Happy Halloween!!!

I love to carve pumpkins for halloween and since I haven't done it in a while I decided to go with a dancing Kokopelli brothers this year. This is soon after I finished carving...
Then I put a candle in it and it still wasn't quite dark enough....
Then later when it got dark I took another stab at it....
Maybe "stab" wasn't quite what I was going for....

Fun in the Pre-Surgical Unit

So Limo Man had to have surgery. Here's a few of his hijinx in the pre-surgical unit. And yes, he entertained more than a few nurses who happened to walk by!

No they hadn't administered the anesthesia yet. He's just being a hambone!

The surgery went great and Limo Man will be back to 100% by the middle of November. YAY!!!

Leaving Albuquerque

While we were in Albuquerque we stayed at a place called the Nativo Lodge. It was a nice place to hang when we weren't out exploring New Mexico. It had an indoor/outdoor pool and around the corner from the pool was an area that you could sit and gaze upon the teepee.
It reminded me of our good friends Janice and Dean and the teepee that they had on their property at the Labadie Farms. Their teepee had a white covering but hey, a teepee is a teepee and they are very cool!
I actually got into this thing and imagined what it would be like to camp out in one of these things. I could just imagine indians experiencing life in something like this! Adios Albuquerque.....

Back from Santa Fe

We had lunch in Santa Fe at the Tune Up Cafe. It's one of Guy Fieri's picks from Diner's Drive-Ins and Dives. After getting back to Albuquerque Limo Man told me that he would really like to go to the Unser Racing Museum. In case you don't know, Limo Man is all about the racing and the wheels! (And no he's not a redneck). I wasn't really that thrilled about it but it was important to him so we went. Ladies!!!! I couldn't have been more wrong about the place. It was SO MUCH FUN!

I mean just look at the place....It was awesome.
It may be hard to read but the door handles but they say "Unser Racing".
And as we walked in we heard the man himself talking. WOW, it was Al Unser Sr.!!! Limo Man couldn't have been more excited! This is certainly a life moment that we'll never forget! And Mr. Unser was so kind and generous with his time with everyone that came in. What a nice nice guy! You could tell that he really loved what he was doing.An indy car carved from marble outside of the museum.
And of course they had an actual indy car outside that you could sit in for photo ops.
The fence behind Limo Man and the racecar is an actual piece of the fence from Indianapolis when Emmerson Fittapaldi put Little Al (Al Sr.'s son) into the wall during an Indy 500 race.
Limo Man was definitely in his own element!
He may not be Mr. Smoothe but he's definitely Mr. COOL!
This Indy car is the last one that Al Sr. drove at Indianapolis for the win for Team Penske.
The history of the Unser family is really interesting. If you are ever in Albuquerque and have a chance to stop in it's well worth the price of admission. I think that this car was one of the first race cars that Al Unser's dad built.
Hey, where's my helmet? Where's my pit crew? Wait guys......I'm coming for ya'

Day 3 Santa Fe

It took us about an hour to get to Santa Fe. It was a beautiful drive past the reservations and up into the hills.
When we got to Santa Fe we parked close to the Federal courthouse.
Where's Limo Man, where's Limo Man,
Oh there you are!
Please don't ask about the pose for this picture. The man likes to climb on things.
This shot is of some apartments down from the courthouse. We love the adobe construction!
This memorial to Kit Carson was right in front of the courthouse. We befriended a security guard who gave us some brochures and information on the history of the courthouse. It was so nice of her to do that (and on a Sunday no less)!
A shot of the courthouse from across the street.
Limo Man wouldn't take a picture of this sculpture unless I was in the picture. You know I hate to have my picture taken since I have developed a flippin' turkey neck.
All of the indian artisans were out selling their wares along an entire city block. It was so much fun to snoop! Here's a paleface bartering with the indians. Oh wait, that's me!
Someone had a long night....
The art in Santa Fe was so interesting. We couldn't help but take shots of different sculptures to look back on.
As we were walking around Santa Fe's downtown area we heard bells ringing. This Catholic church was getting ready for Mass and they actually had bells being rung by people. Limo Man was transfixed by the whole thing. He said it reminded him of his childhood.
Saint Francis of Asissi is Limo Man's patron saint so of course we had to get a shot of him!
Another interesting piece of art.
This horse was in the yard of a place that was for sale. It would make a great B&B.

Bye Bye Santa Fe....

More Fun With Balloons, Helium Balloon Races, and The Twilight Twinkle

As the hot air balloons were being filled everyone was in awe of the process. All of the balloon owners were really nice and loved it when people came up to ask them questions. The field that the fiesta took place on was about 3 football fields wide and 5-6 football fields long. That should tell you how massive this event was. These balloons are almost ready to stand up.
These balloons are ready to launch. It was really quiet until someone lifted off then there was a big roar and lots of clapping from the crowd.
Whover said that pigs don't fly lied. The name of this team is "When Pigs Fly". How appropriate....
And yes, there are even flying fish.
The event was hosted by Warsteiner beer so they had their own entry.
And for those of you who aren't into the al al alcohol....
There were even monsters in the air.
Here's some more sky garbage. I'm not sure what that funny looking thing with all the arms is.
After a long morning out at the fiesta we went back to the hotel for a nap. We went back to the fiesta at about 4:30 and they were supposed to have a helium balloon race. Limo Man spent quite a bit of time asking questions of the helium balloonists and found out that it costs $5,000 worth of helium to fill one of these babies. They filled 9 helium balloons for the race and it got so windy that they couldn't launch the balloons and they had to cancel the race. What a disappointment for the owners!
We had dinner at the Gondola Club and met some really nice guys from San Francisco and Texas. We had to cut the night short because it was so windy and cold.
Good night Albuquerque!

The International Baloon Fiesta - Day 2

The 2009 International Balloon Fiesta started at 5:30am with a twinkle glow. We got up at 3:15am (PST) to get to the Gondola Club and have breakfast and watch the day break. These balloons lit up and they looked almost like Christmas tree lights twinkling on and off.
This shot is looking directly into one of the balloons as it was being filled.
Limo Man in a field of giant balloons.
All the balloon teams had either a separate trailer for their baskets and balloons or really big trucks that everything fit into. This trailer was just too funny not to get a picture.
As we were sitting at the Gondola Club having coffee some of the balloons flew over us. This is a shot looking directly up.
Doesn't this kind of look like sky garbage? There were 550 entries into the balloon festival!
The bees were interesting to see together because the hands are actually held together by magnets. You can see the 2 separate baskets under the balloons.
I really liked the color contrast of this basket against the sky and clouds.
And yes Border, cows do fly.......
Here's a few more balloons to enjoy. We had such a blast!
I'll be posting more balloon pictures probably tomorrow...