Pics from Albuquerque

Here's a nice, easy post. Pictures!!! These are from my trip to Albuquerque. Thanks to Ricardo for remembering HIS camera, which I apparently couldn't.

Off we go:






Straight out of birds! The sun comes up behind the mountains in Albuquerque, so there is indirect sunlight for some portion of the morning while the mountains throw shade on the city. Makes for great pictures though!












The specs are balloons in the distance. The whole week was balloon fiesta week. Fun stuff.












Look at that blue! More balloons are in the distance.













The sun rising over the mountain. Seemed interesting to have the Chinese restaurant in the foreground. Not sure why I thought that....














Day one meeting. Notice Joe at the end of the table....probably blogging.














A view of the room from my end of the table.














Dinner time! A Frenchy place?!? Joe is not happy.














Ok, fine, I'll make the most of it. At least we had the Chef's table!! Nice job el supremo!! Craig1 in the foreground, Ricardo to the left, Mrs. el supremo, then el supremo and new recruit MH is next to me.
















Our hosts for the three day excursion!














See!! Told you it was the Chef's table. Here's the Chef. He did a great job.














The food was sooooo good, that I draped myself in the french flag momentarily.

















Ricardo actually went to the Fiesta fairgrounds for these balloon pictures. I woke up 45 minutes later and el supremo and I went to a nearby Starbucks to watch what we could.





























Here's Ricardo with a cool balloon being inflated in the background.


















Look at all the balloons!!




























Cool pic from right underneath one as it rises.













They aren't all typical balloon shapes.














I don't even WANT to know what the hell this thing is. The red/pink striped thing is a lizard though.












"So I go to the balloon fiesta with my new bumble bee balloon and don't you know that bastard Nate had to bring HIS bumble bee balloon. I was so embarrassed."










Many balloons have corporate sponsors.















Look at them all in various stages of inflation and flight. Seems like anarchy.













But they are actually lined up pretty well.





























You need to have a truck/van to own a balloon apparently.
















This would be MY balloon if I had one.














Day two meeting room. Not as nice as day one, but still good.


Recruit MH, Craig2, me, AirForce Leslie, Ricardo, Craig1, el supremo and Mrs. el supremo.










Tighter meeting quarters=more productivity.































Me and AirForce Leslie. She's a commercial pilot, shes in the reserves, is a single mother and wants to do more. Good Lord.









Dinner at el supremo's. Notice my soup. One half is Vichyssoise and the other half is like tomato basil cream or something. It was a great mix.











Cheers to the end of the meetings!!















We decided to get up a little early and hike this trail before we headed to the airport. One hour out and one hour back.












Looking back from whence we came. The sun was in our face while hiking out and at our back while hiking back.

Just some piles of rocks. Cool pic though.
















The main trail with Ricardo's shadow.































el supremo and I. We used ski poles as hiking sticks. They really work well and I was ready to use mine to fend off bears!!

Ricardo and el supremo.















Me trying to get a signal so I can text MWrigley during a water break. I wanted to let her know that I hadn't been eaten by bears yet.


Soon I would fly home!