Last night we had a pleasant dinner at the hotel restaurant but as usual the servings were enormous! I’d love to have been able to finish my Southwestern Chicken ( spicy but delicious!) but there was just no way I could fit all that food in my stomach.
Afterwards we wandered down to the pretty hacienda on the back lawn which had a nice view of the lake. The local bunnies were all out nibbling the lawn as well. They were much smaller and cuter than the Jack Rabbits that we’ve seen a few times.
We set the alarm for our early start this morning and greeted the sunrise.
We found a spot down the road with a good view of the lake in plenty of time to watch the balloons take to the skies.
There were about 18 of them altogether, taking turns at the beginning to rise for a test and then drop down. Eventually they all set sail and were such a pretty sight in the early morning skies.
Back at the hotel we had a slight panic because I remembered I’d left Neil’s phone on the bonnet of the car back at the lake! ( My excuse is early-morning-head-cold-brain-fuzziness ) He must be a very smooth driver because when he want back to the car, there it was still sitting on the car. Phew!
We were back on the road by 9.30 and heading north for our next major sightseeing stop. The road led through a wide, wide plain which is bright green along the bank of the Rio Grande but brown and dry beyond the river’s reach. High peaks lined the horizon to the east and the west and the road shoots straight down the middle of the plain. I don’t think we have driven on so many long, long straight roads on any of our other trips.
After 50 miles we turned east for the 100 mile detour ( 50 there and back) that took us to the Very Large Array, a colossal radio astronomy observatory that consists of 27 huge dishes lined up in a Y formation across the valley floor. Each telescope is huge and together they make an impressive sight. At the visitor centre we watched a short film about the work they do here , the telescope can see the birth of stars 30 million light years away! We walked around the facility and were just fascinated, it’s such an amazing thing to find in the middle of the New Mexican Nowhere.
After that it was 50 miles back to the freeway and then on to Albuquerque. As we passed through the town of Sorocco, it was hard to miss this reminder of the upcoming election.
We took a slight detour to drive around “Old Town Albuquerque” which has a pretty church on a plaza and many small adobe shops and restaurants. However, on this Saturday afternoon it was packed to the rafters with tourists and the guests of a wedding that had just taken place in the church. We drove around a couple of times trying to park but in the end we decided to head on. I’ve read that the Old Town area of Santa Fe is more appealing and we have the advantage that we will be staying right in that area of Santa Fe.
We’re having a bit of a rest in our hotel room waiting for the hotels ” 5.30 Kickback “, a free dinner provided with the cost of the room. We’re quite glad to not be going out for dinner as a storm has blown in and, at present it’s blowing dust around outside in a gale.