Albuquerque, NM (3) and Colorado Springs, CO

Continued from previous day:

On Tuesday we drove over to Lois' apartment to see her again and then over to Health South to see Judy.  She was in rehab just finishing up so we got this picture of her and I:

9/10/2010


We are now in Colorado Springs, CO. Left ABQ on Wednesday - this was at our CG west of ABQ:

This rock was in the parking lot.  The painting is called Petroglyph and you see it all over.  Petroglyphs (also called rock engravings) are pictogram and logogram images created by removing part of a rock surface by incising, pecking, carving, and abrading. It should not be confused with pictograph, which is an image drawn or painted on a rock face (per Wikipedia).

These are two old Hudsons and an early camping trailer. 

There is a major interchange at the intersection of I-25 and I-40 in ABQ (about 3 bridges high - similar to the high 5 in Dallas) and with designs in the rocks around all the bridges similar to this one:

We drove to Raton which is about 1 mile from the NM and CO border. We were at about 8000 ft and spent the night in this CG. We got here about 3 PM and the wind was blowing pretty hard and COOL, but nice. Here are a few pictures:

In the morning when we left, it was in the low 50’s. Just before we pulled out, we saw big buck in the trees but he was gone before we could get the camera out. There have been soooo many good picture opportunities, and, believe me, I think we have captured every one of them (as you will soon see)!!!!

We got to our CG in Colorado Springs about 2PM, got situated in our site and then went out site-seeing – to the Garden of the Gods.  It’s a free city park consisting of about 1350 acres of red sandstone rock formations.  Many are over 300 million years old and were sculpted through time by the force of nature.  Again, so many pictures:

We did see this guy along the road - he was too busy eating to be bothered by us (and everyone else who stopped to get his picture!!).

And, here is our agenda for tomorrow:

Yes, that's Pike's Peak!


Later, we had supper at The Mason Jar, and, yes, they do serve all their drinks in mason jars!  Had good food and then back to the CG for the night.

I think you have seen enough pictures in this installment. Pike's Peak will be next…

Albuquerque, NM (2)

9/6/2010

Well, it is now Monday, Labor Day. We have spent the last several days visiting with Judy in rehab. We did get over to Lois’ apartment on Friday afternoon and visited with her. Unfortunately, we cant take her to see Judy because of our truck being so high, but she can talk with her via phone.

Saturday morning we drove into ABQ’s Historic Old Towne and walked around. We saw this old church that dates back to 1703 – here are a few pics:

                Here are a few other sights while there:

          

 This is a local painter who does some marvelous paintings, mainly of "shawl dancers."  We bought one and he autographed it for us.

                      
  Check out this cactus - wish we could be around when all those flowers bloom!

                                        
                                Typical home in ABQ.

Saturday evening we had dinner with Ellen and James Dueweke, good friends of Judy’s. They live in the NE part of ABQ and the view of the Sandia Mountains from their back yard was great.

Yesterday, after visiting with Judy in the afternoon, we drove out to the edge of the Sandia Mountains and took the Tramway to the top. It is the longest tram ride in the world and took about 14 minutes each way. Again, as you can see by the pictures, the scenery was beautiful.

Here we are about to pass the tram car going down.

              Guess what??   We are finally approaching the top!!

                                                               
                                 Views from the top.

                                                             
                               That's ABQ below.

                                                 
             And, yes, flowers do grow up here!

                                      
             Here is the other tram car approaching the top.

                                                   
          Couple of tourists, no doubt!  Behind us is a chair lift for the skiers in the winter time.  Some people were coming up to the top on those.

                                            
     Check out this picture of the other tram coming up!

        Gives you some perspective  just how high this is - over 10,000 ft.

 

 

 
We didn't get any pictures on the way down due to the sun, but I guess that what you see going up, you also see going down!!! (DUH).
 
We visited with Judy again today, and, while we were there, Judy’s friend, Lynne and Lois (Judy's mother, 93 years old) came in. Lynn was in town visiting her daughter and picked Lois up and brought her over. Here is a picture of mother and daughter:

After we left them, we drove to the nearest CVS to pick up some drugs, and, I happened to see this sign along the way:

      No way could we not stop to get something to eat!  (Julie and Ken, eat your heart out!!).
Tomorrow we will see Judy and then go over to see Lois one last time before we leave on Wednesday for Colorado.

Stay tuned...

Albuquerque, NM

9/2/2010

We are now officially on the road again. Left Melissa, TX on Monday, Aug 30th. Took us two hours to get all the way around the metroplex and onto I-20 west. We got about 150 miles when all of a sudden, we heard this LOUD bang from under the hood. And we lost almost all power. My turbo gauge went to -0- so I knew it had to be something with the turbo. We got off onto a service road and called GS ERS. Within 30 minutes a guy from Freddies’ Garage (Ranger, TX) showed up. The culprit was a broken clamp on the turbo hose. He didn’t have one, but was able to get one from their shop, and, an hour and a half later, we were back on the road. (/Whew - only a minor problem!!)


We made it to Post, TX (about 40 miles south of Lubbock, TX) and spent the night. On Tuesday we drove west thru TX - here are a few of the sights:

Notice the oil well in the middle of a cotton (yes cotton) field!   Don't be surprised if your next shirt is made from TX cotton!!

and then into NM and into mountains (pictures don't do justice, but here they are anyway):

We stopped at a CG for the night just outside of Ruidoso.

I took a walk later in the day to check out the CG and guess what I found and no camera to record it??

Actually I did get the camera and go back and they were still there - a buck lying down and a doe standing on the left of the picture.  You need to double click on the picture to get a clearer view.  The doe is on the left and the buck in the lower right (scroll down to see it).

On Wednesday we drove out of the mountains and into Albuquerque. Along the way we drove thru the Valley of Fire.

Very interesting – the rocks are black. According to Google: The volcanic action responsible was relatively recent, occurring between 1,500 and 5,000 years ago, but the lava has become quite overgrown with grass and small bushes so the landscape is generally greenish in color rather than black, less of a dramatic spectacle.

We are currently at the Enchanted Trails RV Park just west of Albuquerque on I-40.  When drove into the park, we encountered this sign:

This CG has been in existence since the early 70's.  Big park, all gravel sites, few trees. Not your Midwest CG, but I guess this is the southwest for you.  The price was right though - $155 for the week!

Here are a couple of antiques in view just to the left of the "WHOA" sign:

We came to Albuquerque to visit with my cousin, Judy, and her mom, Lois.  Judy had back surgery last week so we called the hospital to see if she was still there, but she wasn't.  She had been transferred to Health South for rehab yesterday.  Called her there and told her that we were on the way.   She is in good spirits and is just getting into rehab.  They have had her standing already, but one of here legs is still numb so she won't be walking for awhile yet.
Today, Thursday, we will be going over again to visit with her. 

More later........