a worthy destination: October 2011

A few weeks ago me & some friends from work went down to New Mexico for the Hot Air Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque. We stopped in Santa Fe the first night & hung out there for part of the next day. Then it was on to Albuquerque for the main event!

Playing with perspectives...the view from just outside our hotel in Santa Fe

Saturday morning in Santa Fe we went to the market

The market is full of pretty colors! Did you know artichokes had flowers? Me neither.

After Santa Fe we headed to Albuquerque to the Hot Air Balloon Fiesta. We went to the balloon glow Saturday night and the Mass Ascension on Sunday morning. It Was Amazing!

Jena, Erin, Maria, Me & the Haunted House

SPIDER PIG!

The Mass Ascension

Darth Vader Balloon

Pretty

I like the silver one

When Pigs Fly

Spirit of Colorado

They look like they're break dancing...break dancing bees :)

The whole sky filled with balloons!!

My Dad came out to Colorado Springs to visit me! The first thing on our agenda was Garden of the Gods...

You can see the first snow on top of Pike's Peak!

Buffalo rock...Dad found this one :)

Dad with Pike's Peak in the background. And Dad & I trying to move Balanced Rock...it didn't budge

Me peeking through a doorway at the cliff dwellings

The Cliff Dwellings

We found Red Rock Canyon & went for a hike...we may or may not have stayed on the trails...oops!

Very cool twisted tree we passed

You can see where they mined the red rocks

The next day Dad & I had an America Day: We went to the US Olympic Training Center, ate lunch at America the Beautiful Park, then went to the Air Force Academy for the rest of the afternoon.

The Olympic Training Center. They have a machine that pulls people as fast as Michael Phelps in the pool...I want to try that

The Air Force Academy Cathedral

The Air Force Academy Cathedral...inside

The Air Force Academy Cathedral...one of the walls

Sunday morning we went to Pike's Peak...and it happened to be the most clear, beautiful day EVER! We took the Cog train to the top, ate the best doughnuts, & took pictures in the snow! And after the Peak we went to the highest altitude Zoo!

PIKES PEAK

THE ZOO

You could feed the giraffes...they had really long tongues...ewww

These bears were wrestling...I think they're brothers

So, this may be my favorite picture of all time. I was trying to take a picture of the wolf, but the effect was totally an accident.

Dad & I went on a hike the next day only to discover that our lungs were soooo not ready for hiking in this altitude...out hike started about 1,000 ft higher than the Springs then clinbed another 1,500 ft before we got to the top...Holy Cow. But it was definitely worth it! Here are the pictures from the reservoirs at the top...that's Pike's Peak in the background.