Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta

Here we are in Albuquerque...visiting my brother and his family....met up with the Bettes at the Balloon Fiesta.  The Balloon Fiesta is amazing.  I think you can get a glimpse of how exciting it is to be in the midst of hundreds of these balloons as they are inflated and rise into the skies.

These next ones were taken this morning.  Don and I camped out in Tom and Judy's Airstream so that we could avoid all the traffic getting to and from and Fiesta.  We enjoyed visiting with many of their Airstream friends.

There were over 500 balloons!!

Antelope Canyon and Mesa Verde

These pictures were taken in Antelope Canyon near Page, AZ.  What an interesting place!  I took over 300 pictures!!!  Most didn't turn out, but a few did.

Monument Valley....beautiful HUGE rock structures on the border of Arizona and Utah. 

Cliff Palace, Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado.  What a sight to descend down some stairs, turn around and see this amazing sight!  These were occupied before 1300!  We hiked down and were able to see them up close.  Don and I took two ranger tours--one to Cliff Palace and the other to Balcony House.  The trip to Balcony House involved climbing wooden Indian-like ladders about 30 feet high.  I don't like being on a 6 foot ladder, but I did just fine.  Going out we had more ladders and a tunnel to go through.  Pics below...

Below is another cliff dwelling--Spruce Tree.  It was interesting learning some about the Indians who lived there.  They farmed on top of the mesas.  They didn't use ladders to get down to their cliff dwelling.  They carved small hand and toe holds in the rock and climbed up and down!

 Below the round sunken room is a kiva (the roof made out of mud and wood had caved in).

 Don took this picture of me going down into the kiva (they had reconstructed the roof) where they held their religious ceremonies.


 These two pictures were taken from our campground in Pagosa Springs, CO.  What a beautiful spot!

Tonight we are in Santa Fe...enjoying a hotel room.  Don did find the leak in our air mattress and got it repaired so our last nights in the tent were comfortable!  Tomorrow we will drive to Albuquerque.  We'll visit my brother and all his family and go to the Balloon Fiesta.  We are meeting up with the Bettes there!

California and Utah

You are looking at El Capitan in Yosemite.  The first picture is the entire mountain.  The next picture is a closer view and the third picture even closer.  Do you see the 2 climbers?  Pretty amazing! 

Yosemite Valley

El Capitan on the left.  You can just see the top of Half Dome just right of center in the photo.

This is the smoke from a wildfire in Kings Canyon National Park where we camped.  We drove to the campground at night and saw the trees burning...pretty exciting. What we saw was a control burn by the firefighters to combat the wildfire in the park.

General Sherman Tree in Sequoia National Park...claims to be the largest living thing on earth.  103 feet around at the base.

Taken from the top of  Moro Rock.  It was over 400 steps up.  What an amazing view!  We could see 11 mountains over 12,000 feet from here--360 degree view.

We were just driving down the road and I spotted this rock...Don slowed down so I could snap a few photos.  What an amazing pattern....Art by God!

Cedar Breaks National Monument, Utah.  This is only a few miles from our condo.  It is not as big as Bryce Canyon, but it is just as beautiful!

Moon rising over Utah red rocks.                        

  Bryce Canyon National Park.

 Hiking down among the hoodoos and canyon in Bryce Canyon.

 Next is Zion National Park....

And now the infamous hike along the edge!!  I think that it was much scarier than it looks in the picture!  At times the trail was only a couple of feet wide.  The drop off was 900-1200 feet!  Thank goodness for that chain!