Fall ici, Travelocity, and Balloonacy

Hi everybody! Daisy Jones-Klein here, settling into Fall. Here in Santa Fe, Fall is a terrific time of year. The summer crowds have thinned out, and days are getting shorter. The temps have cooled at night, with even a couple of dustings of snow further up in the mountains, but are perfect in the daytime. And while the pinions and junipers remain green year-round, the oaks and aspens and cottonwoods are turning, bringing a blaze of yellows and oranges. 

Yep, Fall might just be my favorite season here. But I’ve got a question for you: What do you think is the worst time of year here in Santa Fe? You think you know the answer? Go ahead; take a guess. I'll wait right here ....

Hah!!! Gotcha! That was a trick question. There isn't a worst time; it’s pretty sweet here year-round. Consider this FUN FACT: If you do the Google thing and type in "Best time to be in" together with "Santa Fe", both in quotes, you get 4,260,000 hits. That’s a lot of Best Times! But if you Google "Worst time to be in" together with "Santa Fe", you only get 119,000 hits. So Best Time beats Worst Time by 35 to 1! Take that, Poughkeepsie!

And for you scorekeepers out there, here are updates on two other networthy stats:

• I'm still the Internet's “favorite dogblogger”. (It’s true because the Google says so! Check it out here.) Another Russell Rescue alumni success story!
  
  
• Google hits for "Lovable Jack Russell Terrier" are well over 100,000, more than twice as many as “lovable cat”. True dat! But more importantly, there still hasn’t been a single instance of "Unlovable J--- R---- T----" anywhere across all the Internets. What can I say? We JRTs are good at what we do.

But back to here. We’ve had visitors!! It’s great to have visitors -- twice the hugs, twice the bellyrubs, twice the plates to lick -- what’s not to love? First, Mom’s Dad (Bob Perry) and his new bride Lucille came out here from North Carolina. It’d been a year since I last saw Granddad, and my first time meeting Lucille. They got married in April, back in North Carolina.

It was nice having them around. So many plates to lick! And when they weren't spending time with me, all the Peeps walked around the Plaza, lunched at the Bell Tower on top of the historic La Fonda Hotel, shopped the stores and galleries, and lots more. And at the Farmers’ Market, the air was filled with the smell of yummy freshly roasted chili peppers.

 

Then, my big brother Matt and soon-to-be sister-in-law Suj came in from Virginia. I hadn’t seen either of them in over a year, not since we packed up and left our Forever Home in Virginia to begin our Excellent Adventure here in the Land of Enchantment. 
 

And there was lots of fun stuff to do! I'm thinking that of all the Best Times to be here, Fall just may be the Bestest. Not all of it was Daisy-suitable, but the Peeps recounted enough for your Humble Correspondent to do her job here.

We drove further up into the Sangre de Cristo mountains behind us, up towards the Ski Basin, where the aspens are all turning color in preparation for winter.

 

 

There was a visit to Tesuque Glassworks just up the road, and Matt & Suj got drafted to be glassblowers.

 

 

 

There were lots of funky shops and restaurants and galleries and sculpture gardens. 

 

And then there was the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta!!! It’s the world's largest international hot air ballooning event. It happens that Albuquerque has some great ballooning conditions, especially in October when cool morning and evening temperatures are just right for a balloon launch. Plus, it's got a combination of weather patterns and geography known as the "Albuquerque Box" and this gives the pilots great control over their balloons. And for nine days, hundreds of balloonists from all around the world gather to fill the skies. And the people! Crowds average nearly 100,000 people a day. That’s nearly 200,000 tasty, juicy ankles! mmmm ... ankles! But as I said, a certain Jack Russell Terrier was not invited to this particularly tempting outing. Life ain't always fair.

Because the balloons launch around dawn, you have to get there pretty early.

 

 

But as it begins to get lighter, more and more balloons fill up and take to the skies.

 

Soon there are hundreds of balloons drifting lazily overhead.

With lots and lots of special shape balloons.

And there was even an Elvis sighting! And later, about the time Elvis "left the building", it was time to head back to Santa Fe to catch up on lost sleep. 

And when the Peeps weren't all out and about, we simply chilled, watching the clouds move in and out, enjoying the kick-ass sunsets, admiring the bright moon when it was out, and pondering the dark night skies when it wasn't.

Whew! That was a lot to do! I know I sure could use a nap, and I know just the sunny spot for it. But my nap may have to wait, since Halloween’s just around the corner, and both tricks and treats are two of my favorite activities. 

I’m still trying to decide what to wear for my Halloween costume, but I’m thinking about going as Joe Camel. So what do you think? Would you recognize me if I backed up to your door?

Daisy Jones-Klein

Santa Fe, NM

October 2013