More update-y goodness!

[wispfox]

Had to get up _REALLY EARLY_ this morning, so did not borrow my host's computer last night.

Also, while I _am_ uploading pictures, the speed is approximately 7k/s [eta: changed to 64k/s by moving into the hotel's office]. So I have no idea how many will manage to upload in the few days I'll be here. :) There may be purchasing high speed internet at some point, just to upload a backlog of photos! (Wow, I've been spoiled for internets thus far! This is sooo slow, and I have to be close to the hotel's office to use it)

So! Yesterday.

First, made many calls. Made appointment for a balloon flight this morning at 6am, determined that the Sandia Peak Tram was in fact running, as my host had indicated that others she's hosted have found it under repair and could not go.

Then, it was off to Old Town (warning, makes noise unless you go down to the video and press stop). Spent a few hours there, wandering around in and out of shops, as well as visiting the Rattlesnake Museum and Sculpture Garden.

After this, I went to Tinkertown. It is _so_ charming, impressive, and just totally worth going to see. There's a bunch of hand-carved wooden buildings and contents of said buildings, many of which are motorized and move when you press a button (or, in some cases, involving moving and singing usually, deposit a quarter or two). This paragraph _does not_ do it justice. The pictures may help, though. Eventually.

Finally, I went to the tram I mentioned early in this post. Purchased myself a second memory card because I kept filling my single one up, for way too much money but it meant that I had space for pictures for the tram ride. Took a ride up, wandered around a bit, was amused by some people from... Louisiana? Whose kids (including teens) felt the need to go play in the tiny amount of snow still remaining on the mountain near where you go down to the ground from the tram. Sat on a rock and listened to the quiet and birds for a while, then went back down again.

Had call with metahacker, who was _VERY_ tired, but entirely capable of having an hour long conversation with me. :)

Then, to REI to replace my leaky collapseable water containers with some non-collapseable and not leaky ones.

Finally, back to my host's place to offload my many pictures, hang out for a little bit, then go to bed around 10p for prep for 5am wake up.

Woke up at 5am with my alarm, had some trouble getting myself awake and packed and out of the door. Did make it in time! Had weird breakfast, though, for reasons of rushing. Did manage to leave my camera's battery charger w/battery plugged in, but texting my host resulted in her leaving it for me outside in a planter to pick up later.

Then there was a balloon ride! For over an hour, since the first landing attempt overshot. Very very neat! Yay, balloon! Expensive, but I decided I was unlikely to have the opportunity again, so. Went with World Balloon. There were 5 or 6 different companies, although some seemed to be related to each other.

After !balloon!, I went to the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center, which was interesting due to being a view into the Pueblo people's history from their perspective, and neat from the perspective of being able to see some samples of the art made by each pueblo without all the normal clutter involved so that I had a better idea of what to look for and expect from them each. I was a bit rushed, though, because...

I was next to go visit an Alpaca farm! They are wee little llamas, and the farm in question has them well trained to be calm around visitors who would like to pet them, so some are more happy about it than others, but they are all calm. And there was a 3 day old baby, up and walking around, and sold already after 2 days old (apparently that was a record for _longest_ it took to sell). Mom was very protective of it, but the keeper picked it up for me to pet in part to get it used to being pet. _VERY_ soft. The adults were all recently shaved, so looked a little silly, but apparently happier with the heat and all. Also bought a couple sweaters, a fuuuuzzy bear, and some yarn for... someone I live with who already has way too much yarn. :)

Then, off to obtain yet more stamps, and mail things. Then, block ice, both because I knew where to get it, and because it was time for more anyway.

Finally, I headed West toward Grants, with the intention of stopping by Sky City (Acoma Pueblo) before the last tour. However, I got _quite_ lost, even with the help of a random friendly Native American (most probably from Acoma Pueblo) woman who helped me get less lost, and decided to just try again tomorrow.

Was intending to camp nearby tonight, but the prices for hotels here are absurdly low. And also, shower and internets were too much of a draw. So, hotel tonight and tomorrow to do things in this area, of which there are many. But I'm being reminded that I've been spoiled with network thus far, as I have rather slow network, and need to be in the hotel's office to have a decent connection.

Now, though, there shall be allowing the current batch of photos to finish uploading, then a shower. :)