Hanging with Jer in Albuquerque, NM!

Seeing Jeromy for the first time since leaving Texas A&M in 2002 was awesome! We had a blast hanging out with him and getting wild, I'd forgotten how much fun we used to have together back in the day! Come visit us in SF, Jer!!!





Where's Randi when you need her?!?!



Steampunk Jer:



Jammin'! (Difference being that Jer can actually play a few instruments and I can't, ha.)

Petroglyph National Monument, Albuquerque, NM

It's definitely worth a look if you're ever in Albuquerque for a couple days. Ancient Puebloan peoples drew glyphs all over these rocks well over 1000 years ago.

FYI: The Puebloans are also known as the "Anasazi," however, that is a derogatory name given to them by their more modern conquerers, the Navajo, and means something akin to "ancient enemy" and so is not a nice thing to refer to then as. The ancestors of the ancient Puebloan People prefer to be called "Puebloan." We learned this while we were out there in NM, very cool.





At the top of the hill:

Images of Albuquerque, NM

In addition to seeing Jer, we got to check out Albuquerque. The look of the New Mexican landscape and architecture is very different from any place I've seen before, check it out:





They love their chili peppers out there, both red and green! There's lots of adobe buildings and those pastel blues and pinks.





We took a gondola up to the top of Sandia Peak at 10,400 feet! This was possibly the highest elevation we reached during this entire trip. Albuquerque itself is about one mile above sea level already, 5,200 feet, so this was the beginning of about three weeks of being a mile up or higher for us. You really have to watch your drinking when you're not used to the elevation ;)



That's Albuquerque down there and the Rio Grande is the is the shiny little river you can see next to my head:





Look closely for the gondola:

Roswell, NM and the drive from Carslsbad to Albuquerque

Roswell is a funny little town, they're big on the alien thing there just like you've heard! Along the way from Carlsbad, NM to Albuquerque, NM was another one of those sections of road along which the landscape is awesome (though you would NEVER want to break down out there!).

Roswell, NM:





Along the road:

Carlsbad Caverns National Park, go there!

We checked out The Big Room and also saw the bat flight at sunset (no photos allowed for that), it was all incredible! Definitely go here if you get the chance and time it so you're there for the sunset bat flight (around 7:00 pm).

During the bat flight, 250000-350,000 bats come swirling out of the cave in formation, they do about two loops in the swirl and then fly off in one long column. It lasts at least 15 minutes and at the peak of the flight there were thousands of bats swirling around right above the amphitheater where we were all sitting!






"Bottemless pit" on the right where an explorer took some Natl Geographic writers and photogs deep down into the caves back in the 1920's, leading to a spread in the magazine and the interest in the caverns that lead to it receiving Nat'l Park designation.








Gorgeous sunset, look at how the pink colors in the sky on the left streak through the blues and also check out the intensely bright star/planet right above the tree (easier to see if you look at the bigger version).


Bat flight amphitheater on the left (no cameras allowed for the actual flight), storm clouds on the horizon on the right.

Driving from Austin, TX to Carlsbad, NM

The landscape changed completely during this trip. From the green rolling hills of Texas hill country to the flat red desert of New Mexico. Along the way, we climbed from a very low altitude to nearly a mile. This was the very beginning of a long acclimation to high altitude living!

Along the way we stopped at Cooper's BBQ and I had the best brisket ever. Seriously, I didn't know brisket could be this good... We also saw a bunch of wind farms and some seriously crumbling poverty-stricken one-stop-light towns.

P.S. I busted out The Orb for some "Little Fluffy Clouds" out there (even though it wasn't Arizona). I also picked up their new album the other day, it's awesome. I'll post it up eventually.

Austin with the Norrs!

It was great to see Norr and Jen again and to meet little Jake for the first time!



Norr's spankin' new pad:


Jake, Jason, & Jen:




The many faces of Jake:








Carson and I also poked around Austin a bit: partying on the 6th St area, checking out Mount Bonnell, and going for a swim in Barton Springs. (We brought a waterproof camera into the springs and also snorkeling in the FL Keys, but that uses real film, so they'll come around eventually.)

Here are a few shots from Mount Bonnell:






Next up, we drive across West Texas and New Mexico to Carlsbad Cavern! Stay tuned!