Dashed Plans in Albuquerque

I’ve hit a few things on my bucket list so far on this trip – Christmas in Santa Fe and a night at La Fonda. My intention was to knock one more off the list before leaving Albuquerque.

I have always wanted to ride in a hot air balloon. I’ve tried at least three or four times in various states, and all rides have been cancelled. Before leaving Colorado, I had booked a ride with Rainbow Ryders for Sunday afternoon. Unfortunately, while Tim and I were riding around town on Saturday, we received a call cancelling the trip because of weather. Not to worry – we rescheduled the ride for Monday afternoon.

Lou picked us up for breakfast on Monday, and we got to visit with him again. Ruth had flown to Las Vegas the previous afternoon to spend time with her siblings and their families. During breakfast, I received a phone call cancelling our rescheduled balloon ride. Drat! Add these cancellations to the rest! I don’t know if I’ll ever get up in the air!

Our hope to visit the Albuquerque Art and History Museum was also dashed when we found out it is closed on Mondays. Oh well. We did venture out and checked out Sawmill Market, a wonderful collection of small, local eateries.

Luckily, I was successful in one of the things I tried to do while we were in town. I had been able to visit Petroglyph National Monument while Tim stayed home to watch football on Sunday. I got my passport stamp and hiked one of the trails, searching on the rocks for petroglyphs. The wind was brutal, but I still had a great time.

Petroglyph National Monument - Rinconada Canyon

Although we didn’t get to do everything we wanted to do, our time in Albuquerque was a good one. We got to spend time with Ruth and Lou, we got to eat lots of New Mexican food, and I was able to visit a national park unit. We also had time to rest and take it easy after a rather hectic time trying to get the condo and RV ready to go.

We had picked up the RV earlier in the day and had moved it to the hotel parking lot, so we would be ready to head out in the morning.