I went to Albuquerque, New Mexico recently to visit a friend of mine. I think I have said before that I love to see new places. New Mexico is fascinating to me because the terrain, the mountains, the topography are all so different than the area of the country where I live. Yet, I saw colors before me that would otherwise would be thought of as bland or dark on a color wheel put together create a beautiful view. I experienced the Balloon Festival in Albuquerque....simply amazing. Add to the browns and blacks of the landscape and the crystal clear blue sky the explosion of color of hot air balloons in every conceivable pattern and color surrounding you on all sides and in layers over your head.
There are thousands of people who have gotten up at 4:30 in the morning to make the trek to the Balloon Festival grounds. Every age descend on the grounds when it's still dark and just after the sun creeps over the top of the mountains the balloons begin to take flight. Rows and Rows of them float up into the sky. Behind us were the food vendors, with everything you can imagine either made with chilies or covered in green or red (or both, called christmas) chili sauce. I could eat this kind of food every day for the rest of my life! We sent up to Santa Fe after viewing what all the vendors had to sell. Santa Fe, such a combination of people. We wandered the shops and checked out all the merchants in the plaza. I have beautiful blue eyes, I was told...because he wanted to sell me some beautiful blue earrings to bring out those eyes at a mere $850. I shared with him that I wouldn't be buying those beauties, but he still had me try them on so if I had someone else who had $850 to spend on me I could tell them how wonderful they looked. Nobody within earshot offered so I handed them back to him and thanked him. The city is a cowboy meets diamonds kind of place. Fun and interesting.
The times I had with my friend were so fun. She is so very much like me, we love to talk about different subject matters yet always come to the same conclusion. We think so much alike, it's funny and exhilarating. We say a lot of "I KNOW RIGHT!" when we talk. Interesting how in the limited amount of time we've actually had face to face, how I can form such a bond with a person.
