Travelin' Fullers Blog: October 2015

After meeting Trey and Grant in London, we left a bit depressed with the Miami Dolhins football performance so I'm skipping over that part of the trip!😒

On a much happier note we flew from London to Albuquerque (talk about a very long day) and met up with my sister and her husband, Annette, Gaby and KC and the great grandmother, Duffy! We also had the pleasure of going to our first balloon ascension day with our friend, Arlene Feen and her grandchildren and daughter who came out from Vegas! A wonderful, big fun group who enjoyed the day! However, as warned, it is really cold at 4:30 am and after the sun goes down! BRRRRR! We had five brave adventurist a who went up yesterday with all the balloons: Grant, Trey, Gaby, Arlene and her granddaughter, Brittany! They were in the blue and black balloon labeled 96.5 am, they had an awesome time. Yesterday the winds were dead calm and perfect for flying. Today the winds were much stronger and they were really moving very quickly once they were up and away. Because of the stronger winds, some of the bigger shape balloons did not make it up today.

We also had to get some shopping in! So today we went to the awesome Rio Grand Arts and Crafts festival and did some damage! The day before yesterday, we drove to Santa Fe along old Route 66 and stopped at the artist colony of Madrid where we also did a little shopping.

Last night we we t back to the Fiesta to see something they call a "Glowdeo"! This is when all the balloons stay tethered but they use the heaters to light them up at dusk. They just don't fly! It's a beautiful thing to see, however, it was canceled last night because of wind. They did put on a magnificent fireworks show! We are going back tonight in hopes of finally seeing the "Glowdeo"!

I must say we have had tickets each day for the Goldola Club- absolutely they way to go! Warm tent with delicious breakfasts and dinners, open bar, hot chocolate and coffee galore, deluxe bathrooms nearby and volunteers who could NOT be nicer or more helpful! EVERYONE one of them ( and it's a lot of work with several hundred thousand people coming to this event!) has been super nice! Very well organized event! Now, enjoy the ballon show! But keep in mind. No photos can truly capture the experience!

Grant and Gaby

Our crew flew in this balloon!

KC enjoying the show!

Madrid artist colony on old a Route 66.

What a great two weeks we had touring Croatia and Montenegro! But now it's on to new adventures! London and the Miami Dolphins vs NY Jets at Wembly Stadium is the star of this week's adventure! We continue with our phenomenal weather! London has lots of sun, no rain and very pleasant daytime temperatures! It's a little "brisk" when the sun goes down, but it makes it feel like fall--- and football!

We've already been to two fantastic plays. The first night we saw Photograph 51, starring Nicole Kidman! It is a complicated story about a brilliant woman scientist who helped discover the secret of DNA. It was because of her x-ray photograph 51 that two other scientists finally put the pieces of the puzzle together. They did not give her any recognition for the part she played in the discovery. She died at the age of 37 from Ovarian cancer. It is believed she got cancer because of her constant exposure to radiation from all the X-ray photos she was taking of DNA strands. It is an excellent play, but Nicole Kidman was truly brilliant. I'm not sure a lesser actress could carry it off...

Yesterday we took a 2 hour ride to Bletchley Park. What, you may ask is Bletchley Park? It was the British estate that became the compound for the "code breakers" in WWII. It is really a story about a lot of people who helped break the German code machine, dubbed Enigma. The British recruited linguists and mathmeticians to try and help break the German code, Enigma. A man named Alan Turning was the primary force in eventually breaking the code. It was extremely complicated. He was the first pioneer of early, primitive computers. Once they broke the German code, they had to keep it a secret so the Germans wouldn't change it again. This resulted in some casualties because they couldn't warn Troops of a sudden attack and have them pull out because the Germans would know their code had been broken. The breaking of the Enigma code saved 14,000,000 lives and ended the war 2-4 years earlier than would otherwise have been possible. There have been several books written about the secretive code breakers. The secret was kept for 50 years after the war before it was finally revealed in a book by one of the code breakers. The simple explanation can be found in the British movie, The Imitation Game, with Keira Knightly and Benedict Cumberbatch. It is available on DVD and I highly recommend the movie if you haven't seen it! It's a fascinating piece of history that will boggle your mind! Suffice it to say we thoroughly enjoyed our visit to Bletchley Park, the secret compound run by MI 5 for several hundred people who helped break Enigma.

Last night we went to see Gypsy at the Savoy! Suffice it to say it was just terrific! The actress that played Rose could really "belt it out"! She reminded me of Ethel Merman in the original cast. The London production is excellent and I highly recommend it!

Today was just a lazy day.. Bill walked around to view the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace and the changing of the horse Guard. The 4:00 pm Horse Guard parade started in 1894 when Queen Victoria caught the entire guard drinking and gambling while on duty. As a punishment, she said they had to be inspected every day at 4pm by an officer for the next 100 years. Although the the 100 years ended in 1994, Queen Elizabth wanted the parade to continue as a tradition!

Tomorrow Trey and Grant will arrive to help "cheer the Dolphins" to victory! After the game, we will leave London and meet up with Annette, KC and Gaby in Atlanta on our way to Albuquerque for the International Hot Air Balloon Fiesta! Duffy is also flying out with our friend, Arlene, on Wednesday! Hoping for continued good weather in Albuquerque!