Hi! So I made it to my first stop, Albuquerque,New Mexico. I am staying with my grandma, living in her sunny art studio/spare bedroom. My Aunt and two cousins also live down the street, and my Uncle is in town for the weekend. New Mexico is beautiful this time of year. It's perfect fall weather, which is nice since we seemed to skip that part in Minnesota. The air is cool and crisp but the sun is very strong with clear blue skies nearly everyday! The morning after I arrived, my aunt and I were volunteers on the recycling crew for the International Balloon Fiesta (the most photographed event on earth).
It was a great gig, that allowed for most of the time to enjoy the festivities. We had to get up at 4:30 in the morning to get there nice and early. We were able to see the dawn patrol (the first balloons that go up in the morning when its still dark to test out the air).
After the sun came up, balloons started to inflate every where around me, I was in awe of the sheer number of balloons around me and all the great colors. It felt like being in a cartoon, which might have been partially because of the special shaped balloons that came in the likes of kissing bees, Darth Vador, and pink elephants!
We tried to make it back to see the balloons for the "night glow" and evening show, but the winds picked up and the balloons could stay up, but we got a great firework show at least!
On Sunday, my aunt Nancy and I took a long walk down to the Frontier restaurant to get the famous breakfast burritos (kind of a signature for the balloon fiesta and Albuquerque in general). We also went on a beautiful hike in forth of July Canyon (named that because its famous for all its radiant fall colors).
I have been having a great time spending quality time with my family and enjoying this beautiful city. I have been going on lots of walks and scoping out things to do around town. Also enjoying the little joys in life, like reading on my grandmas hammock or waking up from a nap to the smell of fresh carrot cake (god bless my grandma), and winning a game of scrabble, (thats right folks, I BEAT my grandma in scrabble, this needs to go in the record books because my family back in MN with never believe it : ). Click here if you want to see my complete set of balloon pictures
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2631179&id=8609614&l=f5ac8c22b2
Until next time....
THERESE
I do NOT believe you won scrabble. I don't even believe you saw any balloons! ; )