Thursday, January 13, 2011
El Rancho Mobile Home Park, Albuquerque, NM -- 9/28-12/14
This is the same place we have stayed every time we have been in ABQ for longer than a couple of weeks. This time we got a spot that was even harder to back into than usual, so we were glad to be staying almost 3 months.
While in ABQ, we did the usual activities -- line dancing, duplicate bridge, Met Opera Live in HD ("Das Rheingold" and "Don Pasquale"), and many pizza & movie nights with Doug's father, Gayle. We also went to the ABQ Balloon Fiesta for a day. This turned out to be mostly a "learning experience", since it was our first time, and we learned a lot of things the hard way. We picked a day with lovely weather, but unfortunately there was the smallest little rain cloud that passed over just at the right/wrong time and caused most of the balloon activities to be cancelled. Then, in our rush to see the very brief inflation of the special-shaped balloons, we got separated and spent about an hour trying to get back together and not really enjoying ourselves like we should have. We didn't buy the food we initially wanted because we thought there might be "something better" down the way. When we found out there wasn't, we were too tired to go back! However, if we go again, we'll know a lot of things to make it more pleasant!
A real highlight of our time here was actually a trip away from ABQ. We flew to Peoria, IL, to visit Willie's sister, Cathy Barry, and her niece Jennifer & her four children for 5 days. Her nephew's wife and son were also able to visit over the weekend, so we had a very nice family gathering. Unfortunately, nephew Michael had a weekend of intense Master's degree classes and couldn't be there with us. However, he did complete his Master's degree recently, so it was worth it. We were able to have some really nice family time together and are looking forward to our return next spring, when we'll have our trailer and be able to stay for a month.
As usual, brother Bob and his wife Paula prepared a delicious Thanksgiving dinner, and Doug's daughter Erin and her husband Bryan were able to visit briefly. The next morning the four of us had a marvelous breakfast at the Owl Cafe.
Once again, we seriously contemplated buying something more permanent in ABQ and possibly "settling down" here; however, the road was still calling to us, and it seemed unwise to spend any money on a more permanent dwelling at this time.
# posted by Doug and Willie @ 11:58 AM 
