Sand Dunes to Balloons

We didn’t travel too far after leaving Pueblo.  We’re kicking back a bit – no more six hour driving days if we can help it.  We chose Lathrop SP because it was on the way to the Great Sand Dunes NP, another add on to our national parks tour. It also happens to be the oldest state park in Colorado and the only one with a golf course.  Not that we golf, but it had a club house where we had lunch on the way in and breakfast on the way out the next morning.  Saved us from doing dishes.

The Great Sand Dunes were honestly great. The highest reaches 750 feet above the base – pretty impressive when you see them in comparison to all the people climbing, sliding and just admiring them from the parking lot, looking like so many ants around an ant hill. It was chilly and the wind was blowing pretty hard – like most of the days since we started this leg of our journey – so we took a few pictures and got back in the van.

We decided to go through Taos and Santa Fe to get to Albuquerque for Balloon Fiesta.  Just south of Taos we found a small campgrounds by the side of the Rio Bravo (a feeder of the Rio Grande, which we continue to follow southward) and opted to stay and see Taos the next day, because one just can’t drive past Taos without stopping. As we were setting up camp – which usually means just  pulling up the parking brake and closing some curtains) we noticed the camp host talking to some other campers who had a puppy on a leash.  Turns out the pup was a stray who arrived at the campgrounds with burrs in her fur and cactus spines in her nose.  The hosts took her in and cleaned her up before reporting her to the Taos pet rescue.  Their facility was full, leaving the hosts with a dilemma; what to do with this cutie.  Two of the campers there for the weekend, Ted and Joanne from nearby Santa Fe, fell in love with her and adopted her on the spot.  She’s a well behaved, friendly, calm brown mix (probably has some lab in her) about 3 or 4 months old and they promptly named her Rio.  Rio was well loved by the other campers who donated some of their dog food and doggie toys so that she would feel comfortable and safe.  By the time they left the next day it looked like Rio had been their pet forever.

We spent a couple of hours in Taos the next day, had breakfast and perused a few – pricey – galleries then returned to Rio Bravo for another night.

We spent the following night in old Santa Fe in the Inn and Spa at Loretto, a beautiful, historic splurge hotel where we had a great room and a really special dinner.  Did a little sight seeing there, visiting the oldest church in North America, the oldest house in the west and the Loretto Chapel, with its “mysterious” spiral staircase which, when first built for the nuns to reach the choir loft, had no central means of support. We wanted to bring some things from Santa Fe home to the Rent and Newsies fans but, believe it or not, there wasn’t a single shop within walking distance that wasn’t selling either high-priced jewelry, made-in-China key chains or Peruvian knits.  Not a tee shirt to be found.

There weren’t many choices for camping between Santa Fe and Albuquerque but we did find one just outside of Bernalillo, just short of 20 miles from the Balloon Fiesta site.  We set the alarm for 5 am – yeah, 5 am – and hoped for the best.

I got up at 4:15 and decided it was better not to go back to sleep, so got dressed and woke Ron.  Now this campsite was at the end of a winding dirt road with many steep sides so I spent some of the night hoping we could safely navigate our exit in the dark, without coffee no less.  But Ron made it seem easy, getting us out without a hitch well before our 5:15 deadline.  It was overcast and cool as we drove down I 25.  Google maps told us to get off at one exit while Fiesta signage told us to go to another. We opted to follow the signs and follow the crowd, bumper-to-bumper for two or three miles.  We asked at one intersection and were directed to general admission parking, even though we had prepaid for a different lot.  The guy at the gate let us in anyway, and we parked and boarded a school bus shuttle which wound its way through Presbyterian hospital parking lot to a bluff above the site by 6:15 – still pitch dark.  A golf cart took us to the bottom of the hill where we caught glimpses of one balloon being inflated, and bought coffee and Indian fry bread for breakfast.  Hundreds of people were milling around in the dark and some folks were laying on the grass on blankets as we picked our way forward, not knowing exactly what to expect or where to go. At about 7:00 am the Wells Fargo balloon flying an American flag led the ascent while the Star Spangled Banner played over the PA system.  After that it was non-stop as balloons were filled and given the go ahead to take to the sky. We watched in awe at daybreak as hundreds of balloons rose and sailed upward, one more brilliantly colored than the next.  What a sight!

Because it was “children’s day” many character balloons joined the array – Kermit, Tom and Jerry, Pepa Pig, Darth Vader, various cartoon animals and birds.  We watched as Owlbert Einstein (a well-traveled rig) was filled and held in place by a crew of about 12.

Toward the end of the morning, balloons began returning to the field, some to take part in the day’s competition: putting a ring around an upright post in the center of the field.  Only a very few were able to navigate the course and triumphantly ring the post as the crowd cheered. Satisfied and getting tired, we left at about 11:30,  only stopping for a few minutes at the Sevilleta wildlife refuge to learn a bit more about the area, its flora, fauna and history.

We got to Escondido Lake, a  Socorro county park,  at about 3:00 pm and packed it in.