Date 9-12-08

We enter day 5 of the 'epic' road trip of Xomba founder Nick Veneris and his girlfriend as they travel from Jacksonville, Florida to San Francisco, California.

The joy of sleeping in past 6am. I awake at 7:30... yeah, so much for sleeping late. While eating our breakfast this morning(Raisin Bran and Eggs with a banana) we saw what we later found out to be a roadrunner in the parking lot. Turns out that's New Mexico's state bird. BEEP BEEP. Sorry, didn't have the camera with us for any pictures.

After lounging around the hotel room for a couple hours we headed out to tour the city. We were greeted with sunshine and a nice warm temperature of 77 degrees. First stop was the Rattlesnake Museum. We parked in front of the Albuquerque Art museum and took a few pictures.

On the way to the Rattle Snake Museum we walked through a tourist trap called Old Town. A bunch of shops with over priced stuff, but with a southwestern theme. Much like St George St. in St Augustine for those of you in Jacksonville reading this. Not very impressive, but we did take a second to grab some Ice Cream.

Unfortunately, the Rattle Snake museum was closed due to illness?!?!? Danielle's cousin later commented that the guy must have got bitten by a snake. Heh... Either way, we decided to drive out to the Sandia Mountains which border the city. Danielle had been to the crest of the mountain before so after a little hunting we found the road. I was driving and to be honest I am not fond of heights.

The temperature went from 77 to 49 by the time we reached the top. Yeah, no joke, but it is so dry it didn't feel that cold. At about 7,000 feet we stopped and decided to hike a little. There were signs warning you about how to handle a cougar if he attacked or was stalking you. Your are supposed to fight back. Last year a 5 year old was killed by a cougar in these mountains. Great... It gets better there are also signs warning you to not feed the bears. No info if you come across one just don't feed it. I guess that means don't become food for it either. The wilderness is so awesome.

So, it is not that easy to hike up a mountain at 7,000 feet. Go figure, right? Besides the elevation making you out of breath quicker, we are not in shape to hike UP. We went in for maybe a quarter of a mile. Then got back in a continued up the mountain. 14 miles up at 25-35 miles an hour with 90-180 degree curves. My palms were sweating. Take a look.

Don't look over the edge!

Getting to the top of an almost 11,000 foot mountain is well worth it. That's Albuquerque you're looking at.

On the way back down the mountain we stopped at the Tinkertown Museum. If you ever come to New Mexico make Tinkertown a priority stop. This was the highlight of our day. The museum came from the tinkering that Ross Ward did for almost all his life. It was hobby for him and let me tell you he was some kind of artist. Unfortunately, Ross passed away in 2002, but we got to talk to his wife some. His wife and the clerk were very nice and for only $3 a person this was a fascinating stop. Take a look at some pictures below.

We finished the day with an authentic Mexican dinner with some of my girlfriend's family. A wonderful ending to a great day.

Tomorrow we're back up at 6am to drive 5 hours to a Native American hotel about 5 hours away near the Grand Canyon. The kicker is we'll be 54 miles away from anything, but somehow they have wireless internet. Technology you just can't escape it.

Till tomorrow...