Day trip to Albuquerque

view from tram
it was so far down
going up up up!
the ladybug bush
we are on top of the world!
view from other side of mnt. looking into santa fe
gorgeous view
city down below

these little guys were running everywhere
I like this perspective shot

the little mole

really pretty terrain up here

rainstorm up ahead. It almost looked like a tornado at first because it was only raining in a funnel shape
random church we found in the middle of nowhere
gorgeous red rock on way back from alb.
ha ha. my pictures are out of order. coming back down from tram ride
this ride was so fun.

So my leg is still bothering me. I kept thinking it was the vein since it was getting so dark by the day, and spreading. I made an appointment at the vein center in Albuqueque to get it all checked out. Turns out, it is a pinched sciatic nerve. Well, anyways, since it takes 2.5 hours to get there, we decided to make a day out of it. The drive from Farmington to Albuquerque is really quite pretty and interesting. The rocks change so quickly from browns and greys, to vivid purples and reds back and forth the whole way. There are different formations. I quite like it, except my leg doesn't so much. We decided we were going to ride the tram, since Shawn has wanted to ever since we went to Alb. the first time. It is amazing. The tram is the longest one I have ever ridden and it is so high up. You cross big tall rock, and sheer cliffs on the way up. Pretty mountainsides, and if you look hard enough, you could see deer. It gets to these towers every now and then that swing you forward, and I am going to admit, that was really scary. About 15 minutes later, you are up to the top. You look out over a ridge at the top of the mountain. We walked around awhile. We missed 2 rides down and had to wait forever until the next time the tram came and picked us up. We saw a lot of chipmunks, and a cute little mole that was just digging out his hole some more. We also saw a whole bush of ladybugs. The bush was absolutely covered in them. They were swarming. I normally like ladybugs, but it was kind of gross how many there were. It was really fun until a storm hit at the top. Lightning started going and it was scary, since we were the highest thing, and it could easily strike. We always run into storms on the way home every time from alb. The rain was pouring hard, but not nearly as hard as the last time we came back from Alb. It was pouring quite a bit. Enough to cause the highway to flood and become a large lake. We also saw a dirt road off the side of the highway, and decided to investigate, since an LDS sign was at the entrance. We drove about a mile, on a very remote dirt road, to discover an LDS church in the middle of nowhere. It was for a small branch in the area. Another cool story coming home, is when we were driving, we decided to go a different way through Aztec, and I was just staring out of the window. Lightning was everywhere in the sky (typical here) and I was just noticing some small barns off the side of the highway. Then all of a sudden, I saw a lightning bolt strike the ground right next to one of the barns. It was only about 25 yards away! As soon as it struck, you could feel the sheer power of it go through your body, and the heat from it. It cracked as soon as it hit too. It scared Shawn and I to death. I have never been that close to lightning. It was so cool!

The first video is some of our tram ride, and the second is the crazy rain we get here.