Up, Up, Up

Continuing north, we stopped for a couple of nights at Sandia Casino on the north side of Albuquerque.  They have a lovely, large parking lot and don't require you to sign in.  It's just off I 25 on Tramway Road, which brings me to today's blog.

Although we have often been in Albuquerque, Ron had never ridden the Sandia Peak Tramway.  This is an experience that cannot be missed.  It's an aerial tramway riding on two track cables, pulled by a continuous cable connecting the two cars, and powered by a 600 HP electric motor.  The ride is 2.7 miles long with an elevation rise of 3,819 feet.

We paid our $20 ($17 for seniors) and were given tickets for 'flight' 11.  Hey, I don't want to do any flying, thank you.

We started up and I managed to get in the front of the car.  My pictures are off color though, because of the tinted glass.  There are two towers on the way up.  I'm not sure which one this is, but it sure looks like we're going to crash.

The most impressive part is after the second tower where the earth drops to 900 feet below. The span between the second tower and the top is 1 1/2 miles or 7,720 feet.  That's a long way with no ground support.

Here comes the other car on its way back down.

At the top are a couple of trails and, of course, quite a view.

You know I have to post things that make me laugh.  Do you think this sign showed a lack of planning?

No, it's okay.  Zooming in, we can see that somebody fixed it.

You can spend as much time as you want at the top.  They even have a restaurant called High Finance.  With a name like that, I didn't want to see their prices.

The cars run at least every 1/2 hour, but more often as needed.  Here comes our ride down now.

They are very concerned about safety and each morning somebody rides up on top of the car to check things out.  Good idea?