Albuquerque, NM

Today was a "rest" day, and time to hang out with our hosts, Kat and Jim. They fixed us a lovely breakfast, even thinking to buy us vegetarian sausage!

Then we were treated to a driving tour of Albuquerque, including the Ballon Fiesta Park (Kat and Jim crew the festival - their favorite aspect is chasing after the ballons to help them land), the lovingly restored Kimo Theater, Central Ave (the historical Route 66) and Old Town.

We had a delicious late lunch/early dinner at Hot Tamale. I had delicious Chiles Rellenos, and fresh sopapillas. Yummy! Our waitress reminded me of Deb in Napoleon Dynamite. Sweet and enthusiastic, yet awkward at points. She also had the same face.

After a brief rest, we took the "world's longest aerial tramway" to Sandia Peak at 10,378'. The 15 minute tram ride was quite stunning, and the view of the sunset from the top was gorgeous. After, we enjoyed drinks and dessert at the High Finance Restaurant (more truth in advertising). On the way down, we enjoyed the lit up city. As the Jayhawks say, "The lights of the city look so good, almost like somebody thought they would."

To make our American journey complete, Karl and I experienced Walmart for the first time in our lives tonight. We bought coolant and a gallon of water for our crossing of Arizona tomorrow. Our host Jim is a big Walmart fan; Kat elected to stay in the car.

Now I'm trying to get all the photos uploaded to the computer and finish all my blogs given that we've got good wireless connection here. We're going to try and hit the road by 7am tomorrow, so I want to go to bed really soon.

I haven't described Kat and Jim's wild and fabulous house yet, nor their African Grey bird, Smoky. Perhaps that's better left for a pictorial!