Albuquerque 4/13/09 - 4/14/09

We left Wikieup and headed towards New Mexico, stopping one night in a little RV park in Sun Valley, Arizona.

It seemed that as soon as we crossed the boarder into New Mexico, the red mountains started popping up. That is exactly what I expected New Mexico to look like!

Some of the rock mountains were long and went on forever, and some just jumped out of the landscape and stood alone.

There were little communities built at the base of some of the solid rock mountains. It was really picturesque. (I did spell check this word.)

A lot of the country we went through was on Indian reservations. Some of the homes were pretty run-down looking, but most of them had their round "sweat houses." They are part of their religious culture.

It turned out to be pretty cold while we were in Albuquerque. In fact, one morning we got up and there was snow on the ground and on the pick-up. So, on with the long pants and sweatshirts again. I know that all of our friends and family in Idaho feel bad for us!

We met up with Russ and Louise Manwaring, with plans to go to THE Rally with them. They ended up staying in the park we did for a couple of nights.

One day we all went to Old Town Albuquerque and walked around. There are still a lot of the original buildings that were were when Albuquerque was first settled. This is a unique way of getting water off of their roof.

Russ and Terry admired an authentic cannon that was in the Plaza.

This Church is over 300 years old and still holds Catholic services. It is connected to a convent.

The inside was beautiful. We were able to walk to the front and take pictures, but I felt a little funny about it because there were people sitting in there meditating and praying. We made sure were were very reverent.

Albuquerque is famous for its Balloon Festival, so a lot of the little shops have souvenirs from it. I thought this "balloon hat" was rather becoming!

Terry liked the manly sombrero a little better.

Russ and Louise agreed with Terry!

They used the dried red peppers to decorate in a lot of shops, as well as selling them.

Well, we are off to THE Rally tomorrow. It should be a lot of fun.