Fall in Albuquerque

Fall in Albuquerque is more beautiful that I would have thought! First come the balloons. Well, actually there have been balloons in the sky pretty much every morning since we got here, but the first weekend in October is the big balloon festival. This year our schedule didn't allow us to get up close and personal with the balloons, but I did get out and shoot a bunch of pictures. Unfortunately that meant shooting into the sunrise, but here are a few of my pictures. Those spots aren't a dirty lens, and they're not a dirty screen, they're balloons.



This one went right over me!


Then, just as I was feeling sorry for not having fall color in the mountains, the bosque (that's the trees along the river) turned gold. Intense, bright gold. No pictures, as my camera's currently not working, but trust me, it's beautiful.

Then I found out that sandhill cranes winter here. A couple weeks ago the newspaper had an article on them, saying they stayed in the refuge by Socorro, which is a couple hours away, but then I found out they are here, about five miles from my house! We went down this morning and saw them. They sound like tribbles, and they look like elegant paintings on silk. The open space preserve plants grain for them to eat, and there were about 150 of them this morning, standing out in the field. We went on a little hike down to the river with a bird guide who pointed out lots of other birds, too, including flickers and a red-tailed hawk and a kestrel, and a flock of cranes flew over us. When my camera's working again I'll go back and get pictures.