Sandia Peak Tramway

So, our first full day in Albuquerque was ended by visiting the Sandia Peak Tramway. Part of it was my attempt to make sure Dan got to experience something other than interviewing. Part of it was realizing I had never ridden a cable car before, and what a great chance to try it out! Truth be told, I bought this pack of travel books for Alyssa from Ikea, and one of them talked about cable cars. When I heard there was one in Albuquerque, I really wanted to ride on it.

There are a couple of things you should know about this tramway. It is 2.7 miles long, and has a vertical rise of 3,819 feet to acheive a total elevation of 10,378 feet.

What I discovered is that I am terrified of cable cars. Sure, I can stand at the edge of a cliff and not feel terribly nervous. But suspend me in a swinging car moving on a single cable over jagged rocks hundreds of feet below....not really my idea of a good time. And of course, my fearless daughter wanted ME to hold her up to look out the windows.

Still, the views from the top were gorgeous. At least I rode the world's longest aerial tramway, so any other one should seem like a piece of cake.

The Heard Museum

We were really looking forward to visiting the Heard Museum when we were in Phoenix. We were really lucky to visit on a day when they had some special performances and events at the museum.


Alyssa tried her hand at grinding corn.


The Inuit art was extremely exquisite. Here is one of our favorite pictures.


Dan really enjoyed the kachinas. Here are some examples of his favorites.


One of the highlights was seeing a H0pi dance performance. It even put Alyssa in a kind of trance.