We're there.

Wednesday the 25th

In the morning we made a Costco run stocking up on stuff for the daily happy hour and all of the pot luck meals at the BF. Then it was off to Trader Joes for their special corn salsa. Carol picked up a great black bean salad receipt from Linda when we were camping at Abiquiu.  One jar of corn salsa, two cans of black beans, and as much fresh cilantro as you wish. We're not big on cilantro so just use a little. Very easy, vegetarian, low calorie and tasty. Then to Smith's for the basics.  After the days shopping we headed to the Sandia Casino free RV parking area; our home until Monday when the BF camping area opens. There were about 15 other RV's there. A few were obviously there for the long run; probably for all of the BF. The parking lot affords a great view of the balloon launching area so if you didn't want to pay for expensive BF camping, the casino would be a good choice. I noticed that all the private campgrounds double their daily rate during the BF. Scalp the tourists; an old Florida tradition.

The night view from our "campsite"

Thursday the 26th

First thing we headed to Murphy's Mule Barn for breakfast. The Mule Barn is a local's breakfast joint about a mile from the BF camping area. "Rustic" would be a kind word to describe the interior but the food is very good. Carol had the Belgium waffle and I had a breakfast burrito with green chili sauce. $14 total.  After breakfast we went to the North Domingo Baca Park for the day. Gopher hates walking on the gravel, stone and sticker surfaces so common in the Southwest so we're always on the lookout for a nice patch of green grass.  This was an excellent find. (35.17745  -106.56580) To  the east  our view is the Sandia Mountains and the aerial tramway, to the west the valley surrounding the Rio Grande River.  Lots of grass, a children's play area,  a nice paved walking path plus an off leash dog and cat park. You don't see cat parks very often. People would just chuck a cat over the fence and watch the dogs go crazy!!  (just kidding of course).  I no longer take Gopher into the dog parks; her herding instinct is just too strong. Any animal that runs, be it a squirrel, rabbit, dog, or whatever,  must be pursued  and stopped. Aussies stop other animals by nipping at their hind quarters to get their attention then getting in front of them and giving them what trainers call a hard stare. In the animal kingdom, staring intensely at another animal is a threat. The message is, if you take off , I'll run you into the ground.  Understandably, the owners of the dogs Gopher is herding resent all this so, out of respect for the other owners, I keep her out of the park.

Friday/Saturday/Sunday

On Friday the other LD owners we were traveling with pulled into the Casino.  The usual nightly happy hour. On Sunday we watched  the Broncos thrash the Eagles.

Monday:

Move into the BF campground day. First thing Carol and I went to what might be the best breakfast place ever. Hannah and Nate's in Corrales.  We found out about in on Yelp! and the 4.5 star review proved very accurate. Carol was good and had a spinach omelet made with fresh baby spinach, cremini mushrooms, caramelized onions  and jack cheese. I went with the New Mexico Heavenly Hash. Hashbrowns, covered with  2 eggs, cheddar cheese, green chile and two sausage patties.  Wow. Enough calories and fat for the rest of the week. I'm gaining weight. When we get home from this trip, a serious diet/exercise program gets started.

 Hannah & Nate's

Then it was off to dump the tanks one last time, stock up on groceries then into the camping area.  Right now the area is close to empty except for the volunteers and a few others like us. The closer Saturday gets, the more crowded it becomes. We're in a slightly different area then in past years because a group of over 100 Prevost Motorhomes are coming in for their Fall Rally.  For those not familiar with the Prevost brand, they start well over $500,000 and run into the millions. Should be fun to see.

The event organizers know their RV quality. They parked Prevost, Lazy Daze and Air Stream in the same area. 

Mostly empty

Tonight Roger is smoking a meat loaf on his grill. We made two low calorie, low fat refrigerator pies. So simple but so good.

1 graham cracker pie crust (9"). 1 regular size sugar free jello. Three 6 oz. containers of  fat free yogurt. Get the same flavor jello as yogurt. Key Lime Pie is a favorite. Cherry is also very good.  One 8oz container of fat free cool whip. Boil 1/4 (one quarter) cup of water and dissolve the jello. Mix in the yogurt then the cool whip until smooth.  Refrigerate for about three house or until it sets up. If in a hurry, put it in the freezer or freeze it solid and serve like an ice cream cake.

It's going to be a fun ten days. 

Linda says 39 Lazy Daze are expected.