The Land of Enchantment – New Mexico

Leg 4 – New Mexico – Santa Fe, Albuquerque, Carlsbad

10/03/2021 – 10/12/2021

Leg 4 of our journey east took us to New Mexico and Balloon Fiesta. But first things first. One night I was just playing around on the computer and looking at tour dates of some of the music groups we would like to see live. It turned out Marty Stuart was going to be in Santa Fe on October 3^rd. What do you know? We are going to be headed to Albuquerque. Detour! We made a little tweak in our itinerary and headed to Santa Fe for four days. You see, we were not scheduled to be in Albuquerque until Thursday the 7^th.

We decided to take US-160 back thru Pagosa Springs and then head south on US-185. What a beautiful drive. As we were leaving Colorado, we were given one last glimpse of the lovely Rockies which had a fresh dusting of snow on top. I will miss this beautiful and rugged landscape . Once we crossed over into New Mexico, we were welcomed with pretty views of red rocks.

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Santa Fe

Finally, we made it into Santa Fe. I found a nice little place on BLM (Bureau of Land Management) land and we boondocked; camping with no hook ups (water, electric, sewer). We stayed at Caja Del Rio Dispersed Camping, which was only about 10 miles outside of the city. Since we were going to be camping on BLM land, you never know what the roads are going to be like. We decided to unhook the jeep and do some reconnaissance. Even though we read the reviews and know our rig can make it, we still like to check things out first. We found a spot with some great views to hang out and chill for a few days.

Marty Stuart was playing at the Lensic Performing Arts Center in downtown Santa Fe. The theater was built in 1931 and this concert was the first performance in the theater since it was shut down for Covid in 2020. What a great venue! It seats just over 800 people and felt very intimate even from the last row in the balcony, which is where we sat. Marty and His Fabulous Superlatives put on a SUPER show. Each member of the band was showcased and had a chance to show off their gifts. We thoroughly enjoyed the show.

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Before the show, we walked around downtown. It was a lot smaller than I expected. The plaza was filled with a lot of jewelry stores and art galleries. We did pass by some of the original buildings dating back to 1610, such as the Palace of the Governors. After walking around, it was time to get some dinner. We ate at a restaurant that specialized in New Mexican food. It was good but seemed to be more on the touristy side. We wanted that place where the locals go, which we found a few days later. Finally got some good, made from scratch, New Mexican food complete with Sopapilla at Cafe Castro. I love me some Sopapilla with honey drizzled all over it. Deeelicious!

The time at Caja Del Rio was so nice. Every morning and evening we took Kona on a nice long walk and drank in all the fabulous views of the mountains surrounding us. It was so peaceful and quiet, and a welcome retreat from the RV parks. We saw some bunnies and deer and at night could hear the coyotes howling in the distance. So good for the heart and soul.

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Albuquerque

On to Albuquerque and BALLOON FIESTA!!!! There are not enough adjectives to describe this experience. Fabulous! Incredible! Breathtaking! Amazing! Spectacular! Unbelievable! Balloon Fiesta is broken down into sessions; morning and afternoon. It is a must to do more than one session. We opted to do three sessions. Before I get into the event itself, let me give you this TIP if you decide to go; USE THE PARK AND RIDE. I think it was only an extra $5 per session. It was so well organized. The longest we waited for a bus was 15 – 20 minutes. When you see the lines of traffic waiting to get in and out of the park, you will realize what a bargain this is.

Friday Morning 10/9 – This session included the Dawn Patrol and the Special Shapes Rodeo. Dawn Patrol begins at 6AM. You read that right, 6AM. This means we had to get up at 2:30 AM to get to the mall by 4AM to catch our bus to the park. It didn’t matter, we were both so excited we could hardly sleep anyway. There will be time for napping later. We made it out to the park around 4:30AM, got our breakfast burrito and started walking around the field. The launch field is 86 acres! We are walking around in the dark but everything is starting to come to life. We find ourselves, unbeknownst to us, right on the row where the Dawn Patrol is setting up. So, we have a front row view of the hot inflate. Once the 6 balloons were inflated, they put on a little show by using their burners to create flickering and full burns that make the balloons twinkle and glow. Then they slowly ascended into the air and floated away. It was one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen.

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After they set sail, the sun slowly began to peek over the Sandia Mountains. We could see all the action happening on the field as the teams were preparing for the Special Shapes Rodeo. We found a comfy place in the grass to sit and wait. While we were sitting there, I noticed a raised area at one end of the field and thought it would be the perfect place to look out over the field and watch all the activity. Off we went and it turned out I was right. We were able to see many of the balloons get blown up and launch. Most of them flew right over our heads! I kept saying to Bill, “Oh look at that one! Look at that one! That one is so cool! Are you getting pictures? Video?” I felt like a little kid. After we watched the balloons launch for about 30 minutes, we headed down to the field to walk around. Not all the balloons are launched and you have an opportunity to walk around them. What a whole different perspective you get being at ground level next to them. Some of my favorites were the Humpty Dumpty, armadillo, rubber duckie, Arabelle the Creamland Dairy Cow and the blue monster. The morning session is over, it’s only 9:30 in the morning and we head back to the rig for a nap.

Saturday Morning 10/10 – This session included the Dawn Patrol, Morning Glow and Mass Ascension. Again, up at 2:30AM blah blah blah… Saturday’s weather was not so good for flying balloons. There were about 12 balloons that participated in Dawn Patrol. For a different perspective, we decided to get our burritos and go back up to the knoll where we watched the balloons launch the day before. The Mass Ascension was cancelled as well as the Morning Glow. The Mass Ascension is where over 500 balloons launch in an hours’ time. Supposedly it is pretty amazing, however, we will have to come back to see it. After the Dawn Patrol, the American flag was launched and all the balloonists were on the field with their burners ready. The National Anthem was played and a small formation of 8 planes flew over the field while the balloonist turned their burners on. It was quite a spectacle seeing all the flames burn and hear the sound of the burners igniting at one time. We waited another hour to see if they were going to let the balloons go up. It was decided that it was too windy for the balloons to fly safely. They could, however, inflate for a static display. We walked down to the launch field and wandered around the balloons and just enjoyed the awesomeness of being here. There were balloons of every shape and color. We got to walk right up to them, look inside, talk to the pilots and take over 300 pictures! LOL! At the conclusion of the morning session, we made our way back to the bus for the short ride back to the mall to get the jeep and go home for another nap.

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Saturday Night 10/10 – This session included Skydiving, a Night Glow and Fireworks. We got to see the skydiving. Bummed out big time! The winds really picked up in the afternoon and they did not even blow the balloons up for static display. When we arrived at the park, that decision had not been made yet. We waited for the announcement at the beer garden while listening to a local band. We spent $60 (cough cough) on six 12-ounce glasses of beer. Do the math… That’s just a little over 2 pints of beer each. Someone is making out like a bandit. Anyway, once we found out they were not going to let the balloons inflate, we decided to call it a day and go back to the rig. We were a little disappointed but incredibly grateful we got to see what we did. This just gives us an excuse to come back and do it again. I know both boys want to come. Family destination vacation? On the way out the sun was setting and set the sky on fire. I guess if the balloons couldn’t glow the sky would. This Bucket List item of mine is officially checked off. What is on your Bucket List? Let me know in the comments below 🙂

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With one day left in Albuquerque, we squeezed in Old Town, a farmers’ market, a small Breaking Bad house hunt and more New Mexican food. Oh, and a little sand play with the jeep. We started the day at the Rail Yards Market. What a cool place. Located at, you guessed it, the railyards! It is open on Sundays, May-Oct and there are over 100 vendors selling local produce, baked goods and handmade items. We were able to get some Christmas shopping done here. Yay!! I also picked up another gallon bag of fresh roasted green chilis. Now I have New Mexican green chilis and Colorado green chilis. I see a taste test in our future. We’ll see if New Mexican chilis really have their own distinctive flavor. After the farmers market we headed down to Old Town and did a little more shopping then enjoyed a beer overlooking the square. As we were making our way back to the jeep, we see the Breaking Bad bounder.

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Apparently, this group, ABQ Breaking Bad RV Tours, has taken a motorhome and turned it into a touring vehicle. They will take you all around Albuquerque and show you the filming locations. We opted to use my friend, Google, since we only wanted to see Walter and Jesse’s houses and the car wash. They were super easy to find. Jesse actually lived in a really nice neighborhood 😉 It was funny too, we ran into the same people at each of the stops. I sort of feel bad for the family that lives in Walter’s house. They had to put up an iron fence. I suppose since it was a busy tourist week in Albuquerque, they had to close the road and hire a security guard to sit at the foot of their driveway. Crazy! I guess when you buy a famous house, you have to expect this. On our way to dinner, we stopped at this little sand area and played on the dunes a little bit. It was pretty fun, but the area was not taken care of very well. It looked like the locals used this as a place to bring their garbage.

Now dinner is going to get its own special attention right here. Bill found this local, hole-in-the-wall joint that made Pizza Birria. When we walked into La Guelaguetza, it felt like we stepped into a small cocina in Mexico. Are you wondering what Pizza Birria is? It is basically a Birria taco made with flour tortillas instead of corn and layering the ingredients instead of rolling it in the tortilla. Let me tell you; it is heaven on a pizza pan. Birria is traditionally made with goat that is braised in chilis, cumin and other spices and cooked until it is so tender. Our birria was made with beef. This beef is layered between the crispy flour tortillas and lots of cheese. There were about 3 layers that made up the pizza. They serve it with a cup of the consommé that you can spoon over your pizza. It is to DIE for. We were stuffed after the first three pieces, but it would be sinful to leave 2 pieces on the tray. So… we found a way to choke them down (it wasn’t hard). We were happy and full. The whole time we are sitting there eating, customers kept coming in one after the other to pick up their pizza birria. This place was hoppin’. Highly, highly recommend trying this place out if you are in town. We rolled out to the jeep to head home and pass out. What did we find? We got ducked! 😊

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Carlsbad

Early Monday morning, we start our trek south to Carlsbad. We have an appointment with some caves at 1:30PM. We took I-40 East out of town and connected with US-285 South to Carlsbad. We checked into the RV park with just enough time to make it out to Carlsbad Caverns National Park. I’ve been to Carlsbad before; only I was maybe 12 years old. My grandparents took me and my brother on a road trip one summer in their motorhome and we hit a lot of the National Parks. How lucky were we? I wonder if that is when I knew I wanted to travel one day? I don’t remember a lot about the park because, well, it’s been a long time since I was 12. So, seeing it with Bill was almost like seeing it for the first time. You have two options to get down into the cavern; the natural entrance or an elevator. The natural entrance route is 1.25 miles, descends over 750 feet and takes about 1 ½ hours to reach the Big Room. Since it was late in the day we opted for the elevator. TIP If you decide to take the elevator, walk down to the natural entrance first and get a picture. We waited until after and found the gate was closed and did not have a very good view of the entrance. The big room is amazing! It is mind boggling to think how long it took for all the stalactites and stalagmites to form. It took about an hour to walk the 1.25 mile loop. Once we were back up top, we took a scenic ride on a 9-mile dirt road as we were killing time to watch the bats take their nightly flight.

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Finally, it is 5:30 and we make our way down to the natural entrance where the Bat Amphitheater is. The ranger arrives around 6:30 and tells us about the bats and there is a little Q&A before the magic happens. These are Brazilian Free-tailed bats. Their body is about the size of your thumb and wing span about the size of your hands fanned out. Not very big, really. These bats migrate down to Mexico at the end of October.

Pictures were not allowed so I will try to create a mental picture for you instead. There were approximately 100 people in the amphitheater. The sky was light blue with the pinks and purples of the sunset. It is dusk. In order to not disturb the bats, there can be absolutely no noise. The theater is so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Bill and I were sitting on the side closest to the mouth of the cave. We are sitting, waiting and listening. We look at each other at about the same time and whisper, do you hear a soft hum? Within minutes bats started flying out and swarming the air. They fly right over the theater and get so close to your head. They do a couple of loops and then head out into the twilight on the hunt for food. This went on for well over 30 minutes. At some point during that time, I noticed the smell of the air changed. It smelled like this sweet musky scent, pleasant. There must have been hundreds of thousands of bats that emerged from that cave. It was magical. We sat and watched until the sky turned to night and the bats could no longer be seen.

New Mexico’s nickname is “The Land of Enchantment” and we were truly enchanted with our time here.