Bucket List Travels

  Have you checked your bucket list lately? I don’t know that I’ve ever set down an official one, but in my head, the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta was on it. And we finally checked it off! For those of you who follow my Facebook page, you’ll know I had a fabulous, magical experience.

We chose to go with a local tour group that could bus us into the balloon grounds and provide us with a VIP tent since the mass ascension starts around 5 AM and the balloon glow is necessarily after dark. Albuquerque’s altitude is over 5000’ so the weather is considerably cooler than here in Southern California. The warm tent was welcome, but it was well worth wrapping in blankets and sipping hot chocolate to walk beneath those magnificent balloons as they heated up and lifted off. Watching their colorful glow drift into the night sky was like watching the stars lift from earth.

Of course, since we’d traveled that far, we spent a week exploring the city and traveling further up the mountain to Santa Fe. I have always loved New Mexico’s art. Their state government building is more art gallery than meeting rooms. We drooled our way around historic Albuquerque plaza and the galleries of Santa Fe but managed to keep our wallets in our pockets for a change—except for clothing and jewelry, of course!

While we were in Albuquerque, we had dinner with Pati Nagle, who writes mysteries as Patrice Greenwood, and her husband at the St. James Tea Room.  Pati’s mysteries center around a tea room just like the one we visited, and they proudly display her books in the gift shop—although we saw no ghost. Who knew how full one can get on tiny sandwiches? They had a soufflé in dishes that would have served well in a dollhouse! If you’re ever in Albuquerque, make sure you get a reservation and try it. You can even wear your fancy tea hat if you have one. If this is the way our English Regency characters ate, they were spoiled indeed, and very very fat.

I wrote about some of the history of New Mexico in Cheyenne’s Lady  and about more recent times and Route 66 in California Girl. You can see my fascination with New Mexico is long standing. The area was settled well before the Pilgrims landed on the east coast, so it has a long and fascinating history. I wish readers were as interested in American history as Regency—it’s far more colorful!

Have you planned a bucket list yet? What would we be on it? (Not that I need more ideas, mind you, but one can dream!)

 

Comments

[Samantha Craig]

I crossed one off my bucket list last Thanksgiving when I went to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York with my sister. While it was amazing, I am happy enough this year to watch it from the warmth of my own home. :)

[Patricia Rice]

Oh that must have been fabulous! It's not on my list because of that cold thing. ;) The Rose Parade in Pasadena has always been my favorite, and we got to see that a few years ago. Isn't it interesting how once we've achieved the goal, we have no need to repeat it?

[Lora Patten]

Going to Scotland to visit my father's birthplace and possibly look up some of the extended relations there.

[Mary Jo Putney]

Pat, is that Darth Vader's helmet behind you? I'd love to see this hot air balloon festival! You've inspired me. *G* There are lots of things I'd like to do. Visit the Shetlands. Take a riverboat cruise through France. Visit lots of islands, like the Azores and the Canaries and the smaller Mediterranean islands. But I'm easy and there are so many lovely possibilities. The first time I tried for a French riverboat cruise I ended up on the Douro in Portugal, and the second time I ended up on the Danube--and they were both great!

[Patricia Rice]

oh, that sounds wonderful! I hope you can do it.

[Patricia Rice]

Yep, that's Darth. Lots of clever balloons.
Riverboat cruises are on my list!

[Lori J Winward]

Last year I was given the gift of a trip to England, and stayed for 3 weeks in Oxfordshire. I had wanted to go to England ever since I was a small child. It was wonderful! I still am gobsmacked that I got to go!

[Shannon]

I don’t really have a bucket list. I got my dream to live in the UK. Everywhere I go and half of my FB pages provides me with new things to see. Today is Blenheim Palace. I alternate castles, manor homes, churches and priories, and museums. Glad you got to enjoy.

[Patricia Rice]

oh I'm smiling hugely here! I'm sooo glad you got to go. England is it's own form of magic for those of us on the other side of the pond. What a wonderful gift!

[Patricia Rice]

you are living your dream! Having time to do all that is another item on my bucket list. ;)

[Kathy K]

I got to go to Israel in 1999. It was fabulous! Still remaining on the bucket list are a long trip to the UK. I also have a family translator, so I'd like to go to China. My S-i-l says we need to go while we are healthy and able to get around, because China is not handicap-friendly. SO we are planning to go after I retire.

[Patricia Rice]

oh, if you have someone to translate, China would be fabulous! I can translate written signs in Latin-based languages, but China would leave me terrified. Yes, go when you can and tell us all about it later!

[Sue McCormick]

Husband and wife mutual bucket list: Fort Wayne Genealogical library; Gene Stratton Porter's Limberlost cabin; Blue Hole in Ohio; Niagara Falls Plus the Whirlpool, Watson Glen Falls at the foot of Lake Cayuga; Moosewood Restaurant in Ithaca, and Deerwood (?) *somehwere in New England.

Carlsbad Caverns (New Mexico?), Meteor, Arizona, Mesa Grande, Arizona (although that is probably physically beyond me now); the Grand Canyon and the rest of Hillerman county, the Genealogy library at Salt Lake City.

The Pacific NorthWest — mainly Portland, Oregon; Seattle, Washington; and the British Columbia.

If we have any of us left — a long stay in the British Islands (We have done a marvelous 12-day tour, so this is last, but in no way least).

*Deerwood?? known for it's stitchery and other element of colonial life. I DO have a book which would give me the correct name, but none of us wish to wait until fir find it.

[Sue McCormick]

translation: "until I find it."

[Karin]

Hi Sue, Watkin's Glen(I think that's what you meant) is beautiful, well worth seeing, and the walk is not too bad. Even on a hot day, the mist from the falls keeps you cool, and you're in the shade. We did a tour of the Finger Lakes and saw about half a dozen waterfalls. I'm a huge fan of upstate New York, and on my last visit we visited Harriet Tubman's historic home and museum in Auburn. Well worth a detour! But I've heard reports that Moosewood Restaurant is not so good anymore, so I think I'll stick with the cookbooks, which I love! Instead, go to Skaneateles, a great little town with a famous fish fry place.

[Patricia Rice]

What a fabulously intellectual, historical, and literary collection! I hope you have plans for ticking these off whenever possible. We never know what life has in store for us!

[Tsu Nimh]

I saw that a few decades ago when working as a hospital repair engineer. The lovely staff at the ABQ hospital I was fixing things for told me I HAD TO STAY OVER and found me a gurney to crash on, then woke me at O'Dark Awful and hauled me to the launch.

Well worth a poor night's sleep.

The launch was (maybe still is) on a ridge overlooking the city so you can see it from many spots in the city, but they had wangled tickets to get into the launch site. It's like hearing a den of dragons waking up with the bellowing burners, rustling fabric and scraping of the baskets on the gravel.

BTW: In Santa Fe the place to eat is the Plaza Cafe.

[Patricia Rice]

thank you for the wonderful description! And yes, its well worth a poor nights sleep to have that magical experience. Hurrah for having such great people to be with!

Patricia Rice
http://patriciarice.com

[Sue McCormick]

Yes, I meant Watkins Glen. I saw it in the summer of 1941 and I have been wishing to go back ever since. It has just never worked out. I saw Niagara Falls on the same trip and Watkins Glen outshines it in my memory. Niagara is powerful, but Watkins Glen has beauty.

We have seen other falls that are admirable (each has it's own beauty) but I really wish to share Watkins Glen with my family.

Thank you for the heads up on Moosewood.