October 2-5

When we first arrived in Albequerque we accidentally parked in the handicapped lot and were snuck into the balloon festival by a lively septuagenarian who loudly proclaimed that they "aren't even checkin'" for handicapped tags in the lot. After all this, we discovered that the balloon glow was cancelled due to wind and that Chrysanthemum is as unimpressed as we are by fireworks and ended up just leaving.

The Mass Ascension of balloons was just that - a massive amount of balloons rising up into the air. Over 700 of them continuously inflating and taking off for over two hours. It was such a festive environment and Mr. S. and I were both grinning the whole time. The world needs more hot air balloons. They make people really happy.

We found this hike in a book titled "Great Hikes to do with Children." IF THIS BOOK EXISTS FOR OTHER STATES I WANT IT!!! I'm not sure which member of our family counts as a child but all the hikes in this book were perfect for us. Short enough for Mr. S. not to get grumpy from being away from the internet for too long and easy to moderate enough for the short legs of Chrysanthemum and I. That being said, I would not want to do this hike with an actual child. After an unnerving drive up an unpaved, unmarked road, a steep climb to get to the trail head and a challenging for us higher altitude, we arrived at Williams Lake. It was beautiful and the cool air was so refreshing. Unfortunately my pictures turned out HORRIBLE! I am going to try to stitch together a panoramic of the best ones but most of them look like the child that was supposed to come along on this hike took them.

The next day we hiked down to the Rio Grande. The drive to reach this hike was much safer than the previous day and we really felt like we were in unclaimed wilderness. A unique and pleasant experience for three city folks. The really cool thing about this hike is that it features petroglyphs from around 800 years ago. Since I was a kid I have had a fascination with Native Americans that I believe began with watching Peter Pan on repeat. An auspicious beginning considering that they refer to them as red men...but anyway, I used to write poetry about cliff dwellers, drag my parents to museums featuring their art and even convinced my mom to decorate my bathroom with a Native American theme. The chance to see this was a very special treat. My mind was spinning thinking about how old 800 years is but also how young that is in comparison to the gouged out landscape around us. After a few minutes with the petroglyphs and some time spent playing in the water, it was time for the portion of the hike that was very much not a treat - hiking out. Even though it was less than two miles, it was a steep less than two miles. It was at this point it became clear which family member was the child that day..