Spring Break 2026 - Albuquerque (Part 5)

We had a late checkout in Pagosa Springs, so we enjoyed our last morning soaking up these gorgeous views 

After a delicious lunch and morning in the hot springs, we made the 3 hour drive to our resort in Albuquerque. The kids all voted to make a stop at Kakawa Chocolate house on the way. We arrived at the resort in time for dinner and a gorgeous sunset. 

We were up bright and early the next morning for something that has been on my bucket list for a very long time! We have attempted to ride a hot air balloon numerous times and the weather has never been right. But what better place to check off this bucket list item than the hot air balloon capitol of the world! We were a little surprised that we took off from a mall parking lot instead of the hot air balloon field down the street, but it must have had something to do with the wind!

We had perfect weather and it was so surreal being up there!

Albuquerque is surrounded by mountains on all sides, so we had beautiful views the entire way. 

This intersection is known as the "Big I." It's one of the most complex intersections in the world, seeing over 400,000 vehicles per day. It's where interstate 40 and 25 intersect. 

I was a little bit nervous about the landing. But there was no wind, so the landing was so easy and was barely even a little bump! 

We celebrated a successful flight with a champagne toast afterwards!

We ate a big brunch and then headed back to the hotel to swim. It was gorgeous day, but a hot one! The kids bounced from the pickleball courts to the pool for the rest of the day. 

That night we took the Sandia Peak Tramway. It is the longest tramway in the United States and second longest single span tramway in the world. We ate dinner at the top at the restaurant. I wasn't expecting much, but every single one of our meals was SO good. 

We had beautiful views all around us!

We also had one of the most gorgeous and longest sunsets I have ever seen. The sunset started while we were eating dinner and was still going by the time we made it down the mountain. 

Just as beautiful at the bottom of the mountain!

We ended the night with s'mores by the fire at the resort. 

We did not have plans for our final day of vacation. So the kids swam in the pool and watched March Madness. It was a great relaxing day to end the best vacation!

I snuck up to the room to enjoy a glass of wine on the patio while the sun set and the kids finished playing. Beautiful view!

Spring Break 2026- Great Sand Dunes National Park (Part 4)

 Michael woke up early for the sunrise, which looked amazing! 

We had plans to take a day trip to Great Sand Dunes National Park, which is about a two hour drive. We were all excited to visit a new national park and to go sandboarding. This is our 24th national park. 

With our sandboard and sleds that we rented at the entrance, we trekked out to the sand dunes. It didn't look like a long walk, but was pretty difficult in the sand.

The kids were all so excited to try it out. We quickly discovered that it was much more difficult than it looked. Patrick was the first to pick it up and helped out Caitie a little bit. The other boys picked it up shortly after. I tried twice and called it quits after I bruised my tailbone on a fall. It hurt much more than expected to fall in the sand. 

It was a gorgeous day and the mountains in the background made for such a beautiful view. We had heard that the sand gets extremely hot in the summer, but it was perfect for our visit. 

I was worried that the 4 hour round trip drive wouldn't be worth it, but it was the boys favorite activity on the vacation. They all agreed it was worth the drive. We spent a half a day laying on the sand taking turns going down the hills. 

Caitie had a pretty big fall so Michael and the younger two headed back to the car after a couple hours. Patrick and Peyton hung out for another 45 minutes or so sandboarding. I happily sat in the sand in the 60 degree weather eating prickly pear jelly beans while watching Patrick and Peyton fly down the sand hills. Doesn't get much better than that!

On our way back to town we made a quick stop at a beautiful waterfall. 

We were all really excited to get back to the resort and soak our sore muscles in the hot springs!

It also happened to be St. Patrick's day, so we enjoyed a fun green beverage!

Such a pretty view!

It was such a fun day! I hope it's one that the kids look back on with fond memories!