Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta - Saturday

Doug & Gloria got together last night with Gerry and me and decided to go to the balloon fiesta today.  That meant getting up at 4:30AM and leaving for the field around 5:00AM.  Did I say that I don't do mornings that well?  We made good time getting to fiesta field and had to wait a while to enter the parking lot.  It moved very well considering about 100,000 people were about to enter the area.

 It was windy on the field and I was having serious doubts whether or not they would have the mass ascension.  We waited from 5:30AM to 7:30AM for the balloons to be filled and lift off.  Finally they announced it was too windy and dangerous for lift off and they cancelled the morning session.  Of course they encouraged us to visit the many vendors and get first choice on all the wonderful items on sale.  Yah, right!

Gerry, Gloria & Doug walked along to check out a number of vendors and didn't see anything of interest to them and returned to the area where I was guarding a bench.  Fine job on my part if I do say so.  As you can tell by how they are dressed it was cold out there this morning with the breeze blowing so hard.  

I did get a nice shot of the Balloon Museum in the parking lot behind the field.  The museum is dedicated to hot air and gas balloons and was built about 5 years ago.

We went to Costco to pick up a few things and then over to Old Town in Albuquerque and I was surprised to see the crowds there in the square.  It was jam packed with people, cars and tents.  They had the street in front of the church blocked off and there were numerous vendor tents in the area.  There were women dancers in Mexican costumes on the stage in the center of the square along a band playing traditional music. 

We left there and went home via old Rt 66 (Central Ave) in Albuquerque and enjoyed seeing the improvements they have made in that area.  A number of old buildings have been restored back to their original glory and more restoration seems to be in process.  They have painted a number of huge murals on the side of buildings and this was one of the nicer ones.  I'm not sure what the message was regarding the mural but it was impressive.

By this time we were all tired out and ready for a nap and returned to our motor homes.  I watched some football and missed a number of plays due to dozing off, but didn't really get much sleep.  I should sleep very well this night.

Our good friend Hanne from Denmark called us using her computer to wish us a belated happy birthday.  It was great talking to her and catching up on what she has been up to lately.  She has a trip to the Caribbean in November and we tried to talk her into coming out to Tucson and stay with us for a while.  We always enjoy hearing from her and wish she could visit in the U.S. more often.

It looks like more wind in the morning so we are planning on taking a day trip to Sante Fe for a look see up there.  We've been there before and want to check out an old church that was closed the last time we were there.

Happy Birthday

Today I will celebrate my birthday once again.  I won't tell you how old I am, but for those diehard Redskins fans it is the same number of former Redskins defensive tackle Joe Rutgens.  If you know much about football numbers and how they are assigned to different position players, that will give you a hint.  Or, you could find out his real number; that is if you really care to know how old I am.

We made plans to visit with our friend Hanne who is visiting with family down in Front Royal, VA.  We drove down there in heavy rain all the way and people were even slowing down on I-81 due to the rain.  You know it was raining hard when drivers actually drive at or below the speed limit.

Hanne, Gerry and I went out for a light lunch at Panda Express in Front Royal and had a nice meal.  We have tried Panda Express in a number of places and have found they are a good value for the money and the food is always good. 

The girls wanted to find a Kohl's store and Gerry plugged it into the TomTom GPS and away we went.  It took us down a small road and through an industrial area and said "you have reached your destination".  Huh!  It was the Kohl's warehouse for that area and not a store.  So much for the accuracy of the GPS.  We did manage to find a Kohl's and they got their fix.


Later we stopped back where Hanne was staying and visited Allan & Lisa for a couple hours.  While we were there neighbors of theirs came up the hill in trucks and jumped out with drinks for all.  They had managed to rig up a blender jar to a weed whacker and proceeded to mix up a batch of  Singapore Slings with the device.  It was the funniest thing I have seen in a long time.  I was waiting for it to slip and have the Sling hit the fan as they say.  Nope, it worked fine and I got a video of it.  Great bunch of friendly and outgoing people and we enjoyed the visit.


Then it was time for the 90 mile trip back to the cabin in the fog.  We did stop and visit with Cassie for a while on the way back and surprised them by stopping by so late.

Happy birthday Marilyn, wherever you are!


That was my day.

Miles, Deer & Remembrance

Our good friend Hanne is visiting with her stepson and family for two weeks and will be spending almost a week with us at the cabin.  We have warned her that the cabin is "rustic" and she is prepared for it.  We met her and husband Niels while we were living in Abidjan during the early 80s and have been friends since then.  Niels passed away last year and is sorely missed.

We've had cabin fever with all the rain the last week and decided to go out for dinner in Gettysburg, PA this evening.  We went to the Appalachian Brewing Co and had a very enjoyable meal.  On the way down there we had a milestone and stopped to film it.  The Saturn odometer turned over to 94,000 miles and we always try and watch when this happens.  We pulled over to the side of the road and took the picture and the passerbys must have thought we were crazy.

There were 7 deer in the meadow across from the cabin and we managed to get a couple pictures of them on the way out.  The young fawns are still in the playful and curious stage and were real neat prancing all over the place.  Our neighbor sighted the mother bear and three cubs last night next to her car.  She was so excited that she locked her keys in the car getting out of there. 

Another neighbor has been keeping track of the rainfall since last Saturday and yesterday said it was up to 11 inches of rain and still coming down.  It's been spread over a week and the ground up here is saturated, however I think a lot of it has soaked in.  That is great for the water table since so many people up here have wells, including us. 

As everyone knows the tenth anniversary of the cowardly attack on New York and Washington, DC on 9/11/2001 is tomorrow and we will remember that date and the innocent victims of the attack.  It was a defining moment for the US and it's citizens and united them more than can be imagined.