Birthdays are always an opportunity to celebrate and find a way the make the day special. The opportunity was there with Ueli starting a new round and the weather was perfect on the eastern side of the Rockies, Joan had the idea to make a short trip to Santa Fe. It was going to be a short trip with little luggage to load into our plane, N85S.

 

For a change we decided to file a flight plan so we could enjoy the cooler weather at altitude and avoid the occasional clouds sitting over the Foothills.

 

The Air Traffic Controllers (ATC) steered us through the busy airspace of Denver and Colorado Springs and let us cruise at 11'000 ft.  Below us we could see the traffic on I 25 crawling along in the heat. 

 

 

 

After Pueblo we crossed the Greenhorn Mountain Range to Alamosa, leaving the Great Sand Dunes to our right in the distance, and followed the direct route to Santa Fe. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Following this flight plan was easy with no tricky flight routing. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Two and a half hours after departing Boulder we descended into KSAF runway 15. 

 

 

Back on the ground we changed out means of transportation to a rental car and pushed our way through the local traffic. Our bird was in safe hands at a tie-down of KSAF.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Santa Fe is well known as an art center  with galleries for any taste and budget. If you can not make up your mind settle down at one of the restaurants and enjoy the local Mexican inspired food. Being a special day a glass of Sparkling Wine was on the order.

 

A local label caught our attention. "Grüt", from a winery just a few miles on the way to Albuquerque. The name reminded us of a little town in Switzerland with the same name. Its taste was so agreeable that we ordered a case when we returned to Boulder. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The following day we toured the town with its many galleries and historical sites. Just looking and enjoying was good enough for us. 

 

Preparing for the flight, loading our small collection of luggage and sufficient fuel in the tanks. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our flight back would be just by Fight Following, leaving it free to do a little sightseeing from the air while still under the watchful eye of the ATC. 

Finally as we reached Denver and descended to our home place. It had been an enjoyable short trip with textbook weather. All that was left was to unpack and push our bird into the hangar, ready for the next trip.