Philmont! The Adventure begins...

The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step. ~Lao Tzu

The big day finally arrived! We had a 6 am flight out of Pittsburgh International, so we had to leave the house at 3:30 am. Packing and repacking took until almost midnight, mainly because I couldn't decide if we had everything we needed. You only get one chance, so do you take the light sleeping bag and the heavy fleece jacket, or the warmer bag and the light-weight jacket... in the end I just went with the lightest weight stuff and hoped for warm weather. It's the middle of July for goodness sakes!

We timed our arrival to the airport perfectly, walking in the terminal doors right at 4:25 am, second to the last to arrive. Within a minute or so, the last of our party joined us and we were ready to go! A good omen for the trip ahead: 12 people from all over Pittsburgh, all arriving on time with no one forgetting anything... that NEVER happens!

And then we were off! Dressed in Scout uniforms, and lugging backpacks, we made our way to ticketing and baggage check. The goal was no one having packs weighing over 50 lbs, so we woudn't have to pay any extra fees, and again, everyone made it, though one kid had a pack weighing over 40 lbs., a bit excessive considering we didn't have our food or camping equipment yet. The scout uniforms helped move us through security, so suddenly we were waiting for our flight. Two boys had never been on a plane before, so there was a bit of apprehension in the air, but excitement seemed to rule the day.

Our plane was a tiny commuter jet, one seat on one side, two seats on the other, about 50 seats total. It was comfortable enough, but didn't handle very well in thunderstorms, which we encountered in Houston where we had to switch planes. We attempted to land in the middle of a severe downpour, and ended up going around when we were hit by wind gusts just before touchdown. We circled and tried it again, and though I had my doubts, the pilot eventually put it down mid-way down the runway. Our connection was delayed by the storms too, so we didn't miss it, which would have been a real nightmare getting straightened out.

The two hour flight into Albuquerque was uneventful, so we landed pretty much on time at 10:30 am in the midst of a gorgeous day. We were met at baggage claim by our tour guide, a guy named Robin, who hustled us and our packs out of the airport and off onto a whirl-wind tour of the city. Our local Council had contracted with a tour service, Blue Sky Adventures, to pick us up from the airport, get us fed, let us get some sightseeing in, and deliver us to Philmont the next morning.

Our first stop was food, which appeared via a local hamburger joint, Jake's Lottaburger. Not sure what the attraction was for this particular establishment, cuz it was pretty much just a typical fast food place. However, after flying five hours with nothing really to eat, the 12 of us were famished and the burgers were good enough, though a bit on the greasy side.

Next stop: the National Museum of Nuclear Science & History. This museum is still getting set up, so are some gaps, but it has a good start: it covers the subject of nuclear development both for military and civilian uses from the 1800s to the present. It covered Los Alamos and the Manhattan Project fairly extensively, and had replicas of all the weapons I used to sit alert with on B-52s back in the Cold War days. There's an air museum out back, but has very few planes yet, and the ones they have are still dismantled. Give it a couple of years, and it should be well worth the visit.

From the museum we headed into Old Town Albuquerque, where we walked around for an hour or so getting used to the 6,000' elevation and dry humidity. Old town is fairly quaint, with lots of tourist shops, but after browsing two or three, you quickly realize that they all have exactly the same merchandise, none of it worth purchasing and lugging around for two weeks in a backpack.

Our next stop was the Sandia Mountain tram. Apparently it is the longest single span Tram in the US, and runs from just east of the city to the top of Sandia Mountain, up to an elevation of over 10,000'. The ride up took about 20 minutes, but the view was spectacular, so you didn't even notice the time.

At the top we were awed by the beautiful vistas both of Albuquerque in the valley below, as well as the hundreds of miles we could see towards the east off the backside of the mountain. Robin, our guide, did a great job of pointing out interesting sights and facts about both Albuquerque, as well as Sandia Mountain, the orgin of the tram and some local history going back to the Indians. He then led us on a mile and a half hike along the rim to a mountain cottage built back in the 30's by members of the Civilian Conservation Corps. The boys scrambled all over it, posed for pictures and enjoyed even more spectacular views of the wide open spaces. You don't see this far back in Pittsburgh... just too many hills and trees. Not a bad thing, but not the same as out in west, that's for sure.

Our final stop for the night was a local Marriott, where dinner and one last nice bed awaited. Dinner was a mexican buffet, which was attacked with a piranha-like frenzy by not only our scouts, but another group coming in from the Wisconsin area. There was a pool and a game room available for use, but at least for the adults, bedtime was early and dearly sought!

Tomorrow: Philmont!