Tuesday, October 7
Alex calls me from work and suggests that we leave today for Santa Fe and the Balloon Festival in Albuquerque. After a quick check of the calender, I say "Sure. Why not?" We are getting really good at quickly collecting our gear and hitting the road. We drive to Moab and arrive around 9 pm. It's a beautiful night and the town is hopping with people. We slip quietly behind a local hotel and bed down for the night. At 3 am I wake and look out the window to see a beautiful lunar eclipse happening over the warm October sky. What a wonderful gift.
Wednesday, October 8
We drive south through Monticello then to Cortez, Durango and Pagosa Springs (a place I definitely want to spend more time in!) in Colorado and over the border into New Mexico. I have never been to New Mexico before and the drive is amazing. The Fall colors are bursting and my eyes almost cannot take so much beauty... we arrive in Santa Fe in the early evening and go to Aunt Claudina's house. She is a relative of Alex's, on his mother's Spanish side.
Claudina is 87 years young and such a hoot. When I am introduced to her she looks at me and says "oh honey, I look like such a tramp. I wasn't expecting company." I am in love with her instantly. We take her out to dinner at her favorite Mexican place where everyone knows her. She has a huge smile on her face and is proud to be there with friends. We get seated and she looks across the table. "Are you going to drink tequila with me?" Of course I am. We order margaritas and delicious food and we have a great time. We take Claudina home, where she has lived for more than 50 years and spend time with her son Benny and his son Lauren, looking at old photos and chatting away. We decide to drive to Albuquerque (Or ABQ as the locals call it) so we can be near the festival grounds for the balloon festival. The balloons start to rise around 5 am.
It starts to rain as we near ABQ and scout for a spot. We have trouble locating a good place because there are so many people around for the huge balloon festival. We end up parking under an awning of a closed up gas station, which is good for us because we suffer from a few leaks in the van during heavy rains.
Thursday October 9
We wake very early and see a police cruiser parked next to us. Alex gets out to walk Bailey and the policemen in the car pay no attention to him. Seems they are there to direct traffic for the Balloon Fest. Whew. I'm having a hard time getting myself awake, so Alex drives while I lay in bed gathering myself and my thoughts.
We drive about 2 miles to the gate and as we get to the parking lot we see them. Hundreds of balloons beginning to float in the clear early morning sky. They are as big as skyscrapers. They are in every shape and color of the universe. It's like being inside of a saturday morning cartoon. Sharks, bees, ships, fairies, horses, birds, dolls. They are in all stages of coming to life. Some are floating high in the sky, others are just getting their hot air pumped into them and rising from the grass field. It's amazing. So magical. We are smiling and laughing and running around like kids. It's one of the most beautiful things I have ever witnessed.
We stay for several hours and it feels like a state fair. There are a lot of booths containing food, games, trinkets, posters, and all things in the world of the hot air balloon.
We decide to drive back to Santa Fe and explore downtown. This is our only day here - we have to begin our drive back in the morning. We go to Santa Fe and love walking around. So many art galleries, shops, restaurants and things to see. The people are going crazy over Bailey, Alex's miniature Schnauzer. Everyone wants to pet her and talk to her. Santa Fe is definitely a dog friendly kinda place. We have a nice lunch on a patio - although the food turned out to be not so good.
No love in the food or in the service. Ah well....probably an off day...
Back to Benny's house to take a shower and over to Aunt Claudina's for a visit. I wasn't feeling so well from the no-love food so I chilled in the van for a while while they eat pizza and have a chat. We sleep in Benny's driveway that night in the pouring rain. It's quite cozy and I have a good sleep and pleasant dreams. I feel as if I'm going through a major healing process on this trip.
Friday, October 10th
After a lovely breakfast with Claudina and some sweet good-byes, we hit the road. We drive all day and arrive in Moab around 8 pm. We have a good sleep behind our favorite motel and head north after fueling with coffee and bagels. We arrive in Orem, Utah in time for my family reunion (which is another chapter...).
A smooth, peaceful trip to New Mexico. I can't wait to return and spend much more time in Santa Fe, Taos and ABQ!
