GREETINGS FROM ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico (NM) USA
The town of course made famous by a Bugs Bunny cartoon – or a number of them ! (a link for the fans !)
But you will be surprised to know it’s origins in fact date back before Bugs to Spanish inhabitants and then after the Americans took possession the area opened up when the railroads came to the West – and it was a major stop on the famous “Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe” railroad.
We had a real treat to start the day in Elephant Butte. During our trip research, we found that this weekend coincided with the annual Elephant Butte Balloon Regatta. New Mexico is a haven for hot air ballooning. On our 2012 trip, we came across some being launched when we visited White Sands National Monument. And Albuquerque is the “ballooning capital of the world”, holding the “International Balloon Fiesta” – the largest in the world – each October.
Even this little event in Elephant Butte has been running for 35 years.
All the ballooners were arriving about the time we arrived last night and when we checked in the lady at reception told us we would have to have an early start to watch them take off. We had found a spot toward the end of the lake we thought would be a good view so early this morning – about 6.45 – we headed to our spot for the 7am start. It was a bit behind schedule but eventually, about 18 balloons were taking off from a large beach area on the edge of the lake and “floating” out over the lake – quite a spectacle !
Leaving the balloons, we left Truth or Consequences, not having found the former or suffered the later, and headed north on our days drive.
The route today covers a large part of what is known as “the Royal Road” – El Camino Real. In 1598, Don Juan de Onate led 500 colonists along this trail – remote and unfamiliar country – to the northern part of New Mexico and established San Juan Pueblo as the first capital. All the towns along the route exhibit a strong Spanish influence form the early Spanish exploration into the area.
Now, in addition to balloons, there seems to be another theme going on in New Mexico.
On our 2012 trip through New Mexico we visited Roswell, the site of the famous 1947 alleged UFO/US Air Force balloon incident.Not far east from Truth or Consequences is the site of Richard Branson’s project “Spaceport America”, the world’sfirst commercial Spaceport – for his Virgin Galactic project aimed at one day providing day to day commercial space flights.
And today we visited the Karl G Jansky “Very Large Array” (VLA) – a radio astronomy observatory.
Now this place is spectacular. For those who have visited the radio telescope in Parkes, NSW (or seen the movie “The Dish”), you will know the scale/size of one of these telescopes. Well the VLA has 27 of these setup in the desert in a “Y” shape and each one is mounted on railway tracks so they can be moved into wider or tighter configurations. And the data from all 27 is combined electronically to act as a single antenna – which if it was one actual antenna would be 36km across ! – so you would have no trouble picking up the Pluto equivalent of Foxtel !
It is currently in its 2nd largest (widest) configuration at about 7 miles across. There are 4 configurations used – about 0.6, 2, 7 and 22 miles across – and they use the different widths depending on the type of observations they are making.
Back to El Camino Real, we also drove through Socorro which has quite an array of unique architecture covering its existence from Indian Pueblos, to the Spanish Colonial period, to a wild mining town and to its present settlement.
The drive today was mainly along I 25 and through fairly scrubby desert scenery. This was broken up as we went along and got closer to the Rio Grande as the valleys nearby the river are actually quite fertile and green.
Tonight we are in Albuquerque, the largest city in New Mexico. It is surrounded on the eastern side by the Sandia Mountains and the Rio Grande runs right through the town. Late this afternoon the black clouds gathered and it looked like we were in for quite a downpour. However the only storm we really got was of the dust variety as the winds blew up and with it the dry dusty landscape. There was a bit of rain but only a sprinkling and it looks like we might actually get a sunset. Dinner was the “5.30 Kickback” at the Drury Inn where we are staying – drinks and various southwestern choices (nachos, hot dogs and chilli) to eat.
Today’s Trivia – While Microsoft is mainly associated with the Greater Seattle area, Bill Gates and Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen started the company in Albuquerque, where it was located between 1975 and 1979 !