It's the end of the summer as we know it...

And we felt fiiiiiiiine. On September 21st we decided we wanted to do a little adventure seeking since our summer had pretty much been tame compared to last year (here, and here). We knew the weather was probably in our favor as well as the changing aspens in the area so we garnered the help of our friend Nate in order to "lead" us on our first backpacking adventure as a married couple. We decided to try a pretty well known hike (most popular hike this side of the Mississippi, or so rumor has it) and stuck close to home (yes we live in a gorgeous area, what can we say?). We started the hike at the Santa Fe Ski area with the intention of "bagging a few peaks" along the way. To start we decided just to forge our way straight up some of the runs (this is a blue...this is a black...) and as we summited after a couple hours the views were gorgeous. We climbed 3 peaks and definitely saw more in the distance we decided one day we would summit as well and then we spotted the lake we wanted to camp near. We bushwhacked our way down from the peak (I fell numerous times down this part, making it more of a slip-n-slide decent than actual bushwhacking, thankfully Ethan was nicely worried for me and kept asking if I was OK as I sent pebbles and other not so small rocks sliding past Jack and Nate and Ethan) and finally were able to set up camp down in the bowl formed by the lake and cirque. We found lots of dead wood on the ground and Jack built a nice fire to ward off the cold temps that night. Then we sat around talking around the fire and made dinner. Thankful for freeze dried dinners, just add water and a hot meal awaits. They were really good, too! Then it was time for bed. I tossed and turned all night long, going from sweating to freezing but Jack seemed to sleep really well and even snored some. At some point we had some sort of visitor through the camp we made because in the morning some poles Nate had specifically set up near the tent in order to see if any animals had come through had been knocked over by morning. Not sure what scoped us out but thankful we weren't that interesting to it. We made a nice breakfast and had some hot chocolate and then it was time to pack up and head back down the trail to go home. The hike out was really pretty and we met a ton of people on the trail. We were thankful we were the only ones camping up near the lake that night and that we got an early start to the morning seeing as how there were so many people headed up to the lake the next morning. The sites were pretty, the company pleasurable and over all we had a great time. Jack and I definitely are looking forward to do more backpacking in the future. It seems once you get past the "fear" of the first trip (do I have the right equipment, enough water, right clothes, etc) then it's more exciting thinking about the next trip! Until then...enjoy the pics (there are a lot. Click them to make them bigger if you wish).

thankful jack was carrying our tent!

taking a breather..it's hard to really see how steep some of the inclines were.

saw a mtn biker coming up this...looked hard but the return trip would be a blast!

Ethan enjoying his leisurely ride on Nate's back. 

Deception peak. we got hot hiking up but the breeze was stiff at the top.

scrambling at the top of Lake Peak.

on top of the world!

setting up camp

Ethan off to scavenge for pine cones for the fire.

peaceful lake with a nice bubbling brook flowing to it. used it to fill the nalgenes in the AM.

Staying warm!

The end of the second day...picture of what we hiked up. We made a big circle.

had to keep a good eye on the little guy, with so many ledges. but he was fun and very adventurous.

Nambe Lake way down there where we camped.

Las Truches...we will hike those one day.

very, very thankful for the hiking poles. Used to think people who used them were pansies...not when carrying  a heavy pack! 

almost tripped here...thankful I didn't! 

sneaky little sucker would just wait for us to leave our food and try swooping down. Only think he picked up one little piece of trash...

Staying warm!

camp at early morning.

"It's time to get up, Jack. It's a brand new day!" - Ethan

Love their friendship. :) Thankful for the Moodys.

he was off to scour for a place to relieve himself, hehe.

I liked the angle of the trees in this one.

The pretty trail we hiked back on

Almost back to the car.

perfect time of the year to capture this change in the aspens.

Headed home, followed by the Moody Rover. :)

ps - how many song references can you find in this post? :)

Balloon Fiesta 2012

The Balloon Fiesta is something that I love about living in New Mexico. Held every year in October it's always an adventure trying to guess which day would be the best day to go and check out the balloons. This year we decided to wake up early on a Saturday morning (4am) and head to Albuquerque in order to see the balloons. Julie (Jack's sister) and KyLee our niece came over from NC to see them so we were excited and hopeful. Our hopes were dashed as we were riding on the shuttle bus to Fiesta Park and it was announced that the wind speeds were too high and not only were the balloons not going to launch they weren't even going to blow up! SAD! We decided that we weren't going to let that news spoil our whole day so we hopped off the bus and walked the rest of the way to the park, ambled through the fields where the balloons should have been inflating and then scoped out the balloon museum. We enjoyed hearing some history of hot air ballooning and then checked out the craft room for KyLee to make something for her daddy. Then we headed out for an early lunch then it was back to Los Alamos. Slightly bummed that we didn't get to see the balloons take off we started planning our next strategic approach to seeing the balloons. Monday morning Julie and KyLee were scheduled to fly out so we decided to rent a hotel room walking distance from the park in Albuquerque and hopefully see the balloons take off Monday before they flew out. We went down late Sunday afternoon, hung out at the hotel and woke up early Monday morning and headed to the park. Launch was scheduled for 7am and we were there not long before 7 but to our chagrin there were no balloons inflated! NOOOO, not again! We spotted an Balloon Fiesta official and asked what was going on. He told us the winds about 50 feet up were too fast for the balloons to launch at that point but they were hoping once the sun rose above Sandia Mountain that the winds would die down and they would launch late. With J&K's flight time quickly approaching we were again starting to feel a little deflated in our attempts to see the balloons this year.  However, around 8am our hopes were elevated as we saw some balloons starting to be laid out on the ground and then the inflating process began! Flames shooting towards the sky all around us, large fans billowing large balloons off the ground and then, slowly but surely...lift off! We were so excited to get to be there for the ascension and KyLee enjoyed seeing the balloons floating in the air. It was magical (as always) and I couldn't keep from staring at all the pretty colors. We were even interviewed by the local paper telling them our harrowing story of almost missing out on the balloons two years in a row! Enjoy a few of the fun pictures.

excited to be at the fiesta! 

checking out the "new mexico state food" ha

hopes are starting to rise at this point! waving for the camera!

testing out the flames! 

we have inflation! kylee was fun to watch as she checked it all out while trying to stay warm

almost ready for lift off!

hello! surprise smiley inside the balloon

success! the first balloon carries the flag while the Star Spangled Banner plays. 

they blow up so close together that they touch while inflating!

always mesmerized by the colors

fun shape :)

the sky was littered all morning!

peek-a-boo!

one of Jack's favorites.

swirls

Heading back to the hotel to get them to the airport on time....*

dun-dun-dun, dun-da-dun, dun-da-dun. :)

so long for now, Balloon Fiesta 2012...until next year!

*so we got Julie and KyLee to the airport, said our goodbyes (which were precious with K) and off Jack and I headed to Los Alamos. While in Santa Fe we find out their flight is delayed...then once back to Los Alamos (about 1hr 45min away) we find out it was canceled! Boo. They ended up getting put up in a hotel and then flew out the next morning. Shucks, wish we could have spend the extra time with them but were glad they finally  made it home safely! Thanks for coming out to visit!!