A Quick Trip to NY

I didn't post last weekend because I made a quick trip to NY to visit family and friends. I was frustrated waiting for the ABQ school system to process my application to substitute teach, and didn't have any private lessons scheduled for a few days, so last Thursday morning I suddenly decided to see whether it would be possible to get flights at a not-too-ridiculous price and use my down time to go see the folks at home. There are no direct flights from ABQ to Albany at any time, but I usually choose only one layover, and to stick with one airline for the entire trip. But by stringing together three flights each way on a variety of airlines, I was able to book flights on Saturday and Wednesday.

The company where Stephen works is very close to the airport, and I knew that when their employees fly, they leave their cars in the Enerpulse parking lot and walk to the airport. So at lunchtime on Friday, Stephen took a few minutes to show me how it's done. You simply cross the street, walk through a parking lot between two warehouses, up an embankment, through the desert, over the fence, through the airport parking lot and parking garage, up two escalators, and voila -- you are at the ticket counter. It takes 10 minutes if you don't have any luggage. I was a little nervous about accomplishing this alone in the dark on Saturday morning, but Stephen assured me that the parking lots are lit up, there's a security guard on duty at the warehouses, and the desert part is next to the parking area for the shuttle buses which is also lighted.

My first flight on Saturday was delayed, but left me just enough time in the Dallas/Ft.Worth airport to find my gate and visit the ladies room. The rest of the trip was uneventful, and my family picked me up at the Albany airport. I had traveled light, and it was 50 degrees in ABQ when I left, but Mom had foreseen this and brought an extra jacket to the airport. Dad had visited my house in Schuylerville earlier in the day, turning up the heat and leaving food in the 'fridge. What a lovely welcome!

I had such a nice visit for the next three days! I went to church, walked with my Mom, went out to dinner with my folks and brother, had lunch with my mother-in-law, a Saratoga walk and dinner at Karavali with a friend, and was able to visit school and say hi to my former colleagues and students. I did not appreciate the cold temperatures, cloudy skies, and the fact that I was too late to see any pretty foliage. But otherwise, it was an excellent visit.

My trip back was complicated by the fact that the first flight was delayed past any hope of making my connection. At Albany airport, they gave me a whole new itinerary that added three hours to my total travel time, but did get me back to ABQ with just enough time to shower and change before my scheduled piano lesson. Upon arrival at the apartment, though, I had an email from my student's mom cancelling because the poor little guy had broken his finger. So I was able to finally rest. I had been going for fifteen hours at that point, so I was glad for the break.

While I was in NY, the ABQ school system did finally schedule me for the substitute teaching orientation, and shortly after I got back, the flute teacher I'll be filling in for at the music studio decided that she will start her maternity leave on Monday. So happily, I returned to be busy and hopefully productive.

Buying a House

We made an offer on a house in the neighborhood we like the best, and the offer was accepted! Now we're going through the process of house buying, which is a lengthy and complicated one. This house was built in 1978 but has been well-maintained. It has the big garage that Stephen wanted, and the guest room and guest bathroom that I wanted. It has plenty of space (in order to get the big garage, we had to either get a big house or build a garage) including a lovely music room. It is a one story stucco building with a patio across the back. There are trees and plants already on the property and room to put in some raised beds for vegetables.

A Quick Visit to Santa Fe

We drove up to Santa Fe this afternoon just to walk around the Plaza and have dinner. It's only a little over an hour's drive on the highway. If you take the Turquoise Trail, you can take all day to get there, stopping at galleries and museums and walks. But we just decided to take some pictures of the architecture and have New Mexican food at the Blue Corn Cafe. Even on the highway, the views of the desert and mountains on the way are spectacular.



We took this picture because we couldn't believe that THIS is the parking garage!

This is where we had dinner.












This is a business that reclaims and sells architectural parts.

And this is the theater where the symphony performs.

Things Are Different Here

What kind of things? Well, cemeteries. I don't know why they have ironwork fences around the graves, and the amount of plastic decoration is strange to me. I understand why there's no grass, but it's not something I thought about until we drove past a cemetery and I realized how odd it seems.

What else? There's art everywhere in Albuquerque, including on bridges, highway dividers, in medians, and randomly throughout the city.

Things that are merely functional in New York are decorative here. We really like that about Albuquerque.

A few other differences: There's no helmet law. There's no bottle bill. They sell wine and liquor in the supermarket. Speaking of the supermarket, there's an entire aisle of tortillas and green and red chili sauces, plus you can buy green and red chili sauce by the vat in the frozen food aisle. There's no car inspection except in the city of ABQ, and that's only a tailpipe sniffer -- no safety inspection at all. There is early voting and you can vote at any polling place.






This is a roadside stand:

There are also block, adobe, or stuccoed walls and/or iron fences everywhere. The neighborhoods are walled off from the main streets, then the individual houses have their own fences or walls around all or part of their yards. Many houses are open to the street in the front, but have walled-in backyards. I am getting used to it, because now it seems wrong when I see the occasional house stuck out in the middle of the desert with no walls. I wonder whether it has to do with the wind?

I think that I will have to write a Part II to this post in a few months. I'm sure I've left out things that I have noticed, and that I will experience more differences as I continue to acclimate to this new place.

Tunnel Canyon, Tijeras

Yesterday when Stephen asked what I wanted to do today, I suggested walking around Old Town and maybe visiting the Museum of Art and History. But when we walked out of church this morning and saw how beautiful the weather was, Stephen thought we should change the plan to hiking and save the Old Town for a colder day. Of course, I agreed immediately. I'm still amazed that he's willing to hike; for him to initiate the activity was delightful! He even had a place in mind, so after lunch we drove East to Tijeras which is in the Sandia mountains very close to Albuquerque.
Although the trail sign listed multiple uses, we mostly saw mountain bikers and only one other hiker. Stephen thought it would be fun to bike and I thought it would be too scary. Speaking of scary, in addition to the bear warning (which was on the FRONT of the board this time) there was this:

The area is wooded, mostly with smallish evergreen trees. It kept looking almost familiar, particularly when looking up, but then I would look down and see cactus and yucca amongst the underbrush which was very disorienting.

I love the lichen-covered rocks and the view.

We rested before heading back down. I thought this might be one of those trails where you don't make better time coming down because you have to slow down to keep from sliding. There were a lot of loose rocks on the trail and it was very sandy and dry. But we did go slightly faster on the way down, maybe because we weren't stopping to take as many pictures. I can definitely feel this one in my quads, and I'm really psyched that Stephen went so far and enjoyed himself. We're working toward a longer hike with lunch included. One of these weekends!

More Balloons

The Balloon Fiesta came to our apartment complex yesterday morning. The winds brought all the balloons East and filled the sky around us and balloons were landing everywhere. It was awesome!

A Visit to the Unser Racing Museum

Stephen chose the outing for this Saturday, and we went to the Unser Racing Museum in ABQ. There are four generations of Unser family racers. The museum includes Pike's Peak cars, sprint cars, and Indy cars. There are videos of races and interviews and lots of trophies and memorabilia. Stephen's favorite part was an engineering display of successive years of engines showing the advancements in technology. I enjoyed the videos while he was poring over the engines.