White Sands National Monument

Gypsum sand. Quite different from quartz sand. Soft like talcum powder and doesn't retain heat.

Pistachios

I guess this is where they grow and process pistachios.

Another full day in Southern New Mexico

Beautiful drive in from 9000 ft to 5000 ft. into Alamogordo. Got the sunset tour with the Park Ranger at White Sands National Park. The sand is Gypsum and is pure white. Very interesting place.

Carlsbad Caves

Another place to put on your bucket list. Pictures don't show much. The caves are 750 feet underground. The elevator gets you there in 58 seconds or you can actually get down by walking through a natural entrance, switchbacks all the way. There is one cavern that is 370 feet tall from top to bottom. There are hundreds of thousands of bats living in other parts of the caves. They used a sophisticated computerized system to count them and there have been up to 1.8 million here at one time. They fly at dusk and we are waiting for six o'clock to see them but there are not many here right now because they are migrating.

Santa Fe to Carlsbad

4-lane divided secondary highway all the way to Carlsbad. Passed through Roswell and stopped at the Alien Museum. haha this was so phony. But it has brought tourists from everywhere and millions of dollars to the city. It was 5 degrees F when we left Santa Fe and 96 degrees when we arrived in Carlsbad.

Aspen Trees

We drove up to the ski fields above Santa Fe and caught the last of the Aspens changing colors. Missed the full show by a week. The mountainsides were golden, now a dull grey.

Sculpture Gardens

Santa Fe has an artists street called Canyon. It takes a full day to do it justice. Many of the gorgeous gardens have sculptures like these. The art is amazing.

Rent-a-Chuckwagon

This item looked authentic and very very old. We are in Santa Fe. Found our way to a neat restaurant called Tomasita's. There are a lot of chilies here.

Sandia Crest 10,678 feet

Albuquerque below which is at 5,000 feet. Traveling to Santa Fe today.

Rio Rancho a city near Albuquerque

New Mexico is a very interesting State. It would be a nice place to have a summer home.

Finally! Liftoff!

Amazing amazing amazing you really got to put this on your bucket list. Predawn there were the chosen balloons getting ready 11 of them called the Dawn Patrol, then they started to fire them up and they were glowing and it was just spectacular, unbelievable. We stood amazed from 6 till 10 and hardly noticed the time passing. 150-200 balloons and about 50,000 people from all over the world mingling among the balloons. 

Up!

By the way the weather is going this may be our only chance to get a balloon experience. Lightening and rain have not let up. Still its not over until Sunday and the forecast is for sun and sun.

Morning balloons cancelled

Went out at 4:30 am to beat the traffic to the ballooning field but the weather was not cooperative. There was rain and lightening. Apparently propane, nylon, people and lightening is a bad mix.

Great place for photos!

Old Town Albuquerque

New Mexico is interesting. I don't even speak Old Mexican. Found a fabulous restaurant in Old Town. Frontage doesn't look like much but when you get inside, wow! Good food too!

Photosynth Panorama

I created this panorama with the Photosynth app on my iOS device, http://www.photosynth.net.

Hotel Comfort Suites Airport highly recommend it.

What a great place to stay Huge room with jacuzzi, most comfortable bed ever, salad bar supper,delicious breakfast. We woke up to a foggy morning Hope that it lifts before we fly at 3PM won't make much difference to the morning---we're going to the mall to do some Christmas shopping!!! I love travelling-a new surprise around every corner or should I say aisle!
Susan

Retailers delight.
Liam

Chiluly glass installation in Seattle

Works of Dale Chihuly near the Seattle Space Needle. In fact if you look close you will see the reflection of the Space Needle in one of the orbs.

Weekend with grandchildren

More time with the Abbotsford clan, yay!