Tram and Texas

Our vacation is finally catching up to us.  We all slept until 8:30 this morning.  We ate breakfast at the hotel and headed to the Sandia Peak Tram in Albuquerque before leaving town.  I remember going on this tram with my family on vacation as a kid.  The ride is 2.7 miles to the top of Sandia Peak and takes 15 minutes.  This year marks the 50th anniversary of the tram and they got brand new $1 million tram cars to celebrate. 

The kids loved the ride, especially Morgan.

There is a big tower on another peak halfway up.  I thought that was the endpoint because you can't see the other peak until you get to the first tower.

From our tram car, we could see a lady running up the mountain.  I didn't even see anyone chasing her.

The top is in sight!

We got out at an elevation of 10,378 feet and it was 59 degrees.  It felt great and we explored a little at the top. 

On the other side of the mountain is a ski lift and ski slopes.  Obviously there was no skiing in June, but we checked out the ski lift.

There are some trails at the top and you can even hike all the way down if you want.

The world is like a Ninja Warrior obstacle course to these two.  It is impossible to just simply walk down a path.

After our short hike, we headed back down on the tram.  We have seen a lot of beautiful landscapes and been on the top of many mountains on this trip, but the tram ride was something different and we enjoyed it.  They had a ski lift display at the bottom so we took the photo op.

On our way out of town, we continued the Breaking Bad tour by stopping off at Walter White's house and the car wash.  We noticed another car from Texas at both locations. 

We were on our way to Amarillo and then Palo Duro Canyon today and we were off to a later start than we had hoped so our only stop was for a picnic lunch.  It started sprinkling while we ate, but the cover kept us nice and dry.

We continued toward Amarillo and the rain turned into a downpour.  This was not good news considering our plans to attend the outdoor musical "Texas" tonight, but the weather forecast said that Palo Duro Canyon would be dry for the night so we held out hope.

The rain did let up as we got close to the park so things were looking better.

We entered Palo Duro State Park and took a few pictures.  Then we saw a flash of lightning and the rain started up again so we ran for the car.

We arrived at the park a few hours before the show with plans to do some hiking and exploring in the park, but the rain changed those plans.  Palo Duro Canyon is the second largest canyon in the US, after the Grand Canyon of course.  That means we have visited the 2 largest canyons in the country in the past 3 days and this is the 3rd canyon we've been in in the past 4 days. 

Since we were now in the middle of nowhere with nothing to do, we decided to eat the BBQ dinner that they offer next to the amphitheater.  The food was in a building and the picnic tables were covered, but the two were not connected by a covered walkway.  This was not an ideal place to eat in the rain but it worked out and the food was good.  They were playing live music and people were two-steppin' in the rain.  Ahh, it's good to be back in Texas.

We were sitting at our picnic table after eating when suddenly a little girl sat down right next to Morgan and said "Did your mommy make your dress?"  The girl's mom prompted her to ask what she was supposed to ask us, but instead she looked at Rodney and said "I love you!".  Eventually she got it right and said "Programs!".  Let me tell you, this girl is adorable.  And she doesn't have a shy bone in her body.  Turns out she is in the show and her name is Ginger Rogers.  Yes, that is her real name.  This girl is destined for stardom.  We bought a program from her and she even signed it.  She is only 4 so it's mostly a scribble, but this could be worth a fortune someday when she's a big star.

The rain let up and then started back again.  The show goes on even in the rain so we waited.  There was some lightning in the area so the show was delayed by about 20 minutes. 

Photography is not allowed during the show, but we took this pic of the stage before it started. 

We brought one poncho on the trip and bought 3 more in the gift shop.  This is high fashion.  We also got our jackets out of the car because it was chilly in the rain.

We were mostly dry for the first Act and even took off our ponchos.  At intermission, the rain started again and continued through the end of the show.

In spite of the rain, we really enjoyed the show.  We had great seats and it wasn't too crowded due to the weather.  They put on a great performance, complete with a patriotic grand finale that included fireworks and a mini-version of the fountains at the Bellagio.

The show didn't start until almost 9pm and it was nearing midnight by the time we got to our hotel in Amarillo, but the kids were amazing.  The show was captivating and kept them entertained and awake the whole time.  They were even really patient with the rain and the delays.  It was a great night and a great way to end our vacation.  Tomorrow we will be traveling home!

Route 66

Our destination today was Albuquerque, New Mexico.  We woke up in our Best Western in Grand Canyon Village and got on the road.  This was the most expensive hotel room of the trip and we spend the least amount of time there and had fewer amenities than any other hotel.  Location, location, location I guess.  It did look fancy in the lobby area, though, and it was the biggest room.  Morgan was very impressed, but her hotel experience is pretty limited.

Breakfast was not provided at the hotel so we headed south to Flagstaff.  An hour and a half later we arrived at our first stop on our Route 66 tour for the day - the Galaxy Diner.

When you enter a really cool 50's diner, you should of course run right to the dirty fish tank and look at ordinary goldfish.  Our kids have their priorities right.

It was a really cool diner on Route 66 and the food was good too.  Caleb enjoyed a pancake shaped like a bear.

We continued on Route 66 toward Albuquerque.  Route 66 is no longer an actual road, but many parts of it have been preserved and we tried to follow it as best we could.  At one point, we exited to follow the old 66 for a little ways, but found it to be a dirt road.  We got back on the interstate. 

Our next stop was supposed to the Barringer Meteor Crater but when we discovered it would cost $45 for our family to stop and look at this big hole in the ground, we decided to save our time and money.  When we told the kids how much it cost and that we thought it wasn't worth it, Morgan's response was "That's more than the Grand Canyon!".  Good point. 

The next Route 66 attraction was the Wigwam Motel in Holbrook, AZ.  It was pretty cool.  Each room is it's own tipi shaped building and there are lots of classic cars parked outside of them.  We walked around and took a few pictures and got back on the road.

We noticed a few other old Route 66 hotels in town as well.

We had a long way to go today so we mostly stayed on the Interstate the rest of the day.  We stopped at the Arizona welcome center rest stop for lunch.  Not very welcoming if you ask me.

The picnic tables were nice, though, and had a view of the Painted Cliffs.

The Arizona welcome sign was right there so we took a picture.  We have spent more time in Arizona on this trip than any other state.

A note on Arizona road signs.  I like the signs here.  On their city limits signs, instead of listing the population, they show the year the town was founded and its elevation.  I thought that was pretty cool and I guess they save money by not printing new signs every 10 years.  They also have signs discouraging drunk driving that show a picture of a person who died in a drunk driving accident with their name.  I thought this was a good approach. 

Good bye, Arizona!

And hello, New Mexico!

We were driving through New Mexico and started noticing black rock everywhere.  We thought it looked like lava, but that couldn't be right.  Turns out it is.  The last lava flow in this area was 1,000 years ago.  You can see the lava rock just beyond the road.

The sky was gorgeous.  This was probably our most boring day of the trip, but we did have beautiful weather.

We arrived in Albuquerque and went swimming at the hotel.  Then we headed to dinner at Twisters.  This is the site of Gus's restaurant, Los Pollos Hermanos, from Breaking Bad. 

Rodney wondered if it might be crowded because of its Breaking Bad fame and said we could just take a picture and leave if the line was long.  This was not a problem.  We were literally the only people there.

They are no dummies here and have capitalized on their TV stardom.  They are even selling posters.

We ate at Walter White's table.  Gus never showed.