There's no place (within 5K) like home...

Ever have one of those days where everything seems to come together?

This morning was rough... lupus-wise... and I ended up staying home from the pool to save my spoons for this afternoon's trip over to the new apartment with the first load of furniture and the official hanging of the curtains. But I felt bad about it, until I realized what this move means. Yesterday I drove from my house to the Cibola National Forrest ... and one of the Sandia Mountain Trailheads, which is now less than a mile from my house. I thought of the lovely mountain walks I'd take, the pretty scenery, the beautiful view of the city spread out in the valley below me. It really made me happy.

So I log into blogger and my google reader, and I have a couple things waiting for me... First, Dianna's 5K in May and second, Manuela's question in my Who Am I? post, asking "What's the best thing about where you live? What's the worst?".

Today both things overlap a bit, and I'll show you why.

Just before I read Manuela's comment I was over on MapMyRun.com looking at how to do a 5K from my new house. Since I live in the foothills of the Sandia Mountains, I figured I'd want to go UPHILL first... not a bad proposition when the scenery is as nice as this.

The only problem with a 5K in the mountains is the altitude. I have to admit: the first 30 minutes of walking up in the mountains just about kills me until I'm used to breathing the rarified air. This walk is pretty ambitious.

Oh sure, I walk 5K all the time... Mall walking... shopping... going to the zoo... but hiking up in the mountains is a whole other story. I'll do it... some day. Until then I'll walk around some of the shorter routes up there. Or drive up and hike around the trails. But 5K from my home through the mountains and back might be a little ambitious for now.

I've been looking at other people's walks and thinking how blessed I am to be in a city with such wonderful open space and parkland. Sure, there are some great walks downtown (the city actually publishes walking tour maps for different length walks... I have a stack of them for walks of Old Town, Downtown, and other places of historical and cultural interest) but while I'll be doing a lot of that with the kids this summer, I'm also more of an outdoorsy kinda girl.

It's easier to walk downtown or in the valley... or even out in the west mesa... compared to the mountains. And as soon as that thought struck me, I KNEW I had the perfect walk for the May 5K:



This is a walk on trails in the southern portion of Petroglyphs National Monument. It's fairly flat, the trails are sandy, and there's a lot to see, between the petroglyphs themselves, the desert landscape bordered by volcanic canyon walls, and the city in the distance down in the valley. I've been meaning to go back to the petroglyphs anyway, although what I had in mind was getting up into the higher elevations and some of the petroglyphs on the northern trail that I'd missed. That can wait. One of the best things about living here is that I can always go there anytime I want.

And this, I guess, feeds into Manuela's question: The best thing about living in Albuquerque is all the things to do and see. The land itself, the history, the geography is amazing. On top of that there's always cultural events going on, music, ethnic festivals, theater... it's an amazing place. I also like that it's a small city, not the hustle and bustle of LA. There's parking and accessibility, which are important when you go to any of these places. I may be broke, but I'm never without SOMETHING I can do on any day around here... but for me mostly it's the land. It's BEAUTIFUL. Mountains... desert... the river.... the volcanos and canyons... I wake up every morning feeling like I've been touched by the divine.

Manuela also asks what the WORST thing is about living where I live. For me that's also an easy question, because I love the sea, and miss it horribly. I love exploring the tide pools. I love feeling the salt wind against my lips. I love the ragged beauty of the California coast line, the smooth white beaches of Florida, and knowing that the ocean is just a little ways over there... So for me, living in a landlocked state is a bit of a challenge some days...

Well, until I look out the window again. I may miss the sea, but what I do have is so darn beautiful I can't stay sad about it for long.