The next day and beyond...

Just a bit about what happened the next morning....we went to where our balloon was supposed to be, even though it was supposed to be in the second wave....well, it never showed up and it wasn't until later, when we talked to the balloonists next to us, as they were ready to head out after their balloon that we found out our pilot was given the chance to fly a special shapes balloon. So, she told us where to find him and when we got there, the balloon, a scarecrow, was already laid out. We still went over to tell him we were there to help and we basically did crowd control while the balloon was being inflated. He was flying this balloon in conjunction with the pilot that owned it, who was from Brazil. We ended up chasing it, too, and it's amazing how hard it is getting all the air out of such a big balloon. Remember, we didn't take our camera, which was a big bummer, so didn't get a picture of it, but, it was BIG!! If it flies on Thursday morning with the other special shapes, I will definitely get a picture of it flying!

Anyway, on Monday morning, I had forgotten there was some competition flying, so Ron came into the rig to tell me balloons were flying over us. I grabbed the camera, trying to take pictures and coudn't understand why it wouldn't let me. I soon found out that Ron had lent our camera card to one of our friends so she could download pictures onto her computer. None of our other cameras had full batteries, so, another day of not being able to take pictures and there were some balloons we hadn't seen previously.

A little later in the morning,
we all decided to head for old town Albuquerque to
walk around the shops and have lunch.

Five Navajo Code Talkers signing books

 We browsed through some of the shops, most of everything was out of our price range, however. There was a book signing going on by a remnant of the Navajo Code Talkers, there were five there that we saw. Ron went up and shook each one of their hands thanking them for their service.

We found the town square and found they had a couple of cannons sitting there.








 We found a cute little courtyard with shops to look through, then found someone to take our picture. We also walked through a museum, but, didn't have time to see all of it, so will have to wait until next time...

12 pounder Mountain Howitzers

Rattlesnake Museum

Margie, Ron & Sharon

         
                                                            


































After we got through all that, we decided to have lunch at a place called La Placita's, which was right across from the town square. It was originally called Casa de Armijo, built in 1706 and lived in for many generations by the Armijo family. In 1930 it was restored from a ruin to its present condition and remodeled in conformity with its old character. It is now a Mexican restaurant and the food is delicious.                        

Clockwise around the table, Larry, Ted, Jeri, Sue, Gerald, Dodi, Margie, Judy, Ron, Sharon, Ronnie & Jere

                               The people you see around the restaurant are not in line, there are American Indian vendors selling their crafts in front of the building. Really nice stuff, too!