My friend Lucy and I took a road trip down to Albuquerque, NM to see the annual Balloon Fiesta and to make up for a trip to Santa Fe that was a couple years overdue.
I haven't really had the chance to go through and edit any of these so here are a few snapshots from that trip:
After the "Mass Ascension" we explored the festivities a bit.
The roadtrip part was pretty exciting too. There are a lot of cool old towns in New Mexico.
We camped in a different place every night in Lucy's sweet popup tent that we barely fit in.
Some nights we ended up sleeping in the car.
We made some good vegetarian camping food.
Lighting credits go to Lucy and her flashlight.
Can't take a bad picture when you're camping with a fellow photographer...
We camped at Bandelier National Monument one night and got to re-visit the Kivas and cliff-dwellings I saw with Matt this last summer.
... and did some intense hiking. I still think it may have been better to pay the $2 to take the shuttle back to the campsite.
Visited Santa Fe. Such a cool place! So much history.
This is the oldest church in the US.
Made out of straw and mud.
Here is the cathedral with the miraculous staircase.
Its a super cool story.
Some mysterious traveller built this staircase for the church's choir who had been wanting one for so long but hadn't been able to come up with the money to build it.
The architect built it without charging and left as quickly as he came.
It is a full, double 360 degree spiral without a center pole and it is made only out of wood.
I guess this has been studied for years by architects and has even been x-rayed and no one has been able to figure out how it can stand, let alone function for all these years.
Pretty cool.
On our way home we stopped by Pagosa Springs, CO and put our tired, dirty feet in the only spring that was free. It was amazing.
Our campsite in Pagosa Springs was perfect!
We made some fancy foil dinners
... and headed home.
