Santa Fe and Albuquerque, NM

9-28-15 to 10-6-15

We spent close to a week in the Santa Fe area. The RV parks were very busy since Santa Fe is only 50 miles from Albuquerque and the up and coming balloon fiesta. We were lucky to get an RV spot in town but it was very noisy. A spot opened up out of town at a new, quiet RV park with large sites.

We ventured into town on several days, mainly to enjoy the wonderful southwestern food. They are known for their red and green chilies. It's a bit hot for me but John loves it. Another specialty is their hatch chilies. Santa Fe is known for it's food but also for its art and up scale art galleries.

The center of old town is the plaza with the Palace of the Governors on one side and the Cathedral of St Francis of Assisi on the other side. Local native Americans show their wares on blankets outside the governor's palace. Their jewelry is more reasonably priced than those in the shops.

The city has passed an ordinance and all of the buildings are adobe, making it a very distinctive architectural style.

We have been to Santa Fe several times before, so we didn't visit any of the many museums. We did have to visit the Saturday farmer's market. It was a huge market with lots of local vegetables and many booths with SW chilies.

We arrived a few days early before the start of the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta. People wanting hookups for their RVs reserve their spots a year in advance. We stay in a big gravel lot with dry camping (no electrical or water hookups). We had reserved a spot ahead of time, but first come first served spots are available. We like it because we are within walking distance of the balloon launch site. It is a challenge to get up at 6:00 AM to see the dawn patrol. They send up a dozen or so balloons in the dark to check for wind and weather conditions, and then if all is well, the other balloons launch at 7 AM. On the days that we do not want to walk over to the launch field, we just watch the balloons from our RV. We wind conditions are just right, they fly right over our RV.

This year they launched 550 balloons. It's quite spectacular. Most of the balloons are the traditional type but there are also special balloons with animal and other shapes. The most popular balloon is the Darth Vader balloon and also Yoda.

You can walk among the balloons as they are being launched. You can also sign up to be on a case crew, which we did 3 years ago, but passed on it this year.