Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta 2015

Four months is a long time to be on the road but it went so fast i'm still whirling...actually i should probably say glowing, or floating, or heady or just in a WOWZERS state of mind.

Our travels took us from the east coast to the west coast then north as far as Fairbanks and south to New Mexico. Twelve thousand road miles done in the most superb car built for adventure. We took her down horrible dirt roads that only big 4-wheel drive vehicles should have been on. She kept us dry when we needed her, cool when it was hot, and warm when it was cold and she hauled around all our junk.

Along the way we saw some incredible scenery, met and stayed with the nicest people,  camped all over, had wonderful things happen to us, and want to go back.

i'm not going to go into lengthy verbiage but i do have loads of pictures to post and will start with the last first which was the highlight of the trip...and i do mean high!

Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta

It all starts in the dark.

Balloons need a lot of tender loving care and can only be touched while gloved.

Spreading them out on the ground happens after having set up the basket and flame thrower.

Balloons need air to fly and filling them takes time. The pilot checks the inside to make sure everything is secure.

When he is ready he uses the gas to elevate the balloon.

The crew hangs on while he does.

Once up, the balloon is held in place until the word is given to fly.

Lots of other

balloons wait too.

Only two other people

besides the pilot will go up with this balloon.

Every day, during Fiesta, a different set climb in and soar with 500 other balloons.

Soaring in a balloon is addicting

...especially when your first time is with all these others. They are below you,

above you,

beside you

...all around you

and its a glorious feeling

to be sharing air space with them.

No one knows where they will land but the chase crew keeps close tabs.

This is where we landed.

 Thank you Martin, Carol, Valerie, Stefan, Susan and all the rest of the chase crew for picking me to go ballooning i will never forget how quiet, peaceful and exhilarating those 45 minutes were.

i

St. Croix's Womans Race and other pics

These will be the last pics from St. Croix for a while.

Not sure if i'm going to post while on the road...will decide when it happens.

Adventure is waiting and we don't know when we will be back on island.

This past Sunday was the Woman's Race in Christiansted and i got some pics of buildings,

hanging tee shirts.

The tees are done by women who have been abused.

Some times it just helps to hang your thoughts.

The guys who did it might not ever read what is on them but it can be very cathartic to put it out there for others to view.

And those women waiting to race.

The ladies and children

readied themselves at the start line.

It was hot,hot,hot...but we all finished.

On the way home i stopped to snap the new Gold Coast boat they put in the water.

And i couldn't resist Rust-op-Twist Great House looking lovely in the evening light.
Enjoy and have a great summer.
See ya who knows when.

St. Croix's Cane Bay Crawlers

i’m always looking for subjects to write about or things to photograph for the blog. There is so much material out there i have to put filters on to try and condense my tendency to explain things.

This week i find myself out of photographic material because of a camera that is a sometimes camera. If you don’t know what a sometimes camera is it is one that only works when it feels like it.

Just when i’m all set to chuck it and buy a new one it starts working.

One day it will be dead, i’ll charge the battery, put it in, redo all the date and time settings and take photos with no problem. The next day it will take one picture, skip to some wi-fi connection and need resetting. Then it will turn on all by itself and drain the battery again.

Yesterday i went to take a sunset picture and it turned on just fine but when i tried to change the settings it quit working. This morning it turns on just fine. But i’m sure the minute i see a masterpiece it will revert to a sometime camera. 

i even have a spare camera but that one is just stuck. The lens won’t close and the camera won’t snap any pictures at all. Could be the salt air is getting into my equipment and messing with it. Might be time for yet another camera.

So i have invited a guest photographer to display some of the wonderful pictures she has been taking with her new underwater camera.

She and i and the Cane Bay Crawlers swim a lot. We see the most incredible things underwater and relieve our stress at the same time. If you live on St. Croix and don’t swim you are missing out on a breathtaking activity. It really does sooth the soul. 

Even when things like the Hammerhead in the pic below swim underneath you.

Most of the time we are surrounded with beauty and the scary stuff usually stays down on the bottom. The silly octopus tries to blend in.

Turtles will come up and tease you. 

Stunning tropical fish will pass underneath you.

Flamingo tongues will just call out to be photographed.

And some of the healthy elk horn coral will just look too impressive to pass up.

Swimming in the ocean has so many benefits. Your blood gets a boost in circulation, your skin soaks up the salt helping keep your immune system in check and if you are depressed a dip in the ocean can only help. 

Of course there is the physical side including endurance, lung capacity and overall well being. i suppose it could also be a way to loose weight but that has never worked for me. i always seem to be starving after a long swim.

People with physical disabilities can swim with aids and its kind on the body parts as you age. Meditating is easy when you are swimming and i have been known to tell people that going for a swim in the Caribbean is my church.

If you want to join us we meet at 7:30am by Sprat Net on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

i hope you enjoyed all the underwater pictures by Elizabeth Harding...she is the one kneeling down in the top photo. 

See you next week.