Albuquerque Balloons

Long before "bucket lists" became a thing, I've wanted to attend the annual balloon festival in Albuquerque (ABQ), NM. I blame Dr. George Fischbeck, my favorite 1970s TV meteorologist, who bragged every year about going to the festival. It always sounded so exotic, but I never went. That is, until this year when the UCLA alumni travel group offered a weekend in ABQ to see the balloons. This would be our first big post-pandemic excursion. We booked the tickets 6 months in advance and kept our fingers crossed that COVID wouldn't shatter our plans.

Not yet ready to fly, we instead reserved an overnight "roomette" (i.e., bunk beds for two) on Amtrak—a tad cramped, but far better than, say, driving to New Mexico. The travel group arranged our hotel reservation: the luxurious Hotel Chaco, adjacent to Old Town Albuquerque and across the street from the Sawmill Market, a tasty food emporium serving everything from thin-crust pizza (me) to lobster po-boy sandwiches (Tim) to amazing fruit-topped waffles (me and Tim!). Food galore.

Amtrak roomette

Sawmill Market

Pizza from HAWT (Have a Wonderful Time)

On Friday night, we attended a reception where we met the other hundred or so alums from colleges across the country. Then it was to bed, so we could rise early the next morning to catch our buses to the festival. The first event of the day: the Dawn Patrol balloon release at—you guessed it—dawn! Meaning, of course, that we had to leave the hotel at 4:30AM. Beautiful, but I'm pretty sure every one of us took a long nap once we returned to the hotel at 10AM!

Dawn Patrol balloons aglow

Once the Dawn Patrol took off, balloons started to inflate all over the airfield, so we made our way down to get a closer look. The Albuquerque balloon festival is the only U.S. airshow that allows attendees to walk among the airships as they prepare to fly. Seeing the efficiency of the ground crews prepping the balloons for flight was exhilarating. In a matter of minutes, deflated balloons lying flat on the ground were filled with cold then hot air before launching. Mass Ascension began at 7AM, ending some 2 hours later with hundreds of balloons flying above. It was crowded, loud, colorful, and absolutely exciting—everything I always hoped it would be!

Before inflation

Filling with cold air

Ground crew members

Filling with hot air—very noisy

Surrounded by color

Up close

Mass Ascension: Up, up and away!

I especially loved the "shape" balloons: Airebelle the cow (sponsored by Creamland Dairy), Smokey the Bear, Harlequin, pink pig ("When Pigs Fly"), and even a red devil.

Harlequin

Watermelon balloon

Smokey the Bear

Red Devil. Note how tiny the people look below him.

Airebelle the Cow and penguin

When Pigs Fly

We returned at sunset for the "Twilight Twinkle Glow" show, where the balloons stayed on the ground but were illuminated by hot air flames. Magnificent.

Twilight Twinkle Glow

A glorious show!

Back again the next morning for Dawn Patrol, followed by another spectacular Mass Ascension. The most popular balloons on Sunday were Darth Vader and Yoda, accompanied by several cosplayers dressed as storm troopers, rebel fighters, and, of course, Boba Fett, who all secured the perimeter while the balloons were inflated. What a thrill!

Dawn Patrol flying overhead on Sunday

Balloons in various states of inflation. Note the woman

standing in the mouth of the balloon at bottom of photo.

"There's no place like home, there's no place like home"

Mass Ascension Day #2

Boba Fett securing the perimeter, while Yoda

inflates behind him. Darth Vader is still flat on the ground.

Darth whispering in Yoda's ear: "Come to the dark side!"

Darth Vader afloat. Note the tiny gandola hanging below.

We had a wonderful time and highly recommend making the trip to Albuquerque to see the biggest balloon fest in the U.S. But you'll need to get up early to see it all!

Old Town Albuquerque

AMTRAK to Seattle

Trees changing colors in Oregon

Life goes on despite the pandemic and an all-consuming election. Missing my sister, who lives in Snohomish, WA, and wanting to meet our new grand-niece, we decided to travel north to visit family. My one stipulation: no airplanes till a reliable vaccine is developed. So we once again booked an AMTRAK sleeper car to Seattle, like we did to New Mexico back in February (a million years ago!). This time, however, the trip was 33 hours one-way, requiring two full days on the train. Again, not the most comfortable sleeping accommodations, but truly a relaxing ride. Plus the scenery was spectacular, as you can see below.

Mirror selfie in our "bedroom" cabin

Waiting for the train to depart

Quick stop in Klamath Falls: looking toward the back

of the train

Tim heading back to our car. Pleasant weather going up,

but 29 degrees in Klamath Falls on the way home. We stayed

in our cabin.

Dawn the next morning. Note the train's shadow as we

zip along.

Lush Oregon

Thrilled to see so many yellow trees

Quick stop in Portland: cool neon signs

at the station

Grocery shopping in Snohomish: 16 kinds of apples!

With grand-niece Vera Rose

Heading home: Seattle King Street train station

Spectacular station interior, beautifully 

renovated in 2013

Amazing 1906 masonry

Ceiling detail

Rebuilt Tacoma Narrows Bridge after the original bridge

famously collapsed

Are the farm workers in Salinas really this happy?

We didn't see any in the fields, so don't know.

Saw several rocketless launch pads while traveling through

Vandenberg Air Base, on the California central coast.

Always a thrill for me to see, even if no missiles in sight.

Big curve approaching San Luis Obispo. Can see the end

cars of our train.

Sleeper Car to New Mexico

 

Ever on the lookout for new adventures, I was thrilled to read about the 1898 Fred Harvey hotel, La Castañeda, that reopened in Las Vegas, NM, last year. I immediately contacted our friends Suzanne and Mike, who I knew were attending a conference in Albuquerque in February, to see if they'd like to meet us in Las Vegas. I then reserved a room for Tim and me at the hotel.

Now we love traveling by rail, but had never taken an overnight sleeper car. Some of our friends love sleeping on the train, while others swear "never again!" As it turns out the train from Los Angeles to Chicago stops in Las Vegas, NM—thus, the perfect opportunity for us to experience an overnight train ride ourselves. I booked a "bedroom:" bunk beds with our own combination toilet/shower bathroom. "Should be fun!" I told Tim.

The train was leaving at 6PM, so we arrived at Union Station more than an hour early. One of our train-buff friends told us our sleeper car tickets entitled us to wait in Amtrak's "exclusive" Metropolitan Lounge, which is hidden away on the second floor of the station. There we found free snacks and clean bathrooms—already worth the price of the tickets! At around 5:30PM, a "red cap" took us and our luggage to the train on a small open-air shuttle. Not luxurious, but much better than lugging our bags ourselves. We then boarded the train.

 

Our special pre-train lounge at Union Station—not at all

exclusive, but at least it was quiet and clean

 On the red-cap "shuttle" with our luggage

 

City Hall and the L.A. skyline as we left

Our "sofa" pulled out to become the bottom bunk, while the top bunk was tucked away until bedtime. As soon as the train started moving, a hostess came by to make our dinner reservations. All meals were included in our ticket, though seating was communal in the shared dining car. Dinner, breakfast and lunch were all fresh-cooked, plus we got to meet and chat with different tablemates each time. Highly enjoyable.

 

Our tiny "bedroom." The sofa folds out to

become the bottom bunk. The top bunk is

tucked away above until bedtime.

 

 Our private combo toilet/shower bathroom

 

Sleeper car hallway—rooms on the left

 Shared dining car

Not so enjoyable was the bunk beds, which were not exactly uncomfortable, but the train's constant movement made it very difficult to sleep. I honestly don't know why people love traveling like this. We were both exhausted by the time we arrived in Las Vegas, NM, at 2:50PM the next day. Still, we were happy for the experience—one more thing to check-off our bucket list, even if we never take a sleeper car again!

Mirror-selfie: resting on the final leg of our 21-hour ride

 

Short leg-stretching stop in Albuquerque, 2 hours from 

Las Vegas, NM