We are home and finally have Oxygen to breath

We left Albuquerque and headed home to Mesa on Monday.  Now, the easy way to get home would have been to head back west on Interstate 40 to Flagstaff and then go south to Mesa.  But, we had seen a  Sunday morning show about a place called Pie Town in New Mexico and we thought it would be fun to see.

So off we went, heading for highway 60 which actually is the highway that goes right by our place.  In New Mexico, it is a two lane road that runs mostly though farming areas.  But along the way, just before we hit Pie Town we stopped to visit something called Very Large Array.

First of all, this is where Jodi Foster filmed part of the film Contact back in the 90's.  Secondly what they really do here is listen to the skies, hoping to hear from someone or something who is trying to contact us.

The array is a 22 mile wide telescope made up of 27 dish antennas and each antenna is 81 feet across.  With the help of a special super computer, they observe the Universe together as one giant telescope.

It can see deep into the stormy center of the Galaxy, discover the birthplace of countless baby stars, and hunt for new worlds.

 We left the Array and hurriedly headed 30 miles down the road to Pie Town.  The town gets its name from an early bakery that made dried-apple pies and was established by Clyde Norman in the early 1920's.

We got to the Pie Town Cafe before it closed at 3pm, and after we shared a green chili burger, we had a piece of 3 Berry and Pecan Pies.  But before we left we ordered a piece of their specialty ...New Mexico Apple Pie,  Apples, green chilies and Pinion nuts.  We had it later that night when we stopped in Eager Arizona.

At this point we are still about 7000 feet above sea level.  Since Utah, we have continued to climb to higher elevations and at times found ourselves short of breath with little exertion.  We are so looking forward to getting back to Mesa where the oxygen is plentiful.

Tuesday we left Eager and continued our drive west.  Highway 60 up to this point is pretty straight and uneventful.  Once you hit Show Low Arizona, the dynamics of the highway change.  It becomes a switchback road traversing the canyons as you travel downward in elevation.  The views are gorgeous, but with so many 6 and 7% downgrades, the brakes on our RV were getting quite hot even though at times we were geared down to 2nd.  A great road to take and see the scenes in a car but do not recommend it in an RV or towing any trailer.

We finally arrived home, and it has taken us 2 full days to get everything unpacked from the RV and into the house.  Did not know it was possible, but it seems we actually have more storage space in the RV than we do in the house.

We did managed to find a spot for everything and we have once again downsized, getting rid of things we really do not use or need.  The community is having a big garage sale this month, so think we will be participating.  One mans garbage is another's treasure!

We are home, taking deep breaths of good 'ole oxygen.  There won't be as many posts to the blog as we have done recently, but we will stay in touch and let you know how and what we are doing for the next 6 months......

The plan is to head back to the NW next April.

BALLOON FIESTA and ALBUQUERQUE

After leaving Cortez Co., we headed further south to Albuquerque NM with the 2015 Balloon Fiesta being our destination.  With no mechanical problems like last year, we made it, pulling into Enchanted Trails RV Park Thursday .  After getting set up we had a knock on the door.  Friends Robert and Diana, who hosted with us at Belfair State Park in Washington state, were staying there as well to see the balloon fiesta.  Made plans to connect one evening.

At very dark early waiting to
board our bus

There are several options when attending the Balloon Fiesta. The more expensive options were for a special area that includes entrance, a meal or a buffet and a guaranteed chair to watch from. Another is driving yourself to the park, pay for parking then walk about 1/2  mile or more to the entrance. If you have an RV, there are spaces to park for whatever length of time you are staying and you get a great view from a higher point than the main ground (and they run golf cart shuttles to and back).  Or you can do what we did, purchase park and ride tickets. We drove about 10 miles from our RV park to a shopping center where we boarded a bus that dropped us at the main gate of the fiesta.  Our Park and Ride tickets also included entrance fees.


Friday, we had time before catching our bus to the fiesta, so we headed to Old Town Albuquerque.  A quaint historic section, that is quite commercialized.  Lots of little shops and boutiques.  Had lunch in a Mexican restaurant and then headed to catch our bus.

We attended the evening session on Friday, which starts about 4pm.  While you are waiting for the balloons, you can tour the rest of the grounds which include lots of food, some carnival games and rides, a craft sales tent, and the Hot Air Balloon museum.

Sky Racers

Balloons starting to inflate

The highlight of the evening was the Special Shapes Glow. A glow means the balloons do fly, they stay tethered and light up.  I believe there were about 200+ balloons that evening and it is amazing how close together they are to each other.  You are allowed  to walk around the grounds getting up close to the team setting up the balloons.  That night also included a laser show and a spectacular fireworks.  The evening started out with Sky Racers, motorized pari gliders, racing around big pylons and playing soccer with a big yellow ball.

view of food/souvenir shops 

Sunday morning was the next time we attended the Fiesta which also was the last session of the Fiesta.  We went for what they call Mass Ascension which starts at 7am.  What an exciting thing to watch, where all the balloons go up into the air about the same time.  We woke up at 4:30am, had a light bite to eat and cup of coffee, then headed to the mall to catch our bus.  We were dropped off at the main gate at 6am, in time to see the Dawn Patrol go up first and give their okay on the weather for the Ascension. With the okay to go, the green flag was raised and all the trucks with their balloons headed onto the grass and  started to lay out the 'envelope' get the fans, the propane and the basket set up.

I could not find the number of balloons that lifted off that morning, but we estimated about 300+.  No matter what the number, it was something to see.  We were snapping pictures right and left and would point one way and say "look", then we would look somewhere else and say "look there too".  It was hard not to be like a couple of kids.

This event is something to see and highly recommended.  I would also recommend, not purchasing either of the special area tickets (one was $130 per person that included a buffet meal.)  Food is readily available or bring your own in a back pack.  Get out on the field with the balloons and all the people.

Before catching the bus back to our car, we took a tour through the Hot Air Balloon Museum adjacent to the field.  Very interesting to hear how ballooning  started in France and see the actual 'baskets' that broke records crossing the Atlantic and the Pacific.

Our tour group

Between visits to the fiesta, Saturday was our 6th anniversary and we purchased another walking food tour, this one of the Nob Hill area of Albuquerque.  We visited 4 restaurants in 2.5 hours and enjoyed our time with some truly fun people.  The food was good, our only hesitation to give the tour 5 stars was our guide.  Erin was personable and easy to talk to, but she offered very little information on the history of the area or the restaurants.  Nob Hill is on the original Route 66 and a lot of the buildings which are being recycled, still maintain their 1930 art deco look.  So it would have been great to hear stories about the area.

Greek - Spanakopita

Mexican  - Chicken
Tacos

Pasta with bolognese sauce

Cinnamon ice cream desert

Finishing up our visit to Albuquerque on Sunday, we shared happy hour with Robert and Diana and the two couples they are traveling with.  All of us are pulling out and going in different directions on Monday.

We head back to Mesa!

#20 - Mesa Verde National Park, Cortez Colorado

We left the Moab area and headed SE with a destination of Cortez Colorado as our ultimate goal.  We did not expect to see much during this portion of the trip as it is pretty much farm land all the way.  BUT WAIT..... who knew you could visit a 5000 square foot home, built into a huge rock along the way.  Well, you can.  As you are driving south on highway 191, just before turning east at Monticello Ut, you will see signs for "Hole in the Rock".  This is one of those places you need to stop and see, kind of like the largest skillet (in Long Beach Washington, or the tallest Miner in Helper Utah).

The Original To-mater

A gentleman named Albert Christenson and his wife, built a 5000 square foot house within this rock.  He blasted out an area, then formed rooms.  It originally was a diner until they closed it in 1955 but they continued to live there, refining and making modifications to their home until 1974.  The grounds contain a petting zoo, and many objects d'art that are intriguing.  The story is intriguing, and worth the hour or so stop.

Jeep covered in license plates, wheels
are made from scrap metal

Chair carved out of a stone

Once here in Cortez, our first destination was Mesa Verde National Park.  Mesa Verde was designated a National Park in 1906 by President Theodore Roosevelt and occupies 52,000+ acres. The park offers us a look into the lives of the Ancestral Pueblo people who made their home here for over 700 years from 600AD to 1300AD.  There are over 5,000 archaeological sites including 600 cliff dwellings and are some of the most notable and best preserved in the United States.

We learned there were about 50,000 people living in this area and 10% of them chose to live in the cliffs of the Mesa sides.  The remainder of the peoples lived on top of the mesa's, farming.

Just like the Pueblo
people, climbing
a ladder to access
their home

Only one of the cliff dwellings was open for tours this time of the year, Balcony House, which before we bought our tickets was told would require climbing  32' and 20' ladders, squeezing between two rocks to get to additional parts of the dwelling and crawling through an opening in a rock for about 12'.   All of this and doing it at approximately 8000 feet, which we discovered can cause a real shortness of breath.

Room within the dwelling

Crawling into the next
section

Balcony House was a medium sized two story masonry structure with 38 rooms, 2 kivas, with the alcove being 39' deep, approximately 264' long and built 600' above the floor of Soda Canyon.

As we toured the dwelling, I was stuck by the sheer ingenuity to detail, craftsmanship and engineering skills required to build this structure. Not only that, but consider they were 600' above the floor of the canyon and there was about 100' above them to the top of the mesa.  Archaeologists discovered hand and toe hold trails notched into the cliffs that would have allowed them access to their crops planted above them on the mesa.

Last ladder, climbing to top or
mesa out of dwelling

Some of the other dwellings within these cliffs, tours were  not available, but we could view them from other parts of the trails.  Cliff House, and Sand House are two of the more remarkable dwellings.

Cliff House

There is so much more to say about this area, it is well worth a visit to discover where the original condominiums were built.  Highly recommend taking your time and if you have any respiratory problems, make sure you bring your meds.  We found ourselves short of breath after even a little exertion.

Second day here we visited the Anasazi Heritage Center, a wonderful museum interpreting the history and culture of the Four Corners Region.  It is one of the best interactive and informative museums we have seen.




And of course, we discovered there was a winery in the area.....Guy Drew winery.  They grow their own grapes, mostly Reisling, Cab and Syrah and make some really good wine!!!









Third and last day we took a drive to Hovenweep National Monument stopping at two lesser known sites along the way.

It was amazing to see the different styles of craftsmanship and building techniques between Mesa Verde and Hovenweep.  Hovenweep peoples built their structures on top of solid rocks, instead of in the ground with pit houses or within the cliffs, and the craftsmanship  was precise showing straight and plumb lines.  We learned the quality of this work was a style from the Chaco peoples who demonstrated a technique of building that was far beyond their years considering what tools they did not have to work with.

Chaco Canyon in NM is the last of the 5 areas to visit to discover and learn about the Ancestral pueblo people that inhabited this area from 600-1300AD.  When they left the area in the 1300, they left everything, their tools, their pots and clues about their lives.

After a long day, we ended with a great sushi dinner at Stonefish Sushi and more in Cortez.  We arrived 3 minutes before happy hour ended and  our waitress was nice enough to allow us to order at Happy Hour prices.  So we ordered quickly checking off more than we really needed to eat.  But, we managed!  5 Stars for this place of business.

Stonefish Sushi and More - Cortez, Co.

Onto Albuquerque NM and the balloon festival.