Happy New Year 2016

It's a new year and time to start new traditions, do new things and see new places.  What are your plans?  I can't wait, but unfortunately our travel part will have to wait until at least April when we might be able to be gone for a couple of weeks before I start radiation therapy.

We had a quiet Christmas and New Years Eve here in our RV in Albuquerque.  Our temperatures before Christmas were pleasant and we have now had two snow storms neither of which has given us in our location any significant snow (a dusting with some on the roadway), but did drop up to 8" at friends who live closer to the mountains.  Fine with us as we have no snow removal equipment and since we are retired have to go nowhere on the snowy, icy roads.  Albuquerque seldom has snow on the roads that last more than a day or so since temps during the day tend to melt the snow.  Unfortunately, it does not mean that the roads are not wet and subsequently are black ice at night.  While the roads are now clear, the temps have not risen above 40 degrees for the past week and three more storms are predicted for this next week.  Other parts of the state; however, were really snowed in according to the local weather reports.

The one nice thing about our location and position in the Park is that we face the Sandia Mountains located on the east side of town and part of the Rocky Mountains.  Sandia means "watermelon" in Spanish and the mountains got the name because as the sun sets, the mountains turn a beautiful shade of watermelon pink.
While this picture is not from our RV, it is what we see out our front window when the sun sets without snow on them.

This is the same mountains showing them with snow which is what we are currently seeing.

The highest peak in the Sandia's is almost 11,000 feet and there is a beautiful tram ride up to the ski area from around 6,000 feet near the foot of the mountains here in town.  The view is spectacular no matter the time of year and you might even see big horn sheep clinging to the side of a mountain along the way.   A restaurant and overlook as well as the ski lift await you at the top.  If you would like a leisurely drive to the top you can drive east on I-40 into Tijeras Canyon to a two lane windy road through the CibolaNational Forest to the top.  At this location there is a gift shop and overlook of the city as well.

Come visit sometime and see what the Sandia Mountains have to offer as well as the city of Albuquerque.  We definitely have four seasons here and there are many, many different kinds of activities from hiking and picnicing to visiting Indian ruins, to Old Town and of course, the International Balloon Fiesta in October every year.