Tucson - Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta

Travel to the Albuquerque, NM International Balloon Fiesta

October 7 - 13, 2016

Many months ago, my Daughter who lives in Estero, Florida had told me her family was making plans to go to the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta and it would be fun if I could join them there.  As the time was getting closer and I didn’t hear anything back, I thought maybe it wasn’t happening.  Then about 2 weeks before, I get a text wondering if I can make it there.  I debated it for a few days and then decided to do it as we don’t get together that often, so off I go in my stealth van.    

Tuesday Oct 7 -  I leave Tucson traveling on I-10 to Deming, NM and then route 28 to Hatch, NM and then I-25 north to Socorro, NM where I spend the night.  I’ve been there many times, it’s a very scenic and historic town, but it’s just a rest stop for me today at their lovely Walmart.

Wednesday Oct 8 - Since it’s only about an hour ride to get to Albuquerque from here, I decide to a local hiking trail in “The Box” for an hour in the morning.  A week or two ago there was heavy flooding in the river canyon here and by the looks of things it must have been crazy. 

There was a wave of water through here 

Beautiful rocks 

The drive north from Socorro is very scenic with the Rio Grande River visible far away down in the valley with farm fields all along the valley.  I exit I-25 before Albuquerque for a more scenic ride and soon realize that I am driving on the historic El Camino Real or the Royal Road and route 66 through Belen, Los Lunes, Las Lunes with many historic adobe buildings, murals, old canals and colorful artistic buildings.  I’m finding this area very interesting when my phone suddenly rings, it’s my daughter Jessica calling, they have arrived in Albuquerque and are heading straight to the Old Town area.  I had just stopped to check out this beautifully historic mural panel when she called.  

I'm following an address I had entered in my GPS to a visitors center to get tourist information and these directions are taking me directly to the Old Town area, what a coincidence. In a few minutes, I’m riding around the Old Town area trying to find a parking spot, not easy as it’s very crowded and equally frustrating, but I eventually get parked and make contact fairly easily. It’s my daughter Jessica, her husband Jerome and his mother Marilyn, hope my spelling is good ? It’s amazing how much easier it is to find people today with cell phones, how did we ever exist without this technology.

After roaming around Old Town for a while, they have to check into their Hotel. We are taking separate cars and as we get there, I find out that they mistakingly have reserved two Hotels for the same night and I am to stay in this one while they are going to another Hotel, (#2). I was just hopeful that I would be able to park and stay overnight in the parking lot and now I have this giant room, two bedrooms, a full kitchen and three TV’s. This became an issue on the next day, as they didn’t make it clear to me that this just a one night deal, Oops !

Thursday Oct 9 - Jessica calls in the morning to tell me to drive to another Hotel, (# 3) which they have for the balance of their time.  I meet them there and we then go for a hike on the petroglyph trail a few miles away.  They had never seen petroglyphs before, it's not a Florida thing, and they were quite interested.

  

Next, it's decided to drive about an hour away to Santa Fe, NM which they have never visited.  Half way to Santa Fe, we get a phone call from the Hotel saying that my clothes and other belongings had been left in the hotel room. An embarrassing situation, but no problem, they will remove and secure them for a pickup latter.  They never made it clear to me that the Hotel room was for one night only or maybe I wasn't really paying attention ?   

We arrive in Santa Fe and wander around for a few hours, visit the central square, check out the sights and browse in a few shops and had a very good lunch.   

They were impressed with the trees

It was then back to Albuquerque to the first Hotel to get my stuff that was left behind.  I must saw this Hotel run around is kind of crazy ?  The third Hotel, Chaco, is really special with architectural elements based on ansetral pueblo cultural.  It has an art gallery, a custom shoe store, a great art and jewelry store, a fitness center and large outside pool.  Also, best of all, I can overnight in the parking lot across the street.  Actually, I would be much more comfortable in the van outside than sharing a hotel room.

 

Impressive Indian art in the Lobby area

Across the street is a very impressive and popular “Sawmill Market” food court complex. We go there for dinner, it’s quite upscale, many trendy local food concessions, good stuff, many choices and very popular.  Interestingly, it is an old industrial building that has housed many companies over the last century and was totally rebuilt and repurposed into this food court. This seems to be the center piece of the new surrounding developed area. 

The Sawmill Market

Friday Oct 10 -  We go out to explore Albuquerque and start at the self pick Big Jim Farms which grow many types of Chili's, tomatoes, pumpkins and flowers for sale.  My Florida continent is not very familiar with this type of thing, unlike my New Jersey farm upbringing, so they are quite thrilled with it.

 

I was impressed by the Pumkins

Jessica and Jerome pose under the Chili

Various degrees of hot are available

We eventually end up at a hiking / biking trailhead for a short hike on a forest lined trail along the Rio Grande River. The last time I was here, the river was barely flowing, but now it's totally full due to the recent heavy rains.  

We then return to the Hotel and hang out for a while at the large pool and hot tub.  We return to the Sawmill Market again for dinner.

Saturday October 11 - Finally, today we are going to the Balloon Fiesta in mid afternoon for the "Night Magic Glow" event where the balloons are inflated at dusk, but they do not lift off.  We drive to a park and ride bus stop that takes us to the balloon grounds.  It seemed like there were about a hundred food vendors there, but it was super crowded and the food lines were huge and long. 

 

When the time came for the Magic Blow event, it basically didn't occur, they only fired up the Balloon burners to display flames.  We never heard an explanation for why they didn’t allow the balloons to be inflated as the wind was light, and it was a major disappointment.

We also had tickets for the following Music Fiesta concert featuring a rising country star, Russell Dickerson, who my daughter and husband knew of.  I wasn’t impressed to say the least, but the crowd was fun to watch.  We didn't stay late as it was going to be avery early morning start on Sunday.

A particularly interesting vendor 

I had to take this photo of people posing for the photo

The music concert was weird !

Sunday October 12 -  Today is the much anticipated Krispy Creme Balloon Ascension and we are hoping that the weather will cooperate.  We get up about 4 AM to arrive at the Park and Ride at 5 AM so we can get to the Fiesta around 6 AM. 

Jessica and family have bought special Gondola Club tickets which provide VIP open air patio seating, a premieum buffet, a host bar, a gift bag, private restrooms and golf cart shuttle service to the parking area.  I didn't have one of these tickets, they were sold out, but somehow they allow me in free of charge ?  It was a very nice set up, but when the action starts on the field, you want to go down amongst the inflating Balloons.  It gets pretty exciting when they all start inflating and I thought all was going per plan.  All the Balloons eventually were inflated but then there was no ascension and they all slowly started to deflate, it was all over, no ascension, what a bummer !

It's then back to the bus for the ride back to the park and ride and to the hotel.  After some time resting at the Hotel, we leave at about 3 PM to drive to the Sandia Peak Aerial Tramway for the ride up the mountain to the Ten 3 Restaurant where we have a dinner reservation.  At 10,387 foot elevation It has now has become quite windy and as a result the restaurant is half empty and we get seated right away.  The waitress explained the menu items with precision, very profession, but then she confided in us that she loves working at this place, but hates the Tram ride especially when it is windy.  And it is now very windy,  somewhere around 50 MPH which is about the maximum for the Tram.  After dinner, we hade quite a long wait in line, about an hour, for the tram ride back down. 

View passing another tram coming down

View at the top with rain showers down in the valley. 

Monday October 13 - We return to the Sandia Peak Tramway parking lot where take a hike on a trail where we sort of wandered off trail and up into a rocky area.  It's a very scenic area and we are practically under the Tramway with great views in all directions. 

Great views

Balanced on a rock

The tram is overhead

Climbing into a rock cave

Next was a drive on Central Avenue, (old route 66) to view the Nob Hill Area sights and a stop at an Old Town Mexican restaurant for lunch.  Finally, we drive to another Hotel (#4) where they will stay for the night as it is close to the airport.  

I then bid farewell and start my drive back to Tucson.  It was a great reunion with lots of family updates, all good, but somewhat exhausting.  I drive mostly straight on I-25 to Truth or Consequences, NM where I spend the night.  

Tuesday October 14 - I'm back on I-25 to Deming where I stop at the Rockhound State Park where we once camped a decade or so ago.  I wanted to explore an alternate area that I remember from the past.  When I found it, I didn’t remember it at all, the area has been totally redeveloped into beautiful campsites.  It was a very photogenic landscape with great wild flowery plants and mountain views.  I took a few photo and then went back to downtown Deming for a while to look around, make a stop at a bakery for a few treats and then it's back on the highway. 

A cattle ranch view of the interesting rock formations

A very nice campground view

Deming has many great murals

All good things to aspire to

Beautiful Indian pottery monument

The trip back was smooth, no issues until a few miles from Tucson, dark ominous clouds appeared and a brief rain shower welcomed me back !

That ends this brief adventure and looking forward to the next one.                  

London, England Trip - September 8 - 16, 2016

London, England Adventure

Sue and I are off at 7 AM on September 8th, ready for a very long travel day.  It starts with a shuttle van to the Phoenix airport to catch a United Air flight to Denver, Colorado where we will connect to another flight to Heathrow Airport in London.  We had a scare on the way to Phoenix due to an email from United informing us that our initial flight in Denver was canceled, due to issues in London, but they had automatically put us on an alternate flight from San Francisco to London with only a short delay.  Amazingly, this all worked out !

Great view flying along California coast

 

Our flight to London was totally full and we were sandwiched into two tight center seats.  The flight was smooth, no problems except for excessive amounts of food, never thought I’d have a problem with that.  I thought it very odd that they turned on the cabin lights at about 6 AM and then came around with bacon cheese burgers. The cabin lights were then turned off in case you wanted to go back to sleep.  An hour or so latter, the lights come back on and they start serving breakfast. I was bloated with food for the rest of the day !  

On arrival at Heathrow airport, it seems that we had to walk about two miles to get to the rail station which they call the “Tube” and get on the proper train to Kensington where we have a hotel reservation.  It’s now about 12 noon on September 9th and I surely didn’t get much sleep last night but I don’t feel too horrible.  

We arrive at the Kensington High Street Station, it’s too early to check into our Hotel, but the plan is to drop our luggage off and then explore the local area. We then walk up and down Kensington Street looking unsuccessfully for the hotel, we don't have internet and eventually stop and ask someone for help.   This does not bode well for our ability to find our way around town ?   

Kensington is definitely an upscale area, the streets are loaded with expensive looking cars, we’re not in Tucson anymore, no dented up beaters here.  We check into the our room at the Kensington Hideaway Hotel to find it very a modern, high tech room with an entry card to turn on room power and many confusing light switches.  Also a modern bathroom with a stand up shower system.  I’m not sure I can deal with all this technology ?  

Our Day 2 plan is to visit the Westminster Abbey. We take the Kensington High Street Tube a few blocks from our hotel to get there. The Westminster Abbey area, as expected, is loaded with tourists.  Sue had made an advance reservation to get in which was smart, that's why I keep her around. 

The Abbey is amazing, beyond expectations !  The architecture is out of this world incredible, it’s hard to imagine how they built this back in this time period. The history inside is incredible, the tour book says there are more than 3,000 people buried inside and 600 tombs, predominately English royalty and aristocrates.  

It doesn’t matter what religious beliefs you have or don’t have, walking inside this place will affect you, it’s mind boggling !

After that, we sort of wander around the central London area, so much to see, you could spend your whole week right here.  In all directions, incredible buildings, shops, monuments and statues.  We find our way to the Trafalgar Square area and then to Convent Gardens areas. 

Everyone knows the iconic Big Ben

Trafalgar Square view

I think the vendor is trying to sell a tour to Sue

Love these flower draped English Pubs

Then a walk over to the Thames River where take the river walk back to the Westminster Cathedral area with great views of the river.  We pass the amazing Cleopatra's Needle that was removed from the ruins of the Caesarean of Alexandria in Egypt in the 19th century.  Also it is flanked by two faux-egyptian bronze sphinxes.

It's acceptable to drink your beer outside

After walking about 20,000 steps, we return to back to the Kensington where we end up at a local pub, The Goat, built in the 1679. We have their authentic Fish and Chips meal with an English pint or two.  

The Goat Tavern

Day 3 is a walking adventure past Kensington Gardens to the Prince Albert Hall which is another beautiful building.  They have a tour but it’s pricey and we had other priorities for the day.  Across the street is the beautiful Albert Memorial, Prince Albert was a very popular member of the royal family. 

The Prince Albert Hall

Absolutely beautiful all around

Encircling the Monument are these fantastic statues

We then continued walking to Exhibition Road and the Victoria and Albert Museum.  This is a vast museum with impressive  collections of about everything, it’s easily a full day to see all the exhibits.  I took so many photos, only a few shown below.

Museum entrance

Close up of museum entrance 

Statue of the Greek Myth of Achille's Heel and his mother Thetis

This ceiling was pretty amazing

It’s then back to the hotel to relax and then go to a nearby African restaurant that had an interesting menu and the food was great. 

It’s now day 4 and we have reserved a Big Bus Tour around London.  It’s one of the best and easiest ways to see most of the London sights.  You can get off the bus anywhere along the tour route, explore the area and then return to the bus stop and get back on the next bus to continue the tour.  We departed the bus a couple of times to see sights up close and personal.

The Rooster Tavern 

Bikes are available everywhere and the locals drive crazy 

View from the open top Big Bus

Big Ben again

A crowded view from the Westminster Bridge to the London  Eye

As you will see, I'm big on these street views

I'm also very big on the great architecture

Saint Paul Cathedral view

Statues in front of the Cathedral

We depart the Bus Tour in late afternoon conveniently in front of the bus stop at the Goat Pub, which seems to our favorite.  We get off the bus and walk right into the pub for a pint and a snack. 

You might wonder why we aren't going to fine London restaurants for big meals ?  It's because we are both having some gastric issues to put it in a nice way.  As a result, we are going light on the food.  I blame it on that huge cheeseburger I ate on the plane ? 

On Day 5, we decide to have the continental breakfast at the Hotel although it's not exactly free.  There is a complex one cup brew machine which Sue thinks she can handle.  It goes very wrong as she ends up spilling coffee and dropping  and breaking a glass on the floor.  Glad it wasn’t me !  Other wise, the breakfast was good.

  

After studying several maps, we feel that we could use the bus system to get around easier.  We take the # 9 bus to Piccadilly Circus where we explore, it’s one of the most interesting areas, adjacent to the China Town, Soho and Carnaby.  

We had a brief rainy period, but we had jackets and it was over by noon and it was to be the only rain during our trip.  

We ended up at a huge Waterstones book store for Sue (claims to one of the largest in Europe) and the  amazing Fortnum & Mason tea and biscuits store.  The biscuits were really calling to me, they were hard to pass up on. 

Statue of Florence Nightingale

Crimean War Memorial

Willian Shakespeare statue at Leicester Square

Award winning gay bar ?

Chinatown Gate

St James Tavern

The Admiral Duncan Pub

Weather report

It was then back to the Hotel via the # 9 bus, it seems to have become our go-to ride.  We go to another local pub in the evening, The Prince of Wales.  it’s very similar to the Goat Pub and we latter find out that both are owned by chain known as Blue King. 

On day 6, after breakfast at the Hotel and no problem with the coffee machine, we again take the # 9 bus to Picadilley Circus and then walk several blocks to the British Museum.  It’s another huge sprawling museum with endless exhibits.

Buy tickets here

Bikes foe hire

A long time Umbrella Shop near the British Museum

British Museum entrance

We enter into the ancient Egypt exhibit

A Lord Nelson plate in the Europe gallery

All days seems to end at Piccadilly Circus

On day 7, our final day in London, Sue and I go off on our own for the day. there are limits to our compatibility.  Sue is more interested in shopping, just like a woman !   I'm more into architecture, signs, art, murals and street art. 

A solo day enables me to explore and take photos totally at  my own direction and speed.  I've always been a solo guy, avoiding most group activities.   

My first stop is the town of Highbridge to look at building architecture and sights, especially the famous Harrods Department Store.  

I spend some time at the Hyde Park Gate and corner looking various the military monuments.

  

I then take the #9 bus to Piccadilly Square and mainly wander around the Soho and Carnaby street areas.  I stop for lunch at a pub, the Old Coffee House where I have a beef stew lunch that was pretty great.  I later find that this pub has quite an a history, being one of the birthplaces of the Carnaby Street period.

Beautiful brickwork

The Paxton's Head Pub

Very surprised to see an open street

World famous Harrods Store

The Hyde Park Gate

The Old Coffee House

Carnaby Street Mural

Welcome to Carnaby Street arch

The Cock Tavern

The all Saints Church is a beauty

Love these double buses

National Provincial Bank

          

Video from inside the Old Coffee House

A small demonstration at the square today 

Back at the Hotel we go out for a not so great Italian meal and then pack up for an early departure in the morning. 

Sadly, it's day 8 and time to leave, it's going to be another long travel day as we check out of the hotel at 7 AM and head for the Tube Station to take the train to the airport.  Of course we get on the train going the wrong way, have to get off and reverse our direction.  Fortunately, we have time to spare and still get to our terminal and gate way ahead of time.

The plane is on time, our seats are way in the rear, but luckily we have a spare seat in our row enabling us to stretch out.  The only drawback is that we are flying a route far up north over Greenland and northern Canada, all cloud covered, very little to see out of the window.

View after takeoff and then up into the clouds

The flight plan

 

Somewhere high over northern Canada

We land in Denver to catch our next flight which involves going through a couple of border security checks and then a baggage check with very long lines.  We then take a shuttle to our terminal and then a long walk to our gate getting there just as the flight is starting to board.  

It's a two hour flight to Phoenix in a smaller plane, fully loaded  and we are squeezed into the last row.  The flight crew is talking about posible turbulence, that's always relaxing.  We do have some roughness early in the flight, but not a big deal. 

At Phoenix, we again have quite a hike to the outside pick up spot for our shuttle van back to Tucson.  It's another 1 1/2 hour ride and as we get close to Tucson we hit heavy rain and our driver is making us nervous.  It's dark and rainy, poor visibility and he has to drive at 75 MPH in between cars and trucks in congested areas.  

We survived it all well and it was a great educational trip, but it's good to be home and I look forward to my own bed tonight.