Albuquerque, New Mexico day 1

It is a girl weekend trip and could not come at a better time.  I am looking forward to having a relaxing weekend!  I started by hanging out at Pappasitos in Terminal A at DFW . . .

While I was waiting I got the text that I had been upgraded; nice but it is only a 90 minute flight.  It seems that everything is off to a great start so let's just hope the rest of the trip is so sweet.  And of course just like that our flight is delayed, more delay, and you guessed it delayed again and now I have a throbbing headache too.  Finally, after almost two hours we board and are on our way!  It was a very easy flight and the airport was about shut down when we arrived in ABQ just after 9pm; seriously?  I called for the hotel shuttle and was at the hotel in about 2 minutes.  Marilyn and I link up in Albuquerque (ABQ) late Thursday night.  We say hi and head to bed.  The next morning we have a delightful breakfast at the Hilton Garden Inn (I am sure liking this hotel chain lately) and start planning our day.  I wanted to go to the Sandia Peak Tramway so off we went . . . it was very windy and cold outside so we had to stop by Target so I could buy another sweater and Burt's Bee Lip Balm for my lips.  It was a quick stop and back on track.  We arrived to a ton of tour buses and a line that was insanely long.  We being the travelers and quick thinkers try to buy tickets online but not available.  So we wait, wait, and wait for over an hour just to buy tickets to ride the tram.  We all chat it up in line while we wait.  Of course we all joke and laugh about how ridiculous the ticket buying process is today.  We also noticed the weather gadget they informed us it was 36 degrees at the top with 35 mph wind . . . right about now I am glad we stopped at Target and that I brought gloves too!  The good part was once you buy your ticket you pretty much get on the next tram; we got on tram 14 since they are apparently superstitious and skipped tram 13.  Finally it arrived . . .

We literally all cram on the tram trying to fight for a sliver of the window . . .

 

Once you get off you can walk around and hang out or just head back down.  We walked around and enjoyed the views.

. . . it was cold and super windy but sunny too.  We decided to get in the long line back down and there are a lot of pushy older people in our world . . . just saying.  Of course the line ended with the couple in front of us so we would have first pick on the next car down.  As we waited, I saw this sign . . .

We made it back down safe and sound and not frozen.  I noticed these cool cactus near the parking lot . . .

It was way past lunch time as we did not expect the tram to be so crowded.  Made a quick stop at the hotel to check in and off to lunch at Mary and Tito's.  What a great lunch spot that is run by a family.  The food was really good and the prices seemed low.  I enjoyed both the red and green chile sauce or "Christmas" as one travel book called it.  It was yummy!  It was still to early to call it a day so off to Old Town Albuquerque we went.  It was nice to just walk around and poke into the local shops . . .  lot of touristy places but fun too.  I had a craving for something sweet so a lady recommended a bakery called Rolling in the Dough.  It was late so they were running low but we managed to find several sweet treats.  We were told that biscochitos were the state cookie of New Mexico . . . think snickerdoodle with a few extra spices . . . and there is no way I am passing up those Mexican Wedding cookies either.  I will say that both were yummy and so much for buying a few extras for later because we ate them all before we got back to the car.  Tomorrow will be a super, super early morning so back to the hotel for the evening reception and bed!