Toulin' Down the Highway

We have finally made it to the last leg of this journey emanating in true retirement. We chose to go a different way home. Our first stop after South Dakota was Denver for a night. Nothing exciting happened in our overnight stay... except for the trains screaming by at 3:00 am enthralled with the sounds of their own horns. The hotel we stayed in was not in the top 100. We both were up extremely early and decided to leave.

Now that we escaped Denver, we are on our way to Albuquerque for a couple days.

 Carol and I decided to conqueror our fear of heights and rode the Sandia Tram to the top with the idea of having lunch at the restaurant on the top of the mountain. When we got to the top, it was windy and 20 degrees cooler. Yes, we did bring jackets, hats and gloves. If you look at the first picture closely you will see a concrete structure at the top of the mountain. The original structure was a wood cabin used by the Department of Forestry. Unfortunately the first cabin burned down and was re-built again out of wood. The second cabin was destroyed by a monsoon. The third little piggy got wise and re-built out of concrete, and has been there ever since, which is about 60 years. On a good day one can see most of New Mexico from this peak. In the winter time the back side of the peak is a ski resort. It was chilly enough on the top and we decided not to wait for lunch. Carol and I caught the next tram down and had lunch at the bottom.

After lunch we took a little drive unusual spot listed in the Garmin. This little place called Tinkertown was fantastic, well worth the $4.00 per person to get in. Most of the displays were made as a hobby. It was easy to spend hours marveling at this gentleman's handy work.

There are objects of the past dotting the journey through this museum. There are a couple of areas to have fun in too. The hard spot with these two characters, was getting up off the grounds after the photo session.

These little breaks in the road back to California are a welcome rest before facing a new retired way of life in California, even if a short time. Our next stop before California is Mesa Arizona.

The drive to Mesa was uneventful. We spent two days there, where we had to opportunity to visit with some of our friends from church. It was great to see folks we haven't seen in years. I got lucky, I caught a cold to enjoy back home. I close this will a good swig of cold medicine and hopefully some rest.