Albuquerque (Wednesday)

We left Gallup this morning at 9:07 a.m., fed and fueled.  We bought gas for $3.339, an improvement over our last tank in Chino Valley.  It was 36 degrees when I got up about 6:00 a.m., and it was in the 50s as we drove toward Albuquerque.  We weren't sure if overnight camping was allowed at the truck stop we stayed at last night, but when we fueled this morning, we saw they had an RV dump right there at the gas station, so we are thinking they are happy with the RVers' business.  There were some semi trucks that stayed there too, one other RV, and a station wagon with two guys in it pulled in right beside us sometime during the night.  We did have an old Indian knock on our door this morning, wanting to sell me some jewelry.  He asked if we were "selling food," I'm thinking he was hoping for a handout.  I just shut the door on him.

As we drove through Gallup on I-40, we saw a couple of huge pots decorating the highway.  Our destination today was Santa Fe, but I picked up some brochures in Gallup, and one of them was about a tram ride in Albuquerque.  So we decided that would be our excellent adventure today.  Then, just because we can with our "flexible" lifestyle (aka no jobs), we decided to spend the night in Albuquerque and leave Santa Fe for tomorrow.  Or, Joe said, the next day.

The tram ride took us to the top of Sandia Peak, the majestic mountain range that sits behind beautiful Albuquerque.  On the road to the tram ride, we stopped to top off with fuel ($3.249), and there was a herd of domestic bison right next to the gas station.  Not exactly wildlife, but we are always happy to see buffs!  We are in the Cibola National Forest.  Cibola (sea-bola) is Indian for "buffalo."

We saw a few more herds as we drove on up to the tram.  The scenery was beautiful from there, and we thought our RV looked just fine sitting out there in the parking lot.

We decided to have lunch in the very nice Mexican restaurant there before we went up to the top.  There was another restaurant at the very top of the tram ride, named High Finance, so we figured we better eat at the bottom, and in fact we shared a meal and drank water to keep the costs down.  Joe thought there was probably a message in that name.  The food was very good, and very hot.  I'm thinking I now have stripes on my tongue, something Mazie worries about when Joe talks her into trying a bite of something.

Winds at the top were ranging from 7-9 mph, and the temperature at the top was 41, so we were glad to have worn our coats.  We talked to some guys who worked up there in the restaurant, and they said we had picked the nicest day they had had so far this year because it was not very windy.  Actually, it was only cold on the edge of the walk-outs.  It was a pretty hazy day so the views were not real clear, but it was a nice ride and good views.

The tram did not have seats on it, which surprised us, but it was very comfortable.  We looked for wildlife (especially bears) both ways but didn't see anything.

The return tram that came up had an employee riding on the top raking pictures.  I asked him if he got the cheap seats.  Not sure I would want to try that.

Inside the Center there were many exhibits, including a hummingbird nest with eggs.  Not sure if this will show up, but the nest and the eggs were very tiny. 

There is a resort/casino at the turnoff to this tram ride, so we decided to spend the night on the parking lot here and explore Albuquerque a little in the morning before heading on to Santa Fe.  I'm sure we will win enough in there to pay all our expenses for this trip.

We drove 162 miles today, and were off the road by 4:30 NM time (we had to move our clocks up an hour today).