Saturday, March 29--Rio Rancho and Albuquerque

Saturday we drove to Rio Rancho, NM, to take in the Fifth Annual Pork and Brew Barbecue State Championship. First we had to find the civic center at Rio Rancho. This was more difficult than it seemed. Rio Rancho is northwest of Albuquerque. One brochure said the civic center was in the center of town. HA! It is as far from the center of town as you could get. We once again looked for signs to indicate where the civic center might be, but we didn't see any signs on the main road. Finally we stopped at Borders to ask for directions. The first 2 clerks had no idea where the civic center was located. Finally a customer told us how to get there. The civic center is northwest of Rio Rancho, almost out to the Santa Ana casino. When we were within 1/2 mile of the center, we saw the first sign indicating its location. The Albuquerque area does not put signs where you would expect them, in fact, there usually aren't signs where you need them.

We finally arrived at the Pork and Brew. The parking lot was jam packed, but it didn't look like too many people were at the Pork and Brew. We walked around and saw some interesting sights.

There were 3 pig races during the day.

There was a section just for the kids--blowup playgrounds of all shapes and sizes.

We bought 10 Barbecue Bucks and tried samples at 6 different booths. Then we split a barbecue sandwich that was pretty good.

This booth had an Irish theme. There is a roasted pig complete with green hat and a green coin eye on the table in front of Joyce.

As we were leaving we found out why the parking lot was so packed. The Disney Nemo Ice Show was playing in the civic center. The show was over as we were leaving the Pork and Brew.

From the Pork and Brew we found our way back to the Albuquerque Balloon Museum which is located at the Balloon Park north of Albuquerque.

It was interesting to see how flight got started. They had china from the Hindenburg. Also on display were plates from the 1780s commemorating several balloon flights in Paris.

We were able to get in the replica of Double Eagle II which was the first balloon to make a transatlantic flight.

The gondola's on the first balloons were not very large. Bob and I fit in this one with a little room to spare.This is a replica of the Double Eagle V which successfully crossed the Pacific Ocean.

Except for difficulty with street signs, we had a great day!