Brainstorm on the next 43T meetup- possibly in Albuquerque

Wait. That’s what Flirt does when I try to kiss her toes…

Anyway, I thought you guys meant Albuquerque, Austria…! No wonder I didn’t see you guys there.

_{OK, there is no Albuquerque, Austria… Now you tell me.}

Sunday morning, and the start of the goodbyes, came much too early. We all met in the dining room for breakfast, where Markov was anxious to get his teeth on some bacon to go with the yummy pancakes.

Sorry, the bacon disappeared too fast to get a picture.

All too soon, it was time for Markov to check out so he could catch his (almost) noon flight. Hunnypie and Flirt helped him out by watching his bag so he wouldn’t have to leave it unattended around strangers. ;-) Then it was farewell hugs and off to the airport via Flirt’s Limo Service.

Back at Casa, ScorpioNerve’s family rejoined us and we made plans for the day.

We had hopes of going to a tea room for lunch, but discovered it wasn’t open on Sundays, so we headed to the aquarium to fill our hungry stomachs.

We had a short wait to get our table, which we spend looking at all the colorful fish.

Our waitress was very nice (and pretty) and gave Snicks lots of special attention

even if she did think Stacey was a little strange. ;-)

Stuart and Snicks were happy to find pizza on the menu

and ScorpioNerve snuck him (Snicks, not Stuart) some beer when (she thought) I wasn’t looking.

The highlight of lunch – besides Scorp’s Freudian slip

was watching the diver feed the animals in the aquarium

Snicks was fascinated with the huge turtle and got up close and personal to watch.

We took one last chance for a group picture

before it was time to head back home (WATCH OUT for the bees)

and say goodbye to Scorp’s family.

We had a little time to goof off write some more postcards

then it was time for more goodbye hugs and get Stacey to the airport so she could catch her flight back to San Diego.

Hunnypie and DRight wanted to ride along so they could embarrass Stacey, but Stacey assured them that she had seen it all, so they went shopping/exploring instead.

After my second airport run of the day, I was ready for a nap. I was having a really nice one, until Hunnypie and DRight woke me up saying it was supper time. ;-) Snicks wanted to go out and find some excitement, but the rest of us voted for some quiet time. So we spent the evening watching movies, relaxing, snacking on munchies, and signing postcards and journals.

ScorpioNerve, our local hostess, had made reservations at El Pinto, so we loaded our cold and hungry bodies back up in the cars at the tramway station and headed for dinner. We were a little bit late, but our table was still waiting for us, and we quickly ordered some appetizers and a couple of pitchers of margaritas.

One for Snicks (and, no, he wasn’t driving)

and one for everyone else.

The food was excellent! I had shrimp enchiladas (I think). I don’t remember what everyone else had, but I think everyone’s plates were empty when we finished.

Hunnypie and DRight orders a tiramisu, and offered ScorpioNerve a taste. She really, really liked it!

We sat around the table laughing and talking

until they kicked us out some people (and bears) were almost asleep

so the Casa de Suenos group said goodbye to ScorpioNerve’s family and headed back to the ranch

for a wild night of fun some relaxing and fun before bed.

Some of us even went out after curfew! :-D

Saturday afternoon was warn and sunny (71 degrees F), perfect for our adventurous ride up the Sandia Peak Tramway – the world’s longest passenger aerial tramway and the world’s third longest single span. From Casa de Suenos, we loaded up our two vehicles and climbed from an elevation of 5,312 ft (1,619.1 m) to the base of the tramway at an elevation of 6,559 feet (1,999 m).

!!

We purchased our tickets and waited patiently for our tram (there was one ahead of us and they run about every 15 minutes). Finally it was time and we loaded up. BRRRR!!! If you’re wearing shorts, you’re going to be COLD!!!

It’s hard to believe, but each (rather small tram) holds 55 sardines people

and an elephant and a teddy bear.

The 3,819 ft (1,164 m) ascension to the top takes 15 minutes and put us at an elevation of 10,378 feet (3,163 m). One part was really steep. :-)

The view was incredible – IF you’re brave enough to look!

Up at the top, there were plenty of places to take in the views, both inside – where it was warm

and outside, where the wind chill made some people wish they’d dressed more appropriately!

Stacey (AKA the California girl) was amazed at ALL the snow!!!

Snickerdoodle and Mr. Fenet wanted to see everything

and they made sure to read all the info, in case there was a test later on.

Everywhere we looked

the view was amazing

!!

But alas, as much fun as we were having

it was soon time to head back down the mountain if we wanted to get to dinner on time. (Besides that, we were cold!) So we loaded back up on the tram

and down we went!

The tram rides were anything but boring

and the view at the base was pretty awesome, as well. (No smokers in the picture, please. ;-)

Snicks gave us a lesson on the New Mexico state symbol

and then it was time for dinner, so off we went!

Saturday morning came early (or so it seemed to some of us). DRight, Hunnypie and Snicks were up and finished breakfast before the rest of us were out of our rooms.

So they took a walk (somewhere) while the rest of us got moving and made it up to the dining room. Stacey and I tormented Markov by ordering bacon when he couldn’t. Mmmmm…was it GOOD!!!

After breakfast, we all wandered down to Old Town to take in the sights and browse in the shops.

I bought postcards, Markov and DRight bought hats

and Snicks made a couple of new friends.

Next we made our way over to the museum, but on the way, we had to stop and play. Snicks wanted to ride the horse

but Hunnypie had to give him a boost.

After the horseback riding, it was storytime.

Mmmm….BACON!

We finally made it to the museum, just in time for lunch.

After lunch, Hunnypie and I decided to head back to the Casa for naps, and the others headed to the High Noon for some afternoon refreshments. Snicks went with Hunnypie and me because he wanted a nap, too the fuddyduddies wouldn’t take him into the bar with them.

On Friday, Snicks and I first stopped off at Casa de Suenos so we could have a look around the place. Plus, Snicks really wanted to check in on 43Things.

Sandy (one of the front desk clerks) was nice enough to let us unpack my car and put all the stuff in my casita, even though the maids weren’t through cleaning it. (We needed to make room in my car for everyone’s luggage when we picked them up at the airport.) After the car was unloaded we made one last stop to fill up with gas. Snicks wanted to man bear the pump, but he couldn’t do it without some help, since he’s so short, so I had to help.

This made it rather hard to take a picture, but a very nice lady hopped out of her car to help when they stopped at the ATM in the gas station parking lot. Snicks has such animal magnetism!

After we filled up with gas, Snicks was kind of curious about the strange building next to the station, so we took a drive through it to check it out. Snicks was VERY impressed!

But not as impressed as he was when he found out we could get a free Snickers candy bar just for buying gas. (He was a little disappointed when they were out of Snickers and had M&Ms instead, but I was thrilled!)

The next stop was the airport, where we picked up AthenaWoman, Hunnypie and Dright, and delivered them to Casa de Suenos, where Snicks helped Sandy get them checked in.

Then it was off to the airport again

this time to pick up Markov. DRIght and Hunnypie stayed back to check out the hot tub in Athenawoman’s room, but unfortunately, the hot part was (temporarily) missing. After relaxing in the party room my casita for a couple of hours, and making arrangements with Scorpionerve, we headed down to Old Town and the Church Street Cafe for supper. The margaritas were cold

the food was hot (and YUMMY)

and the hugs were warm!

After dinner, we wandered around Old Town for awhile, browsing in the shops. Hunnypie found her a snazzy cowboy hat (picture to be seen later) to protect her from the sun. Then it was time to head back to the Casa, for some music, beers, unwinding, and a good night’s rest.

Everyone seems to be clamoring for more entries/information on the meet-up, so here’s installment #1. It’s probably definitely going to be a little boring, but beggars can’t be choosers.

I hit the road (I-35) on Wednesday (4/9) late in the afternoon (about 4:00). It was later than I wanted to get started, but since I had woken up at 4:30 that morning and couldn’t get back to sleep, I figured a nap was much more important that an early start. I had thought about taking US HWY 56, which parallels the “Santa Fe Trail”, but since it rained all day (and all night) I kind of figured I might as well go a slightly shorter and faster way, since I wouldn’t be able to stop and do any picture taking. Once I got to Wichita, I took US HWY 54, which parallels the railroad tracks all the way to Western Kansas, so I had quite a few trains (and not many cars) keeping me company in the dark, rainy night.

I stopped for the night in Guymon, Oklahoma. A note to whom it may concern: Don’t take a “non-drowsy” decongestant a few hours before you’ll be wanting to get a really good night’s sleep – it won’t happen. I think it was 6:30 before I got to sleep. Luckily, I had asked for a late checkout, so I slept till 10:30, and was back on the road before noon.

Thursday started out windy and rainy, like Wednesday, but eventually the sun came out, so it was windy and sunny. I stopped and took a lot of pictures on the way, for Lotte’s journal. I thought she might enjoy seeing what the American west is like in the 21st century.

After a short drive through the panhandle of Oklahoma, I entered the panhandle of Texas. For those of you are have never been there, Northwestern Texas looks pretty much the same as western Oklahoma and Kansas.

It’s FLAT

WINDY

LONELY

and has a lot of cowboys!!!

Before I knew it, I was in New Mexico – my first visit to the Land of Enchantment!!!

I called Scorpionerve and arranged to meet her at Kelly’s, a filling station-turned-brew/pub in Albuquerque, where she was getting together with classmates. After only getting a little lost, I found Kelly’s, Scorpionerve, her two sons and Snickerdoodle!!!

We had a wonderful visit, where I learned lots about the Scorpio family, including the fact that Scorp is a big flirt, and, much to her disappointment, her husband is not. Thinking this a good opportunity to take some “flirting lessons”, I introduced Snicks (and ourselves) to the table of nice policemen sitting behind us.

One of them was so nice, that he let Snicks wear his badge!

After the flirting lesson was over, it was time to head to the hotel and get ready for the big day on Friday. Snicks and I both needed a good night’s sleep

followed by a good breakfast

before we headed to Casa de Suenos and the airport to pick up all the other meeter-uppers!

More to follow!

(and Mr. and Mrs. Scorpionerve and the Nervinos). We had a blast taking the skytram up the Sandia Mountains. It was over 10,000 ft!

There was snow on top of the Sandia Mountains. I’m glad I didn’t follow DRight’s advice and wear shorts. Brrrrrr!

Little Miss P. O. Pig at the post office in Old Town. I think she was a bit disappointed that i didn’t bring her any cookies. :-(