Albuquerque, NM (10-14-13)

After taking a day or so to recover from the non-stop activity of the Balloon Fiesta, we were ready to see what else there is to see in Albuquerque.  We’ve been here before and have seen all the stores in Old Town, so we elected not to go there. 

The Federal Shutdown has had an impact on our itinerary.  In fact, the next place on our path to Arizona was going to be Malpais National Monument, but of course, it’s closed.

We wanted to do some hiking in the Albuquerque area, but again, most of the hikes are on federal land and are not open.  We did find a trail that is open because, although it’s on Federal land, it’s maintained by the City of Albuquerque, so off we went.

 
The area is called Piedras Marcadas, which in Spanish means “Marked Stones”.  This is an area that contains hundreds of petro glyphs. We walked among the rocks for about 2 miles or so, checking out all the “art”. They have estimated that these petro glyphs have been here since the year 1300 A.D.  It’s amazing that they are still so vibrant.

When we look at them we think in terms of people just drawing pictures because they want to, but in reality, this was a major form of communication before the written word.  This particular area was a major crossroad for ancient tribes.  One picture was of a man with an arrow in his head.  Not sure what that was communicating!

For our last night out together, we headed first to a pizza place. It’s been months since I’ve had pizza and this stuff was really good! 

We wanted a quick meal because our real goal was to get to the Sandia Peak tram in time to see sunset at the top of the mountain.

We made it with a little time to spare.  We didn’t mind cutting it close, because it was so cold at the top, that it was snowing!

 

The snow made for some really interesting sunset shots!

  Finally, the sun was all the way down, and we headed down the mountain.  We found when we got to the top that you can actually hike up and just take the tram down.  Maybe next time!

Sadly, it was time to leave Mike and Julie, but we’ll see them again in January, and I’m sure the time will go by pretty fast!

  We left Albuquerque, heading towards Tucson, and stopped about halfway, in the small town of Deming, NM.  We knew another friend of ours is staying there so we stayed at the same park, and the three of us went out to dinner.

The restaurant Lee suggested is called Adobe Deli, and it’s one of those restaurants with lots of character. It’s out in the middle of the desert, in what used to be a school.
Paul’s ribs showed up on a sword type of thing, stuck in a chunk of wood.

Even the ladies room was interesting- a parking meter is in front of the stall doors, with a sign telling you to deposit 5 cents to use the facilities!









After a great dinner, we took off the next day for Tucson.  Tucson is at a lower elevation, and further south, so its much warmer there.  Unfortunately, at the moment, we only have one working air conditioner.  Our main  AC unit, in the living room, is broken.  It’s the one that has a heater, as well as an air conditioner.  Its not heating or cooling, which is not good.  It’s also not good that it’s 3 months out of warranty.  Seems like an air conditioner should last longer than two years.  Paul has spent a fair amount of time talking with DRV, Dometic, (the manufacturer of the air conditioner) and multiple repair places.  Apparently there’s not much that we can do, other than replace it, but Paul is going to try and see if the issue is a lack of refrigerant, and he’s ordered a tool to be delivered that he’ll use to check it.  Then we’ll see where we go from there.  In the meantime, we have a fan pushing the cold air from the bedroom to the living room, because it was 87 degrees here today!

Al Capone's Vault-Deming, NM

More on Al Capone in a second.  First, we didn't go to Silver City NM- as usual, the weather is really putting a kink in our plans.  Silver City is at a higher elevation, and because of that, the forecast called for a low temperature of about 20-not something we are interested in experiencing on purpose.  So, instead,  we headed for Deming, NM, which is on the way to El Paso.  We stayed at another Escapees Park, although if I had it to do again, I would have stayed at the State Park-the trains were very LOUD, and so was the highway noise.  Our first day there I experienced my first major dust storm EVER (I still feel like I can taste it).

Dust storms are one of the things that we don't have back east- snow, yes, dust, no. They are one of the many differences between the eastern part of the country and the western states. I have also started to learn the names of some of the flowers and cactus that are prevalent in the west.  I can now recognize plants such as Palo Verde,  Prickly Pear, Ocotillo, and Mesquite.

Yesterday we spent the day rockhounding at Rock Hound State Park. Usually at the state and national parks you aren't allowed to take anything from the park, including rocks, flowers, even driftwood, but Rock Hound  State Park is different.  It is home to a wide assortment of stones, geodes, and quartz, and you are allowed to take them with you if you find anything you like.

       Paul and I hiked several miles, digging, looking for geodes (a hollow rock sometimes filled with crystals). So here's where we get to the part that reminds me of Geraldo Rivera when he went on live TV searching for Al Capone's Vault.  He had no idea what he was going to find when he dug, looking for the vault- he just hoped he was right, and the vault was where he thought it was.  Geodes look like regular rocks on the outside, except they are usually pretty round.  You have to cut them open to find out if there are any crystals inside.  We found what we THINK is a geode, but we haven't cut it open yet, so we could easily find out that its just a rock!  So now that I have said that, I am sure everyone is waiting with bated breath to find out if we have a beautiful geode, or a plain Jane rock. I am really curious myself. Oh, and Geraldo was wrong, so on National TV he dug a hole and found absolutely nothing.

This morning we left for El Paso, put the Everest in storage for a month , and we are back at Paul's parents' house.