the same RV park.  The weather started out quite mild, but on the morning of the first day of the fiesta, a serious cold front made itself known.

Between the freezing temperatures and the higher than optimal winds, it was unknown if the balloons would be allowed to launch.  The normal procedure is to send up a handful of balloons first to check both the surface winds and the upper winds.  This group is called the 'dawn patrol'.

If all is good, a green flag is raised indicating that all balloons are cleared to fly at will--a mass ascension is what everyone hopes for.  Even though the dawn patrol gave the 'all clear' that morning, the direction of the wind was not ideal for good landing spots, so some balloon handlers opted not to go at all, or to wait a while hoping the conditions would improve.  The net result?  Balloons did go up, but only in small numbers and in spurts rather than in mass.  Nevertheless, we did see LOTS of balloons on the ground and some in the air, and we were glad we came.

We could have scheduled going to the launch site another morning, but one morning of getting up at 3:00 and standing around in freezing temps was enough.  Besides, it was televised on a local channel each morning, and that was a much more comfortable setting. You know, like a football game.

Before the Balloon Fiesta, we visited 'historic downtown Albuquerque'.  In our travels we've come to equate anything labeled as 'historic' to just mean 'old' and not necessarily historically significant.  Albuquerque's historic downtown is old, but it is also infused with quintessential southwestern architecture and is an enjoyable area to visit and, of course, shop.

Before leaving Albuquerque, we took a ride on the Sandia Peak Tram which took us up to an elevation of 10,000+ feet.

At the top of mountain, there was a trail that led to a cabin that was built by the CCC in 1936 and sat on the highest point at 10,600 feet.  The round trip was 3 miles.  We took it.  It was a trek, and the elevation taxed our lungs, but we're glad to have done it.

Next stop is Santa Fe.  Our friends are accompanying us.

A Corner of Colorado

[Bloggers Note:  We are AGAIN behind in posting to our blog.  We'll try to catch up over the next few days.]

We took a couple of weeks to swing up into the southwest corner of Colorado, setting up camp in Cortez.  We found the town of Cortez to be very comfortable--small enough to feel cozy, but big enough to have conveniences we appreciate.  The town's planners have certainly done a great job in creating recreation facilities.  The town is full of nice parks for outdoor activities, and it has a huge indoor recreation and fitness center.  If it weren't for the cold winters, we could certainly see the appeal for living there.

We chose Cortez because of its proximity to several sightseeing venues.  Mesa Verde National Park is just 10 miles west of the town.  We, of course, visited the park.  We took a short hike to the cliff dwelling Spruce Tree House.

We also took a hike to see the petroglyphs there.  The trail did not have a classification (easy, moderate, difficult) as we've seen in other parks.  Having taken the trail, we would probably define it as 'difficult'.

It's possible that we may have opted against taking it if it had been designated as such.  That would have been a mistake because we had no real problem navigating it and we would have missed the petroglyphs.

Four Corners National Monument is an easy drive from Cortez.  The landscape around it is filled with interesting rock formations.

The monument is not only at the intersection of state lines for 4 states, it is located on the boundary of the Navajo Nation and the Ute Mountain tribe.  The monument is managed by Native Americans.  The monument itself is well done, but the parking lot is in very rough shape--dirt with deep potholes.  We wonder if some of the entrance fees shouldn't be spent on needed improvements.  Nevertheless, we took the obligatory picture of us standing in 4 states at once.

Cortez is at an elevation of about 6,000 feet.  We drove up another 3,000 feet to the town of Silverton.  We hoped that the aspen would be turning at that elevation, but we were a bit too early.  The scenery was still beautiful.

The town of Silverton is much smaller than we had expected, but we enjoyed walking around the streets for a while before heading back down to a more 'lung-friendly' elevation.

Our last outing was to drive back into Utah to see Arches National Park.  We decided to take a longer, scenic route through Monument Valley en route to Arches.

Many western movies were filmed in Monument Valley.  A few days after driving through the valley, we ran across the old movie "Stagecoach" on TV.  Knowing that it had been filmed there, we had to watch it to see if we recognized the scenery--and we did.

Our visit to Arches National Park was on the weekend immediately before the impending government shutdown.  We had intended to get a hotel room in Moab so we could spend an entire day leisurely exploring the park.  We don't know if it was the threatened park closure or the Gay Pride Festival going on that brought so many people to Moab that day, but there was not a single room available anywhere in town.  We tried to make the most of it, and decided to see as much as we could of the park in the waning hours of daylight before driving back to Cortez.  We weren't disappointed.

Taking some hikes would have been nice, and maybe we'll be back some day to do that.

We enjoyed our stay in Cortez, but it was time to move on to Albuquerque.  We had a date with a bunch of hot air balloons and friends that were meeting us there.  (The 'hot air' adjective applies only to the balloons, not our friends.)