Day 1: Tech v WVU
BREAKING BRAD
ALBUQUERQUE -- Despite getting a hotel near the Pittsburgh airport for a 5:50am takeoff, my underlying fear of oversleeping led me to eye the alarm clock reading 3:06 and thinking, "Yeah, close enough."
The flight into Atlanta was notable as the early-morning fog obscured all but the tallest skyscrapers in the city center to the north. God bless IFR (Instrument Flight Rules), which allows pilots to fly based on their allotment of instruments, instead of VFR (Visual). Another aviation trick -- a shifting tailwind -- caused our departing flight to Albuquerque to be #25 in line. (Earlier flights were landing from the west because of the favorable winds; once the winds shifted, those planes already set in their west landing descents had to clear before flipping the runway.)
Picking up the rental, I had an overly excitable counter agent. Discussion drifted over to languages, as I jokingly rued coming to New Mexico despite having studied French. She mentioned that: her father was French, learned English, and then studied Blackfoot to woo his wife. Fortunately, she saw where she was heading toward, and re-directed the conversation back to cars.
My first stop was at what could be called Sports Corner: University Arena ("The Pit"; UNM basketball), University Stadium (UNM football), and Isotopes Park, home of the former (fictional) Springfield Isotopes of "Simpsons" fame on three of four corners of the intersection of Cesar Chavez & University. Then it was a dash to the UNM campus to get Chad his requisite Lobo shirt. Surprisingly, I found an on-street parking spot only a block from the campus' southern entrance.
Finally, it was a visit to the Sandia Peak Tramway, home to a 1.5-mile-long, 3800-foot ascent gondola ride. Between the second tower and the upper terminal is 7,720 feet of uninterrupted span, 900 feet above the canyon floor; discriminating eyes can find the remains of a crashed TWA airliner from 1955. And truth be told, I was more afraid of this than of any airplane ride; not sure why.
After checking in to the hotel, I crossed the street to enter one of those outdoor lifestyle centers (i.e., mall). Lo and behold, it had a Nestlé Toll House Café. So I picked up a half-dozen chocolate-chip cookies to munch on along the road.
At 10,378 feet was the High Finance Restaurant. One can only imagine the view during the twilight hours for dinner, but I was there for lunch and had a good fish sandwich.
A good thing the counter agent had done was provide me with several restaurant discount coupons for the Albuquerque-Santa Fe area (roughly 50 miles apart). That dictated my choice of dinner for the evening: Los Cuates, where I had an Indian taco laid out on a sopaipilla. My spice buds were overwhelmed accordingly.
It will be another early turn-in as I will be attending the Dawn Patrol launch of the balloons at the annual Balloon Fiesta, scheduled for 5:45am.
ALBUQUERQUE -- Despite getting a hotel near the Pittsburgh airport for a 5:50am takeoff, my underlying fear of oversleeping led me to eye the alarm clock reading 3:06 and thinking, "Yeah, close enough."
The flight into Atlanta was notable as the early-morning fog obscured all but the tallest skyscrapers in the city center to the north. God bless IFR (Instrument Flight Rules), which allows pilots to fly based on their allotment of instruments, instead of VFR (Visual). Another aviation trick -- a shifting tailwind -- caused our departing flight to Albuquerque to be #25 in line. (Earlier flights were landing from the west because of the favorable winds; once the winds shifted, those planes already set in their west landing descents had to clear before flipping the runway.)
Picking up the rental, I had an overly excitable counter agent. Discussion drifted over to languages, as I jokingly rued coming to New Mexico despite having studied French. She mentioned that: her father was French, learned English, and then studied Blackfoot to woo his wife. Fortunately, she saw where she was heading toward, and re-directed the conversation back to cars.
My first stop was at what could be called Sports Corner: University Arena ("The Pit"; UNM basketball), University Stadium (UNM football), and Isotopes Park, home of the former (fictional) Springfield Isotopes of "Simpsons" fame on three of four corners of the intersection of Cesar Chavez & University. Then it was a dash to the UNM campus to get Chad his requisite Lobo shirt. Surprisingly, I found an on-street parking spot only a block from the campus' southern entrance.
Finally, it was a visit to the Sandia Peak Tramway, home to a 1.5-mile-long, 3800-foot ascent gondola ride. Between the second tower and the upper terminal is 7,720 feet of uninterrupted span, 900 feet above the canyon floor; discriminating eyes can find the remains of a crashed TWA airliner from 1955. And truth be told, I was more afraid of this than of any airplane ride; not sure why.
After checking in to the hotel, I crossed the street to enter one of those outdoor lifestyle centers (i.e., mall). Lo and behold, it had a Nestlé Toll House Café. So I picked up a half-dozen chocolate-chip cookies to munch on along the road.
At 10,378 feet was the High Finance Restaurant. One can only imagine the view during the twilight hours for dinner, but I was there for lunch and had a good fish sandwich.
A good thing the counter agent had done was provide me with several restaurant discount coupons for the Albuquerque-Santa Fe area (roughly 50 miles apart). That dictated my choice of dinner for the evening: Los Cuates, where I had an Indian taco laid out on a sopaipilla. My spice buds were overwhelmed accordingly.
It will be another early turn-in as I will be attending the Dawn Patrol launch of the balloons at the annual Balloon Fiesta, scheduled for 5:45am.