jellyfish of the sky.

you know those days that are so horrible you want to jump in a pool of hungry sharks and die? or one of those days where you go to bed at night and think to yourself, "did i do anything worth remembering?" yeah, we don't know about those days either. our day will be remembered indeed.

we woke up at 4:30...make that 4:45. took a quick shower and headed off to the balloon fiesta!! it was in a word: magical. there was this huge field where people were free to go where they wanted as the ballooners set up their balloons. we were right where the action was. we watched them get all blown up and take off. first just the one, then a couple more and soon enough the sky was full of them. and it was "special characters day"!!! No joke, it was so magical that at one point we thought we were going to cry... here's a couple pics from the fiesta!

Up...

up...

and AWAY!!!

i like this one. kinda retro.

here is spongebob. he stole the show.

happy!!!

darth vadar! luke, i am your father. (laine)

i'm not really into star wars, but still....this was a good one. and some kangaroo chillin' in the back.

cutzie bug of some sort. so many more of the balloon festival. i'll put them all up on facebook later (caro).

ok, so after the balloon festival we met up with the one and only jan margrave who was randomly in albuquerque at the same time! maybe not so random, her daughter alyssa lives here and jan was visiting her grandchildren! they took us to this incredible indian-vegetarian restaurant where we ate like queens.

this is us in front of annapurna! yum yum yum.

jan's daughter alyssa let us bum a nap at her place as well, seeing as we got up so early and our humble camp sight might not be the most comfortable....note to selves: invest in sleeping pads.

jan is a saint and slipped some cash in caro's boots so we could go ride the tram to the sandia mountains!

jan and alyssa in front of alyssa's beautiful home! you guys are incredible.

ok, no time to waste. we had to get to the tram! the world's longest tram!!! it was a fifteen minute ride to the top. once we got off we went on a mile + hike to this cabin. it was built during the depression when people who needed a job would come up to the mountains to make hiking trails. instead of making the commute up the mountain everyday, they built this stone cabin to stay at until their work was done. it was a fun hike, absolutely beautiful. the weather was incredible, slightly chilly but perfect for hiking.

here's the view from the top on the left and the cabin on the right!!

so many more pictures, but it has been quite a long day. hopefully we will attain some sleeping pads and then off to our tent to reflect on the day. god is kind!!!!! off to santa fe tomorrow. that's what's up.

laine and caro.