Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta - Day 2

WOW, what a day.  It was a tour day with the Fantasy RV Tour group.  We got on a bus with 50 others and rode up the Sandia Mountains to the Sandia Peak Tramway, the 10,000 plus foot mountain top and the blowing 35 degrees up there ! !  They ski down the other side!!!  For some reason I really thought this would be a tram on a stable track, BUT, that was not the case!!  It is a swinging gondola that rides up on cables for 2.7 miles.  It is marketed as the world's longest aerial tramways!!  Oh my, you who know me, know how hard this was for me!! BUT we did it!!!!!

These two pictures were taken from the parking lot..  Albuquerque is a huge, spread out city but does not have very good air..  we were very surprised at all the smog.  But, the city is in a box of mountains.  We had a really great lunch before we headed back down the mountain!

The last three pictures are from the gondola but don't really show how terrific the view was when I could peek at it!!  There was one place where the guy on the gondola said it was 1,000 feet down.  He also showed us where an airplane had crashed, we couldn't look.  The shiny stuff way down there was the metal.  He said that it was determined to be pilot error but that a compass had failed.  WOW, what an error.  

After that wild trip we went to the Turquoise Museum.  It was very interesting.  They actually took us into a conference room and talked about turquoise for a while.  Did you know that approximately 80% of the world's turquoise is mined in China?  He talked about how marketing affects it all.  Everyone thinks that New Mexico is turquoise country for the US but it is really Nevada.  Who knew??  He also told us that the best tip to shopping is to ask if the stone is "natural".  That is the one question that sellers, by law, cannot lie about.  There are many processes that make what most of what we buy not a natural stone.  It was also a great place to pick up a couple of gifts!!

We have noticed driving around that Albuquerque really knows how to landscape their freeway areas.  Lots of work done with rocks, colored cement and plantings.  Very well done!!  It is also colder here than anywhere else we have been, wearing jeans for the first time today and not just cuz we went up on the mountain.  I think the wind makes a difference too.

We are really tired tonight.  Feel that the stress of the gondola ride pooped us out!!  Tomorrow is the official assension opening of the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta, they expect more than 10,000 people on the grounds just tomorrow and it starts at about 5:45 in the morning.  Oh my, wonder if we will be able to get there.  Gotta catch the shuttle!!