October outing to Autumnal Albuquerque; part one - intro and altitude

Albuquerque is rapidly becoming one of my favourite words, given that every time I write it I have to try about six times to get it right there is a tremendous sense of achievement whenever I actually get it written. Why Albuquerque? 1) I have a friend who lives there; for those of you paying attention to my life she is the lady my sister and me stayed with when we spent the summer in The States when I was eighteen (that would be eleven years ago). In fact she drove us and some other teenagers from St Louis (Missouri, which is in 'the middle') to Idaho (which is one state east of Washington State). She then looked after Ruth and Me for about three and a half weeks and showed us the sights in Kenosha, Wisconsin. 2) They have a balloon fiesta 3) I'm a Fulbright scholar, I'm supposed to be absorbing the culture! So this weekend I left work on Thursday and hopped on a plane to Salt Lake City, then caught my connection through to Albuquerque. Internal flights are so much more pleasant that international flights... I may have to do some more!

Look how little it's supported by Dad
(evil daughter laugh...he he he)

Taking the plane after work got me in at 11:30pm so I could get up on Friday ready for a fun days sightseeing... Tish and Tim took me up the mountain (Sandia Peak) and I broke Tish on a 'hike'! See photos for the details of the day...

This is the 'tram' we rode up the mountain in,
Tim waited in the line for an age for our tickets
whilst Tish and I looked around... 

The journey up...

It's dusty hence the haze

Start of the hike... we went around the mountain
a mile or so then realized the quickest way back
was back the way we'd come - opps! 

this is the path...

and the view off the side (evil daughter laugh again)

it is a path, honest!

but look at the view!

look at the pretty pretty trees

look at the pretty trees...

look at the colours...

and these are some more of the tram

 Please note the elevation! Albuquerque itself sits on a plateau that is over 5,000 ft above sea level. It is also on the northern tip of the Chihuahaun Desert. In October the humidity ranges from 60-30% which left me high and dry (giggle!). Usually Bristol and Seattle range between 95-60% humidity.