Category: Uncategorized

	Miles	MPG	Avg. Speed
Today	91	51.3	29
Trip	2291	45.8	54

Food (today/budget)	Hotel (today/budget)	Trip Savings
$24 / $120	$47 / $75	AAA – $6 PriceLine – $242

Sandia Peak Tram	$37
Mountain Bikes	$96
National Museum of Nuclear Science and History	$15

We got up around 8:00 and headed for Sandia Peak to ride the tram and hike.  One of the minuses to the 3-star hotels is that there’s no free breakfast – on the other hand, one of the pluses is that there’s a restaurant, which 2-stars usually don’t have, and which has come in handy this evening as a storm blows through town.  We skipped the chains near the hotel and looked for a local café or something on the way, but didn’t find one so wound up at Chickfila.

Then we took the tram to the top of Sandia Peak, what used to be the longest tram in the world, until some monastery in Armenia built one.  Monks, go figure.

We had the Camelbaks with us for water and mine started leaking from somewhere when I first put it on, soaking my back, which was okay at the bottom where it was 80- to 90-degrees at the time we left, but less so when we got to the top and it was 50s and 60s.  It leaked for most of the time there, but then stopped when we were on the way back down, so I think I may have spilled quite a bit of water outside of its bladder when I filled it.

The ascent was gorgeous.  Sheer rock and boulders with sparse trees as we climbed from 6400-feet to 10,500-feet.  At the top, I started feeling the lack of oxygen, being from sea-level, and Aryn mentioned the same, so we postponed hiking and checked out the mountain bike rentals. 

The other side of the mountain is a ski-run, and completely different from the side we ascended.  In the summer, they have mountain bike trails down that side, criss-crossing the ski-runs and through the forest, then a ski-lift to bring you and your bike back to the summit. 

(download Google Earth track)

Now, I asked the guy: “Are any of the trails appropriate for people who haven’t biked in a while?” and he said, “Yeah.”

So we rented the bikes, got our helmets, pedaled a ways down the access road to acclimate ourselves (which should have been an indicator of how things would go), and started down the “easy” trail. 

The “easy” trail is that itty-bitty jaunt into the trees above.  The longer one is the access road and the red arrow at the bottom is where we rented the bikes.  So, yeah, about a hundred feet down the trail, I’ve gone off it twice and Aryn fell.  We both said: “Not a good idea.”

Walked the bikes back up to the rental station, which had me out of breath and nauseated from lack of oxygen.  10,000 feet is high.

Explain what happened to the guy, but there are no refunds.  He’ll send us round trip on the chair lift (usually $20), but no refund for the bikes.  Now keep in mind, it’s not like we had them for an hour or two – at most it was ten minutes.  Down the road, back up the road, 100’ down the trail, fall – no refund. 

Then he starts telling us about other people who’ve fallen and gotten hurt and I’m wondering why, when he knows this, he would tell me it’s an appropriate trail for two people who haven’t been on a bike in a few years.  But it’s pointless to argue, so I took the chairlift ride – I may dispute $76 of the charge when it comes through.

The chair lift was great – Aryn found it too cold with the breeze, but even with a wet back I thought it was wonderful weather.

The two sides of the mountain are completely different and I saved the pictures of both to post together.  The left column is the Albuquerque side.

Exact same mountain, opposite sides.

This pretty much sums it up:

But there were plenty of people hiking at the summit and others hiking up the ski-slope, even some hiking at least partway up the tram-side. 

We left Sandia and headed for the National Museum of Nuclear Science and History.  I’d seen the signs for this on the way into town and thought it might be interesting, but figured Aryn wouldn’t care for it much.  Then she saw the sign and surprised me by wanting to go. 

The majority of the exhibits were about nuclear weapons, heavy on the WWII era.

Aryn chose to pose with Fat Man, kicking Little boy to the curb.

Interesting to see the inside of an ICBM with multiple warheads.

Pieces of the Berlin Wall.  Microsoft has a full three-foot panel of it at their headquarters in Redmond, which I’ve seen, but even the smaller pieces are impressive to me.  I remember watching the coverage of the crowds rushing the wall and attacking it when the USSR broke up.

The most sensible warning label I’ve seen in a long time.  Probably too much to expect of most people, though.  But after a long day of trying, we had finally found a bicycle Aryn could handle.

Monopoly for IAEA nuclear inspectors … I especially like the Go to Iraq space.

Outside, they have a display of aircraft, submarine sails, and artillery used for nuclear delivery, including a B-52.

With its wing-wheels propped up so the wing stays level instead of dropping like it really would on the ground.

And a B-29.

The museum was light on science, though.  I would have liked to see more exhibits and information on power-generation, especially the new Gen-IV reactor technology.  They had a couple information panels about it, but not much.  Probably the level of technical detail Aryn and I would have liked to see would put most people off.

Then it was off to the National Petroglyph Monument.  I just wanted a quick stop to see the things, but it turns out they’re not actually in a single place.  They’re back on 1-2 mile trails scattered around the area, and mid-afternoon in Albuquerque in July was not someplace I wanted to take a two hour hike in through the desert, at least not after a long day.

So it was back to the hotel for dinner – at the hotel, since a storm was coming through town – and laundry.

Magic Underwear Update: Both pairs of Magic Underwear have been washed, but came through the first trial of five days with no complaints or ill-effects.

	Miles	MPG	Avg. Speed
Today
Trip

Food (today/budget)	Hotel (today/budget)	Trip Savings
$26/$115	$89 / $90	AAA – $6 PriceLine – $188

National Parks Annual Pass – $80

Carlsbad Caverns – $12

I had an alarm set for 7:00, but woke up at 6:00.  We’re in Mountain Time, now, so two hours earlier than Florida.  I let Aryn sleep until 7:00, then breakfast and the drive to the national park.

Once in the park, I pulled over at one of the scenic parking spots and we headed up the side of a hill.  Some huffing and puffing later, we arrived at the top, having successfully summited the smallest hill within view.

Then it was into the caverns.  I bought the Annual National Parks Pass for $80.  With all the parks we’re visiting on this trip, it should pay for itself.  Carlsbad alone would have been $12.  We took the natural entrance, rather than the elevator, a 750-foot elevation change over a 1-1/4 mile path.

At the bottom, before the loop of trail through the cavern, is a restroom and giftshop.  I like how they get you 750-feet down in a cave that’s 56-degrees and then charge $40 for a hoodie.  That’s good marketing sense.

Once at the bottom, we took the 1.2 mile loop around the the caverns.

So … a couple hours walk, listening to Aryn complain that she couldn’t go off the path and explore, especially the wire ladder in the last picture – which looks a bit deteriorated from when it was installed in the 20s.  I asked about the more strenuous tours of other caverns for her, but they only do those on weekends.  

We took the elevator back to the surface, 750-feet in one minute, which was cool because they have windows on it so you can see the raw rock of the shaft going past.  I still think we should have walked back up, as a test for the Grand Canyon.  Far better to find out here if it’s too much for the girl-child.

Hopefully, it won’t be too much for me.  The descent into the cavern aggravated my knee – climbing isn’t a problem, but going down gives some twinges.  I’m going to pick up a knee brace tomorrow and see if it helps.

We had lunch at the park, mine not very good, and then back to the hotel to rest and get out of the heat for a few hours.  At about 6:00, we have to head back to the caverns for the bat flight.

Aryn slept most of the afternoon and we left a little before six to go back to the caverns.  Browsed around the gift shops a bit before heading out to the amphitheater to sit on stone benches for two hours.  No noise, no electronics – it interferes with the bats.

That’s not a picture from tonight.  I’m not even sure that’s a picture of Carlsbad or the same species of bat at Carlsbad.  The picture’s from the National Park’s

website, but I think it’s a scam, because we didn’t see that many bats. Maybe it was because the crowd was too noisy, I don’t know.  It wasn’t a total waste, though, because we saw the Nike family:

Dad and the two little girls show up, all wearing Nike shirts, shorts and shoes (Aryn pointed out the shoes, which were dayglo).  Mom’s wearing UnderArmour – she must be the rebel of the family. They moved to the other side of the seating later and two older kids went with them, but the older kids weren’t wearing Nike.  They were actually dressed kind of ragged.  We decided they’re dad’s kids from his first marriage and don’t get the cool stuff.

Magic Underwear Update: Still running on two pair, no complaints.