Balloon Festival October 7. 2011

Balloon Festival... boohooo go away rain and wind... We got rained out again today. It was raining pretty hard last night and the field was just too wet for the Balloons to go up. We still have hope for tomorrow and Sunday morning. The RV parking area is a muddy mess and since our group has been split up, it is hard to get together here at the rigs. Right now we are watching the news for the final No Go officially for tonight's Glow.

Ominous skies over the RV area

Icky muddy roads

Today, we went to Santa Fe for the afternoon. We went to the Plaza that had many shops and restaurants. The prices in these shops were extremely high. We broke up, some went to lunch and some went on the Trolley that toured the area, some wandered through the shops. Bev and I found a Chico's and Coldwater Creek, retail therapy for sure. The folks that did the trolley tour really enjoyed it. Bev, George, Ed and I found a restaurant right away as I was really hungry and it was pretty good. I think a few of the group had lunch in a pastry shop, sounds yummy to me. Steve and Sue had a delicious lunch at a nice hotel.






There were two Churches we visited. Loretto Chapel that is so beautiful and has a staircase with an interesting history, the nuns had to climb a ladder to the choir loft. A conventional stairway could not be installed without adversely impacting the diminutive Chapel's seating capacity as well as its aesthetics. The Sisters made a novena to their patron saint, Saint Joseph the Carpenter As legend has it on the ninth and final day of the Novena, a mysterious carpenter arrived to design and construct a circular stairway to the choir loft. The miraculous stairway contains thirty three steps in two full 360 degree turns. The stairway has no center support nor is it held from its sides- its full weight rest on its final tread. Upon completion the carpenter disappeared without payment.

Stairway

Another View

The other Church we visited was St. Francis of Assisi. A very large Church and very beautiful also. We took pictures and lit some candles.

St. Francis Assisi Church

Baptism fountain

The Glow for tonight is officially cancelled. Not looking good for tomorrow morning at this time. Ed will get up at 5:00 am again, check the news for update and if it is a GO, we will GO... fingers crossed.

Maureen and Ed at Santa Fe Plaza

Guess Who

Does this surprise you?

Sue and Steve

Thanks for all the rides on this trip!!!

So until next time.....