Oct 3–Albuquerque

While we were in Santa Fe, we drove up to Los Alamos to see the museums on the atom bomb program there during World War II.  The officials wanted to find a place that was far from a coast with restricted access and fairly moderate weather, so they ended up putting the new facility on top of a mesa in the middle of New Mexico.  It must have been an interesting place to work for the scientists, and a frustrating place to live for their families.

We spent the rest of the time in Santa Fe just wandering through stores and not buying anything, or visiting with the other people in the RV park.  It’s rained a lot in recent weeks, and when it rains in the desert, things bloom that might not normally be blooming this late in the year.

 

We drove the short distance down to Albuquerque yesterday and met up with the other Boomers we are camping with.  This morning, the first of the commercial balloons were up and flying, so I took pictures.  I’m sure they will turn out to be the least interesting of the balloon photos that will be taken the rest of the week. 

               

 

We all went over to the balloon grounds to get our crew training.  This is what the balloon grounds looked like today.  By Saturday it will be a totally different picture.  There are over 600 balloons planned for the next week.    We got our crew assignment and when we looked our pilot up, it turns out that we are going to be working with a balloon that looks like a fireman’s hat called “First Responder.”  I’m eager to get photos of it.

This is going to be a fun adventure!