IT'S NOT ITALY......

.......but it was a last minute four day trip to visit my son & granddaughter in New Mexico! Our trip to Italy scheduled for February 29 - March 13 was cancelled by the tour company due to the coronavirus. In hindsight it was a VERY good thing. Southwest slashed their fares so we jumped on it & made our way to Albuquerque. I am never disappointed when the result is time with my Charley!

Note: I didn't take my camera. Lou & Darrin get photo credit on all of these.

Following shopping & playing the day of arrival, our first full day was a trip on the Sandia Peak Tram to the top of Sandia Peak at 10,378 feet.

The Sandia Peak Tram holds approximately 30 people per car, travels 2.7 miles each way & takes 15 minutes to arrive at the top of the peak.

Here we go! Charley loved it & we all had a great time.

Approaching the top of Sandia Peak. Although it was bright & sunny just a little lower the top was in the clouds.

The view from the top is supposed to cover 11,000 square miles of New Mexico but today it barely covered a block. Oh, well, it was still fun & the views on the ride up & down were fantastic.

The four of us "enjoying the view" before we headed into the cafe for some hot cocoa.

Charley & Darrin playing in the snow that was plentiful at the 10,000 foot plus altitude.

As we headed down the mountain Albuquerque was visible in just a few minutes. Those are the cables in the upper right of the photo.

Coming in for a landing at the Sandia Peak Tramway visitor center.

Day Two we dropped Lou at the Nuclear Science Museum before the three of us headed to the theater to see Pixar's "Onward" before picking up Lou. That evening we drove to Old Town Albuquerque for dinner at the supposedly haunted "High Noon" restaurant. Not a ghost was seen or heard even though Charley tried to find one.

Lou took a ton of photos at this museum that I'm not sharing since Darrin, Charley & I didn't see any of it. I'm sure he will share lots of photos on Facebook if you are interested.

The Old Town Plaza in Albuquerque founded in 1706.

Lou & I in the center of Old Town Plaza. The coronavirus seems to have scared tourists away since the place was like a ghost town on a Friday evening.

My two cuties!

The gazebo in the center of Old Town Albuquerque.

One of the centerpieces of Old Town Plaza, the San Felipe de Neri Catholic Church founded in 1793. There was a permanent sign proud of the fact that the church has been open continuously since it's first opening. Next to it was a sign saying it was closed until further notice due to the coronavirus. Open continuously until now anyway.

The High Noon Restaurant where we enjoyed dinner. It is a favorite of Darrin & my friend, Melinda. It came highly recommended & didn't disappoint.

After more playing the next day we went for a hike to scale the small mountain behind Darrin's house. He has beautiful views of the Sandia Mountains with a popular hiking area just a few blocks away.

It was such a beautiful day we all needed to get outside to enjoy the bright blue sky & fresh air. Darrin hasn't found much information on this small mountain other than it is a 300 foot elevation gain from the trailhead to the top.

Off we went. The trail makes a 1.8 mile loop around the mountain with a detour to rock hop to the very top. Since the hike starts at almost 6000 feet & Gaga has enough trouble with a titanium hip, bad feet & other assorted issues, I decided to put the climb to the top on my "Fuck It List" (opposite of Bucket List).

That's the mountain on the right as we circled beside it.

There were gorgeous rock formations interspersed with the cactus & desert terrain.

Gaga set up "Base Camp" on a flat rock where Charley & the guys began the trek to the top. I was texting my sister regarding their progress & sending photos from my phone but the zoom isn't enough to see more than what appear to be really tiny almost unidentifiable moving objects.

Charley & Darrin at the top with Albuquerque in the background.

Charley & Louie at the top. Charley is getting to be a real little hiker. She & Daddy will have lots of great times exploring this area & more.

After returning to Base Camp we headed back down to the parking lot which was a lot easier than going up. Charley was still bouncing down the trail, jumping off of rocks & finding fun places to hide along the way.

Another view of the mountain from the other side as we headed back.

Some more interesting rock formations as we were just about back at the car. I was pretty happy that I made the 1-1/2 mile hike with some inclines at 6000 feet & came away only a bit winded but basically unscathed. Nothing that a glass of wine didn't fix back at the house.

They dropped us at the airport about 5 PM. Good-byes are hard no matter what the situation but this was one of the easier ones since they will be flying out here in less than two weeks for spring break! It was a great last minute getaway that certainly helped me over the cancellation of our trip to Italy. Charley has a way of doing that for Gaga!