Albuquerque New Mexico

Her View

Albuquerque - Caywood's perspective

Albuquerque: home to the longest tram in the world (of its kind). We drove through the largest city in New Mexico and decided to ride the 15-minute tram up Sandia Peak in the Cibola National Forest. What a sight. The pictures below don't even come close to doing it justice.

The tram station where we started was right at 6000 feet, and the tram went up the mountain 2.7 miles to 10,378 feet high. When we first got there, the sun was shining and we were ready to do some hiking. After only a few minutes of hiking and some delicious red wine, we saw a storm coming in. I got a little nervous with the first blast of lightning since we were so high up, but the storm mostly stayed to the left of us - aside from the pouring rain. Even in the storm, Feliks and I can always make a time fun. Every time we get caught in the rain now it makes me think of the night he proposed, where we had to run from place to place in nice clothes and pouring down rain. Always a good time!

We enjoyed the views from the top of Sandia Peak, and even ate some soup at the highest full service restaurant in North America. After staying on the top of the peak for a couple of hours, and being above the clouds for a storm, we decided to head back down and start the drive to our next destination. The views atop Sandia Peak were absolutely spectacular. I recommend going to Albuquerque for this view, where you can see out anywhere from 85 miles to a few hundred miles, depending on the weather.

My advice from our experience:

1. Definitely ride the tram to the top of Sandia Peak. The tram is $20 round trip, or $12 one way. If you make a reservation at the restaurant, you can save $5.

2. Plan a full day here. We chose to do this last minute, and didn't know how long we would need. We rode the tram up and down, but you can actually hike up the mountain and ride the tram down for some awesome views and awesome trails (so we hear). The hike up the mountain is about 9 miles and it usually takes people 3-4 hours. I'd love to come back and do this hike.

His View

Albuquerque - Feliks' perspective

We didn’t do a whole lot in Albuquerque. Pretty much as soon as we got there we drove straight to the Sandia Peak Tramway, the longest tramway of its kind in the world (so the guide said). The ride to the top was pretty cool and you could quickly see the entire city of Albuquerque. It didn’t seem that big, and mostly surrounded by nothingness. When we got to the top, it kinda hit you how high you were as you looked down the side of one of the cliffs, and realized that eminent death is only one slip away. We walked around the designated trails, and I really liked the fact that they had markers explaining different plans and rock formations. We shared a bottle of wine at a nice little sitting spot, and even though it was windy it was still the perfect setting.

As we continued walking around, the rain came in and hit us hard. So we booked it back to the restaurant by the tramway. As we watched the clouds engulf the mountain and destroy our beautiful view, we enjoyed some delicious soup and salad at 10,378 feet. As the rain was letting up, we decided to head back and the journey down was just as magnificent as the journey up. Not much else happened in Albuquerque.

About to go to top of Sandia Peak	The tram
Sandia Peak	And the storm rolls in...
Highest full service restaurant	Above the clouds
Above the clouds for a storm	Sandia Peak
On top of a mountain	Admiring the view
Wine on top of a mountain. Win.	Rain showers
Wine on a mountain top	Hiking on a mountain
Sandia Peak view	View down the tram
The tram line	Historic Route 66
View up Sandia Peak