a tram ride to remember

I'm wrapping up the big birthday weekend with our tram ride to the top of the Sandia Mountains. We had reservations for dinner at the High Finance restaurant that is at the top of the mountain. We also planned to have a photo shoot at the base of the tram. Mom had requested that we do photos to commemorate her eightieth birthday.

After our early morning at the balloon fiesta and a near city wide search for the perfect Mexican restaurant for lunch, we all made a fast but thorough spruce-up at the hotel. Six women, two bathrooms, last minute choices in outfits... you know where I am going on this. We were running late. We needed to check in at the base of the tram at 4:30 to catch our ride to the top. Our dinner reservations were for 5:30. So, we arrived at the base at 4:00. That is when we did a "divide and conquer" maneuver. One dropped us off and headed back to find a parking space. Two jumped in line to get our boarding tickets. Note: they actually call each trip that the tram makes up the mountain a "flight". The other two of us grabbed Mom and looked for a nice spot to get some photos. One of us was working the camera, while the other worked the sun reflector and posed Mom. She herself worked the posing quite well. We must have made quite an impression because during the "session", a woman who I had noticed had been watching us with a small group of people, came over to me. She asked quietly, to not draw attention, "Is this woman a dignitary of some sort?" and then "Is she someone special like the mayor or something?" I thought for a second, smiled and said... "Well yes, she is someone special. She is our mother and it is her 80th Birthday!" and then added, "My four sisters and I all flew in from three different states to celebrate with her." Isn't that so cool to have someone think that you are some sort of a dignitary! I hope that when I am 80, someone will think that about me.

As we were rushed for time, we snapped at a furious rate and then headed up to be ready for our "flight". It wasn't long before we boarded and were on our way up the mountain. Hang on... it gets a little bumpy!

The birthday girl dignitary herself.
As we got to the top we had a few minutes before it was time for our reservation. We took a few more pictures and enjoyed the view. Clouds were starting to roll in and we wondered if there would be a rain storm like the one the night before. The one we had watched from the balloon field that kept the balloon glow grounded and made for an impressive night of rolling clouds, swirling wind and impressive lightening. (Yes, we did get off the field as the wind nearly knocked our hats off.)

Our reservation time came and went, as there were people sitting at our "especially requested window table." They had finished their dinner, but appeared to have decided to watch the sun go down. After an hour the manager had to kindly ask them to give up the table since they had been sitting there after their dinner for two hours. We finally got seated and the sun was starting to set. And the clouds were starting to roll in.
We enjoyed a very lovely meal and a very lovely rain storm. The lightening was impressive and the rain was torrential. Our great window view quickly became obstructed as people sought shelter from the rain. We stuffed ourselves on dinner and dessert and noticed the hail we had seen appeared to have turned to a light snow. Only in the mountains can you experience weather like that. As we left the restaurant and headed to the other building for our "flight" back down the mountain, we passed this little delightful guy. Someone got a bit creative.
Flights ended up being suspended because the tram was closed down due to the weather. Once it was re-started there were a lot of people waiting for their trip down. We ended up waiting for a long time. Probably an hour and a half or so. Everyone was very tired and the birthday girl had about enough of her birthday that wouldn't end. It was 10:00 by the time our flight had landed back down at the base of the mountain. Phew...I'm just glad we finally got our ride down.

We were happy to spend the weekend with our very "dignified" special person...our Mom.

Happy 80th Birthday to you Mom...I hope this is one you will always remember.
Love to you,

Your daughters.

(in no particular order)

Norma, Janet, Karen, Wanda and Helen