Sandia Peak Tramway - Albuquerque, NM

In Albuquerque we took a ride on the world's longest passenger aerial tramway. It climbs ~4,000 feet in elevation in ~15 minutes. Between tower two and the top terminal is the 3rd longest clear span in the world. At the top we dined at the High Finance restaurant.

Sunset on the observation deck atop 10,378 foot Sandia Peak in the Cibola National Forest. It was freezing cold on top of the mountain.

An 11,000 square-mile panoramic view of the Rio Grande Valley and the Land of Enchantment.

Ken ordered rack of lamb with prosciutto wrapped asparagus; I ordered salmon and wished I'd ordered the lamb.

Albuquerque at night.

Albuquerque Aquarium & Rio Grande Botanic Garden

During my last Albuquerque trip I visited the aquarium and gardens; this time the hubby was along for sightseeing! I was excited because the Sasebo Japanese Garden was new and I hadn't see it since my last visit.

Ken messin' with a stingray.

Reminds me of a ghost with wide-set eyes.

I love little gobies!
Once I get my salt water tank, I'm gonna have a bunch of them!

Moray eels are creepy scary.

Jellyfish... love 'em!

This jellyfish looked like a neon, swimming cauliflower.

This is the best photograph we took of The Nose Fish (official name is unknown); he was super fast.

Strange fish that was in the shark aquarium; it was as large as a dog.

THE GARDENS:

Ceremonial Garden.

Inside the conservatory.

White calla lilies.

This pavilion looked to be make of dead cacti and dead, spiny rose bush limbs (not very kid friendly).

The Sasebo Japanese Garden.

The Japanese Garden has a large pond full of Koi.

I pretended to throw bread into the pond so that these wood ducks would come in close; HA, fooled them!

Rinconada Canyon, Albuquerque, NM

After Ken's long drive into New Mexico, we explored Albuquerque on Saturday; our first stop was locating petroglyphs along the Rinconada Canyon Trail. The round trip distance for the trail was only 2.5 miles. I took a lot of petroglyph photographs and picked out the best to show family and friends; ENJOY!

Information from the visitor's center: Most of the petroglyphs were made by pecking. Pecking: striking the basalt boulder directly with a hammerstone or using two stones (hammer and chisel method). Archaeologists believe Ancestral Puebloans made most of the 1200 petroglyphs in Rinconada Canyon four to seven hundred years ago.

At the visitor center.

The trail followed the base of the north side of the canyon.
The hillside is covered in basalt boulders.

Hmmmm, this one is really strange...

Lizard!

Yet another lizard! They were too fast for me to catch.
Sorry Harley, no lizard friend for you. :(