We headed on the historic Turquoise Trail, picking up Hwy 14 at Tijeras, going through Cedar Crest and turning onto NM 536 at Sandia Park, headed toward Sandia Crest and through part of the Cibola National Forest. We passed Tinkertown Museum (closed for the season) and then continued to the "High Point on the Turquoise Trail" - Sandia Crest (10,678 feet). This was also the Sandia Peak Ski area (closed until later in December) and the exact opposite side of the mountain where we would be visiting later. It was a nice drive and the car got muddy - but it was red mud, not brown. Appeared to be some type of red clay.
Next we went to the Sandia Peak Tramway (sandiapeak.com). "Sandia Peak Tramway was manufactured by Bell Engineering of Lucerne, Switzerland and constructed between 1964-1966 at a cost of 2 million dollars. This is a Double Reversible Passenger Aerial Tramway. Five thousand helicopter trips were made during construction of Tower 2 and the cable installation. New Tram cars were installed on the Tram's 20th anniversary in May of 1986."
We purchased our tram tickets and ended up getting the car to ourselves - just John and I and our Tram tour guide Daniel. He was awesome. Full of fun stories on how the tram was completed and lots of interesting facts. Elevation of upper terminal - 10,378 feet.
"Although the Tram is an engineering marvel, visitors come mainly for the spectacular view - 11,000 square miles of the Land of Enchantment. Passengers ascend 4,000 feet in about 15 minutes, gliding along the western face of the rugged Sandia Mountains. No matter what time of day, the view is unparalleled."
"The Sandia Peak Tram is 2.7 miles in diagonal length and is a bi-cable double reversible aerial passenger tramway. Both tramcars are attached to the hauling cables and the weight of the downhill tramcar helps to pull the uphill tramcar to the top. When the tramcars pass at midway, they are almost 1,000 feet above the ground. Top speed of the tramway is 24 feet per second, averaging 12 mph. The main drive is a 600 horse power dc electric winch motor."
What a fun excursion on the "World's Longest Aerial Tramway"!!
Next we visited the Anderson-Abruzzo Albuguerque International Balloon Museum, named in honor of balloonist and Tramway co-founder Ben Abruzzo. The Balloon Museum contains one of the world's finest collections of historic balloons and ballooning artifacts reflecting the history, science and culture of lighter-than-air flight. (balloonmuseum.com)
"Since the first balloon flights in 1783, there have been many feats recorded in the story of Balloon flight. Hot air and gas balloons have been used for adventure, scientific experiments, the arts, warfare, espionage, and the exploration of space."
The displays were divided into these sections: How and Why Balloons Fly; Science; Recreational; Balloons in War. It was interesting to learn more about the history of hot air balloons and to see various uses. Interesting fact: The Montgolfier brothers, who owned a paper factory in France (1700's), became intrigued by a piece of paper that flew up a chimney under a roaring hearth one day. They began to experiment by filling a small silk bag with smoke and were thrilled as it floated to the ceiling. The first balloon flight took place at Versailles on September 18, 1783 and launched with only a duck, a rooster, and a sheep in a basket. Since we were in New Mexico, we seriously looked into taking a hot air balloon ride - sounds terribly romantic, doesn't it? It was a splurge ($300 with others or $500 exclusive) and quite frankly, I like soil...
We went to Cracker Barrel for a very late lunch. Originally I was going to order comfort food, but ended up wanting something a little healthier so ordered the Country Chef Salad. Came with turkey breast, ham, bacon, cucumber, tomatoes, Colby cheese, deviled eggs (yes deviled) and sourdough croutons. Hah, not sure it was healthy, but it was good! John ordered the lunch special which included turkey, dressing and veggies. We had to check out the Country Store after we finished our meal. It's a fun aspect of Cracker Barrels - restaurant and store-in-one.
Headed back to the inn and then later that evening when we were hungry again, we ran to Smith's grocery store and picked up some snacks and then stopped to get a donut at Dunkin' Donuts.
