Albuequerque, NM

Day 9: Wed 30 Jul: Woke up this morning and got Mark on his way to work. Had coffee and gabbed with Stu. I always enjoy our attempts at solving the world's (or, today, New Mexico's) problems. We focus on health-care and harm-reduction activism, and our experiences (personal and professional) complement each other well. And the coffee just gets us going.

We ate take out from Flying Star Cafe which was really good.

In the afternoon, I headed up to Sandia Mountain. Albuquerque is at about 5,000 feet; Sandia Mountain goes up to 10,600 feet. It was a fun, switchbacked drive. It's all part of Cibola National Forest. At the top of the mountain there are incredible views. I decided to hike a trail along the ridge down to the top of the ski area (on one side) and tramway (on the other). It was three miles round trip, through forest with some pretty mountaintop meadows. Coming back, I could feel the altitude. I had to stop a couple times to catch my breath, and I was sweating like a pig, but it felt good. I had plenty of water and was guzzling it, which made all the difference.

I headed back to Stu and Mark's, we had dinner, hung out, watched some TV, and went to bed.