City Of Albuquerque – Page 7

December 13, 2004

Skiing Weekend

On Friday I left for Taos. Mapopolis said it should only take about 3 hours to get to Taos from Albuquerque. Friends tell me I could get there in 2. It actually took me a little over 4 hours. I should have got up at 5am, which would allowed me to leave at 6. Instead I got up at 6 (darn snooze button) and left a little after 7. This meant I was stuck in Albuquerque traffic and there didn’t see t be a single road that lead to the freeway that didn’t have a accident on it.
Between Santa Fe and Espanola there’s construction building a nice new road. Unfortunately it’s not done and there was only 1 lane. I finally arrived in Taos sometime after 11. The good news is lift tickets were only 20 bucks, and rentals were only 11. Cheap! I skied for about 3 1/2 hours. To be honest I was getting sore so it’s probably a good thing I didn’t get there when they opened. Plus my right boot wasn’t fitting right, it was pretty uncomfortable and was cutting off circulation to my right foot at times. The track file (read at the bottom on how it was made) shows I reached about 38mph at points. Not bad. You can also see they have some very long runs. Once they get some more snow the skiing should be awesome, it wasn’t bad but wasn’t the best.
I left after 3:30 and began the trip home, which didn’t take quite as long as it did to get there. Next time I go I will probably plan on staying there overnight. It doesn’t seem worth it for the length of the trip.

On Saturday I went up to Santa Fe with some friends from work. Santa Fe will the primary location of skiing this winter since I purchased the Millennium pass. This pass is one step down from the Season Pass, yet is more than $500 cheaper. It gets you $10 off lift tickets, except in January where lift tickets are free. Guess where I will be in January? By the way, I picked up my pass which is a ID card with my picture, It’s the worse possible picture they could have taken.
RIght now lift tickets are $34, so it cost me $24. They also got new rental equipment, which cost $18 to rent for the day. I was very happy with the boots, they fit perfectly and are probably the most comfortable boots I have ever worn. I think I will be doing enough skiing this year that I really need to invest in my own gear.
One of the best part about skiing at Santa Fe is stopping at the little restaurant/bar located just up slope. A nice (and expensive) lunch just hits the spot about 11. Then come back every hour or two for a break and have a delicious Hot Buttered Rum. It’s not enough to get you drunk, but enough to get a buzz and warm you up.
I have to admit that I was still kind of sore from the previous day when we started and the pain continued though out the day. It wasn’t enough to keep me from skiing but was enough to keep me from really hitting the bumpy parts. Thats when you really put your leg muscles to work. The pain in my thighs did start to go away as the day went on. But even today I’m still feeling it. A few more times on the slopes and it won’t bother me anymore.
The right back was less comfortable since my legs were sore and I sat in the back of my friends Honda Pilot. It’s a nice enough SUV, just pretty cramped in the back seats for a long trip like that.
Santa Fe had 80% of the mountain open and I could tell they needed some more snow in parts. Hopefully the weather will cooperate because, well, you know where I will be every weekend.

If you’re interested in how I generated the speed tracking maps, click here.

June 16, 2004

Rio Rancho & Lots Of WiFI

Rio Rancho, New Mexico is just butted up against Albuquerque to the north. Thanks to Intel (the largest employer in Rio Rancho and one of the largest in the state) they will have the worlds largest WiFi hot spot. It will cover 103 square miles including residential homes. Funny since you can barley get DSL and no internet via cable.

I lived in Rio Rancho (often called Rio Rathole) when I first moved here. At the time it was mostly a overgrown truck stop with no roads. The road have improved some and the whole city has grown up a lot, it’s good to see some high tech anything moving in.

[Update:] Check out the submission I made to slashdot. Unfortunately I couldn’t remember my password otherwise I would have tons of traffic coming to this site 🙂

May 14, 2004

Photos of Downtown Albuquerque

Here’s a few shots of Downtown Albuquerque I took last month. This is along Central Ave, aka Route 66.

January 3, 2004

36 DUI Arrests New Years Eve In Albuquerque

36 People were arrested at a DWI checkpoint on New Years Eve. This checkpoint was located near downtown Albuquerque and was well advertised where it was going to be. I am amazed at how many stupid people continue to drink and drive in this town, “New Mexico has hovered between fourth and fifth worst in the nation for alcohol-related deaths from 1998 to 2002.” The govenor has said that enforcement has stepped up, but I would expect more checkpoints if this is the case.

I recall several years ago driving home from work. It was beginning to get dark. In the lane lane opposite to me I observed a man in a Chevy Dually pickup drive his truck off to the side of the road. He was going pretty fast and it bounced as it came to a stop. He got out and walked into the middle of the road, the “no mans land” in the middle in between the orange stripes, and proceeded to take a wiz. I’m pretty sure he was drunk. Scarry stuff. Anytime I see someone driving irratic I have to wonder if they are drunk.

New Mexico’s DWI fatality national ranking through the years.

1990: First worst (19 deaths per 100,000)
1991: First (15.9 per 100,000)
1992: First (16.5 per 100,000)
1993: First (13.7 per 100,000)
1994: Second (12.6 per 100,000)
1995: Second (12.5 per 100,000)
1996: First (12.6 per 100,000)
1997: Third (11 per 100,000)
1998: Fourth (9.5 per 100,000)
1999: Fourth (9.8 per 100,000)
2000: Fifth (9.7 per 100,000)
2001: Fourth (10 per 100,000)
2002: Fifth (10.2 per 100,000)
Source: DWI Resource Center, 2003

STATES WITH LEAST DWI FATALITIES

1. New York
2. Utah
3. New Jersey
4. Massachusetts
5. Hawaii
Source: DWI Resource Center, 2003; statistics are for 2002

STATES WITH MOST DWI FATALITIES

1. Wyoming
2. South Carolina
3. Montana
4. South Dakota
5. New Mexico

Source:DWI Resource Center, 2003; statistics are for 2002

July 20, 2003

El Paso, Texas & Carlsbad Caverns, New Mexico

I wanted to take my Girlfriend and her boys to Carlsbad Caverns since none of them had been. I had been there once before. Since her sister lived in El Paso we decided to visit here for a day and go to Carlsbad the next day. I had never been to El Paso before and was expecting a dirty run down city. Being so close to the Mexico border and Juarez, Mexico. What I found there was a city bigger than Albuquerque and very historic.

The trip down Interstate 25 from Albuquerque to El Paso has nothing interesting to see. But it only takes about 4 hours. In El Paso you can see Mexico from the freeway. The Rio Grand is the border between Mexico and the US, and the river isn’t that wide at the border. Looking at the Mexican side of the border you see a lot of brightly painted houses and small streets. I can imagine what the US side looks like to the Mexicans with our tall buildings for shopping and industry. As if were mocking them with our prosperity.

We did not go into Juarez and the people we met there hadn’t been either/ They mostly told me that there wasn’t much there unless you want to go and party. On the next visit I don’t plan to go either. However on the next trip I hope to stay longer and check out the more historic parts of down town El Paso. On our way out of town there was a border patrol stop. It was interesting that it was there as it was. I wonder if they have one on every exit out of town. They just asked us if we were all Americans and then sent us on our way. It was a mostly boring ride down highway 62/180. But there was some interesting parts like Salt Flat, TX the Guadalupe Mountains National Park. El Captain is visible along the drive. Along the drive I saw quite a few abandoned gas stations and hotels. I often see them along I-40 when I drive to Arizona. I suppose there was a time in the early 1900’s that cars were less capable and it took longer to get from place to place so people needed to stay at hotels along the way.

The Caverns are just south of Carlsbad New Mexico. Prices are reasonable at the cave and they don’t charge for parking. It’s a long into the main part of the cave, half of which is just walking down. But don’t worry there’s is a elevator to take you back up. Bats live in the cave. At night there is a sitting area where people can watch the mass exodus. We did not stay to see that.

The drive back was the most horrible. I figure it takes 6 hours to get to Carlsbad going south of it via El Paso. There are no major high ways into Carlsbad and going north you have to take smaller state roads where the speed limit is 55-65 MPH. This makes a big difference on how long it takes and it must have taken us 9 hours to get back. Our route was north to Roswell the west to I-25. Since you pass through many towns along the way that slows you down even more, and just before we reached I-25 it seems like we had been driving for ever. Which we had. These sort of trips remind me that there was a time when people rode horse through this country with no road or stops along the way. There was some stuff to look at along the way and they were thinking I was lost. I kept assuring them I wasn’t lost, it just was taking a long time.

Lincoln New Mexico was in between Roswell and i-25. I had no idea this place even existed. There is a It is certainly a historic town, nestled in the middle of Lincoln Nation Forest. This National Forest is the birthplace of Smokey the Bear. If we ever go to Carlsbad again, for my Family’s sake I will drive south through El Paso