{"id":241,"date":"2014-10-29T23:36:47","date_gmt":"2014-10-29T23:36:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/swirleyeyedsister.com\/site\/?p=241"},"modified":"2023-11-07T22:40:26","modified_gmt":"2023-11-07T22:40:26","slug":"day-18-mountains-walter-white-and-ghosts-of-the-past","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swirly-eyedsister.com\/?p=241","title":{"rendered":"Day 18: Mountains, Albuquerque, and Walter White"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"A<\/a>
A view of the Sandia Mountains from the house of my cousin Debbie and her husband Robert<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The mountains dominate everything here. Albuquerque itself rises 4,900 feet from the plains. The Sandia Mountains, 10,679 feet above sea level, are magnificent, an immovable presence that awes me every time I look up and see them towering above me. I suppose the residents take them for granted after a while, as we do the sea.<\/p>\n

\"sandias5\"<\/a>
Debbie and Robert’s house with the Sandias in the background<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A day after the halfway mark of my odyssey, the weather has turned a bit cooler. Yesterday morning in Lubbock was only in the high 50s. Last night in Albuquerque, I had to don my fleece for the first time since leaving Maine. At least I\u2019ve had a two-week extension of summer and the reentry into Maine winter will be gradual as I head north into Colorado, Nebraska, and Minnesota. Incredibly, the sun keeps shining day after day in a brilliant blue sky. I haven\u2019t seen rain since North Carolina, nearly two weeks ago. I count my blessings.<\/p>\n

The genesis of this journey came from my desire to visit my beloved Aunt Alice in this city. Sadly, she died this past March of lung cancer at the age of 88. She and my Uncle Charlie were among my favorite relatives and real characters in the strongest sense of the word. We all looked forward to their infrequent visits to our home with eager anticipation. Charlie met Alice in Germany, where he worked for years for the Army as a civilian after serving there as a soldier in World War II. She was a high-spirited young woman who purposely left a glove behind in the car Charlie drove civilians around town. When he sought her out to return it, his fate was sealed. They celebrated 58 years of marriage before he died in 2007.<\/p>\n

Alice, born in Vienna, escaped with her older brother from the Nazis when she was 14. She lived with a Quaker woman in London and attended school there. During one of the many air raids on London, Nazi bombers destroyed the bomb shelter under her school where she and the rest of her classmates sought protection. Alice was the only survivor. The blast her blew out her ear drum and injured her spine. She had difficulty walking and hearing out of that ear for the rest of her life.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
My cousin Debbie in Old Town<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After the war, she went to Germany to search for her parents and to work as a translator for the Americans. With help from the Red Cross, she located her parents, who had escaped to Switzerland. She and Charlie were married in Germany and raised their son, Jimmy, and daughter, Debbie, there. Jimmy drowned during a Boy Scout canoe trip when he was a senior in high school. When Charlie retired from civil service, he and Alice settled in New Mexico. They drove to Maine several times to see the Northeast relatives. That must be where I get my love of road trips.<\/p>\n

\"*Sue<\/a>
Sue in Old Town, Albuquerque<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"*Old<\/a>
Old Town market<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Despite the tragedies in her life, Alice was an optimist. My favorite memory of her occurred during a visit John and I took to see Charlie and Alice in their home in Albuquerque. Alice had just shown us her newly upholstered couch when Samantha, their darling, spoiled\u00a0 cockapoo, vomited on one of the spiffy new cushions. As she sponged off the mess, she said, “You can have lovely things or you can have loving things.” We had no trouble figuring out which she preferred.<\/p>\n

Today Debbie took me on a Breaking Bad tour today. We had lunch at the Grove, visited the dam and the car wash (no longer the Octopus), and saw other BB landmarks. Fans of the show should have no trouble identifying the photos below. So here ya go, John. Enjoy!<\/p>\n

\"*Dog<\/a>
The Dog House<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"*Grove1\"<\/a>
The Grove<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Car<\/a>
Car Wash (Octopus)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Walter<\/a>
Walter White’s house<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"P1040470\"<\/a>
The John B. Robert Dam<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The mountains dominate everything here. Albuquerque itself rises 4,900 feet from the plains. The Sandia Mountains, 10,679 feet above sea level, are magnificent, an immovable presence that awes me every time I look up and see them towering above me. Continue reading Day 18: Mountains, Albuquerque, and Walter White<\/span>→<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-241","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-vista-trip"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swirly-eyedsister.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/swirly-eyedsister.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/swirly-eyedsister.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swirly-eyedsister.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swirly-eyedsister.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=241"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/swirly-eyedsister.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":258,"href":"https:\/\/swirly-eyedsister.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241\/revisions\/258"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swirly-eyedsister.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=241"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swirly-eyedsister.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=241"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swirly-eyedsister.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=241"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}