Smokey the Balloon
The Albuquerque International Balloon Festival attracts nearly one million visitors during the nine days of this annual event. My family would attend several days a year whenever possible, and we were especially interested in the special shape balloons. I have attended at least a dozen days of the early morning balloon lift-off events.
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My first visit to the Pearl Harbor Memorial on Oahu was about 25 years ago. What is so striking to me about each visit is the large number of Japanese tourists in attendance. Many arrive by organized Japanese tour companies. I would really like to have the ability or nerve to speak to them and learn their impressions and thoughts during their visit to the site of their country’s surprise attack which killed more than 2,500 Americans. It is certainly an odd twist that anyone who visits Hawaii today quickly realizes the economic vitality of Hawaii clearly depends on the Japanese tourist.
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Moab, Utah was just one of many small towns dotting my route as I frequently traveled between the University of Utah and my home town of Los Alamos, New Mexico. Stopping to explore this impressive landscape was never considered. Time was always short, rushing to get back to school, go skiing or to get home on a vacation. Now that I have nuttin’ but time on my hands I rented a VRBO cottage in downtown Moab. This great location did little good as many of the shops, restaurants and both photo galleries I wished to visit were closed, as February is considered the off season. Some shops were scheduled to open up the day we departed for Colorado. Many times while dining we were the only tourists in the cafe. It was fun listening to the business owners in town discuss the issues of the day. They seemed to look upon the inevitable onslaught of tourists starting in March with both great anticipation and trepidation. Goodbye to their quiet little town.
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