Albuquerque and Balloon Festival

We spent our last two days in New Mexico with our friends Dorothy and Jack Brandt, who have retired to Albuquerque. Sunday night we went to dinner up on Sandia Peak at High Finance Restaurant.

From this lofty vantage point, we watched the first evening's festivities of the annual Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta — including the Glowdeo (they all inflate their balloons, but don't launch, so you see hundreds of glowing baubles) and fireworks. We hadn't planned this vacation to coincide with the Balloon Fiesta either, but we weren't about to complain. We saw a nice sunset, but unfortunately, it was too dark to photograph the balloons and fireworks some five miles away.

The next day we relaxed and visited; Carolyn and Jack did some work on their upcoming book for Cambridge University Press, Visions of the Cosmos. Incidentally, you can pre-order this book at Amazon.com!

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High Finance Restaurant	High Finance is a nice restaurant up Sandia Peak, at an altitude of some 10,000 feet. It's not just the wine, good food, and good fellowship that make you giddy! To reach High Finance most people take a tram from a base station. The ride is about 15 minutes long and has spectacular views.	The Sandia Peak Tram
Our friends Dorothy and Jack Brandt.	We stayed at their home in Albuquerque.	Carolyn and Mark at High Finance.
Sunset clouds	Sunset clouds in the southwest are such fun to photograph!	Click on pic to watch the sun go down over Mt. Taylor animation.

Balloons!	On Tuesday we had to fly home — but on the way to the airport, there were the balloons, so we had to stop to photograph them. There were pigs and teapots and chile peppers and many other colorful and whimsical balloons!	More balloons
A balloon panorama	Here's Carolyn's panorama and Mark's all-sky of the balloons, from just east of the Sandia pueblo casino and convention center. It was a glorious sight to end our vacation!	Balloon all-sky