Robot Claw – Page 524 – “Life In The So-Called Space Age”

Take Me Out To The

August 7, 2012

Yesterday we went to Old Town and did a bit of shopping. I got some souvenirs and many postcards (watch your mailboxes!) I also purchased one of these fetching ‘actual rattlesnake’ belts for my brother, which I will present to him when I arrive in San Jose tomorrow. Maybe 🙂

It turned out my post from yesterday about the after effects of Tent Rocks was premature. In the early afternoon both Florence and I were ruined with sore legs especially and we siesta’d away the rest of the days sun before our evening plan, which was this:

Yes friends, I went to my first baseball game! It was between the Albuquerque Isotopes and the Tucson… um, let’s say they were called the Tucson Parameciums!

We had great seats, as you can see, and they were quite inexpensive as well. Florence was a bit nervous of a ball flying into the stands near us, but luckily it didn’t happen. Although I surely would have caught it if it did 🙂

Vittles included hot dogs, glazed almonds and ice cream (possibly sherbet, sold to me by a girl named ‘Piazza’!), and since the game started at 7 the sun (thankfully) soon disappeared.

In the photos the seats look emptier than the game actually was. One difference I found to the cricket games I’ve been to in Australia is more people were up and about buying food or drink, or just chatting with friends, and the number fixated on the game was quite low. In short: it seemed more a social event than a sporting event!

It was also hot, in the high 80s well into the night. During the sixth inning, several hours after the game had begun and with the Isotopes at a healthy lead, one of the light towers failed and the game was halted. We waited for a while, but with no estimate as to when the game would resume, and because of the heat and our exhaustion, it was time to call it a night 🙂

We’ve got big plans for today – possibly the highlight of my trip here. Expect details tomorrow!

Foodie

August 6, 2012

The day I got here we didn’t do anything touristy; just went to some shops and grabbed some food and saw Total Recall in the evening. It’s always fun to be in a new place and catch up with old friends so it was a good time.

Here’s the lunch that day, at a burger joint named Lumpy’s:

That’s of course not our entire lunch. That’s just the potato. Lumpy’s has a gimmick where you pick your own potato they then turn into your fries. Anyway the food was good at the time, but I seem to recall the double-patty burger gave me meat sweats!

Shortly after, in a mall, we played Miss Pac Man…

Now Florence had never played this, and was initially impressed by my (actually not great) skills. Only when I suggested we make it a competition did her game drastically improve even as mine diminished. The final score? See for yourself:

A couple more random shots:

That was last nights dinner, which was barbecue. It was quite delicious!

There’s a patriot just driving his pickup. Not long after this was taken we were cut off by what looked like an Aryan driving out of Chik-Fil-A in a massive pickup with ‘THe world is better because of Jesus Christ’ written on one side and some anti-Obama insult to liberal voters on the back…

There’s me enjoying a Costco hotdog. Florence seemed amused I bought one, since I was only supposed to get a drink and had claimed meat sweats only minutes before 🙂

Tent Peaks

August 6, 2012

The environment here is like nowhere else I’ve been. Albuquerque is very flat – you can see for miles – and then surrounded by great mountains and plateaus. Furthermore, much of the countryside is sandy and dusty with rugged little plants and not much else. Flying in the other day it looked very alien.

On a recommendation from a friend, yesterday we took a day trip to a local attraction called Tent Rocks national monument.

That’s the view from the car park. As you can see the day was beautiful (albeit very hot). To best see the attraction visitors need to walk a few miles, so we put on the sunblock and started the hike.

That sign is at the very start, but we never saw any snakes! The trail starts easily, winding through the desert trees giving distant views of the cone-shaped rocks, which are apparently the eroded remains of mountains formed from deposited volcanic ash.

After about a mile the path splits and the strenuous 1.5 mile hike that eventually leads to the top of the peak begins. Of course we took it.

The hike starts by heading through a valley eroded between adjacent peaks. The views were spectacular! The tree Florence is taking a photo of above was very popular with everyone on the hike since the roots provided a real photo op. Compare:

I look like a giant compared to Florence! It must be the hat…

As the path wound on it started to gradually climb and get narrower:

Until eventually it just led up the side of the mountain. This was the ‘steep 600 foot ascent’ the signs had mentioned! I’ll be honest: it was an extremely exhausting climb for this old man with his bad knee, and even the sprightly SFL showed signs of exertion. But the views from the top were spectacular!

(yes, my finger is in that shot!)

Smiles aside, the path to the peak was one way, and since we were both hot, tired and exhausted the thought of going back again was not thrilling. But we soldiered on, and the walk back was not as bad as it could have been.

I’m writing this entry the following morning. We walked in the hot sun for about 4 hours yesterday, including the steep climb, and I’m lying on a couch, still tired (SFL is fine!) Thankfully though we avoided sunburn entirely 🙂

I wish I’d seen a roadrunner though 🙂