Seventh grade SC History class is a class I will never forget, although the subject matter may be a bit blurry and the teacher's name may or may not have been Mr. Corley. One of the things I remember clearly is this show we'd watch on Fridays that aired on PBS and had to have been made in the 70s. The premise of the show was this guy traveling the state in an RV, and the theme song was
"On the Road Again" by Willie Nelson. Still to this day, that song gets stuck in my head.
I know for many people, being on the road for work is a way of life, and it becomes a thing they hate, but my weekend trip to Albuquerque, NM, was a nice change from the scope of my everyday job at 11250 Waples Mill Rd. The point of the trip was originally to observe and learn about the Clubs side of our division by attending their Club U, but when the normal Friends of NRA presenter for the state of NM dropped out unexpectedly, I was called on to fill in and speak about our program. It was a quick trip, leaving Friday morning early and flying back home Sunday morning early. Although it was short it was quite exhausting due to the time change and my encroaching illness. A larger selection of pictures can be found
here, but I've included some of the highlights in this post.
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| The land was so desolate! Miles of brown with no house. |
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| This is no river like I've seen before. |
Friday afternoon we traveled into Old Town and saw some of the interesting shops that make up the historic portion of the city of Albuquerque. I was fascinated with the red chiles hanging, and when I first made the comment that they could be the focus of an artsy photographer, our professional photographer Lars laughed and thought I was kidding. Guess who has as many shots on his camera of chiles as I do?
We discovered this cute shop filled with kaleidoscopes. I felt like a kid again, until I saw this beautiful piece of art. It's equipped with a light to shine on the balloon that makes the colors almost heavenly when you look through it. The photo is actually contraband, because after I took it while the shop owner was in the back, when she came to tell us more about it and Lars tried to take a snapshot, she refused to let him do so. Oops! I just had to share. The pricetag: $1400. Not a toy!
We then traveled up the 2.7 mile long cables of the Sandia Peak Tram to the High Finance restaurant on the top of the mountain overlooking the city. It is the highest tram in the US, and has played host to 270,000 people since it's opening not all that long ago. I must admit, that although I'm not afraid of heights, I did experience altitude sickness.
The scenery at the top was well worth it though. Here are just a few of the shots.
Saturday was work, and my speech went really well! Then we were off to dinner at Sadie's for traditional NM cuisine.
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| Carne Adovada Enciladas in blue corn tortillas |
On our way back on Sunday, we flew over one of the Great Lakes as we descended into Chicago's O'Hare Airport. And the colors were just remarkable.
The trip was great, but I'm still recovering from it and the DC allergen that has been tormenting me for the past week. I'm actually in a hurry to get off here so I can stop dozing and actually fall asleep. It'll only be a few days, and I, like Willie Nelson, will be "on the road again." This time I'll be heading home, not away from it.
