There is something special about exploring ancient places with your family. An extension of humanity, traveling beyond borders of time, visiting the same beautiful black volcanic rocks that native peoples decorated with symbols hundreds or thousands of years ago. I've said it before: the Land of Enchantment is a perfect name for this place. I'm honored to call the desert my home. Beauty Abounds.

There is a mural-fest happening around downtown Albuquerque, so my son, my dad, and my nephew and I went on a little excursion to see how many we could find. There was a map, so it wasn't too hard, but most of the work was in progress or yet to be started, so we didn't get to see as much as we'd hoped. We did get to see some of the cool street art that has grown up around our city recently, in addition to meeting some cool folks who are directly supporting the art scene in our fair city.

The kid was tall enough to ride on quite a few more rides this year (with a parent), so he took full advantage of that. I rode the YoYo with him - my favorite - and he and Papa went on the Gravitron (or whatever it's called these days). His reactions to the rides were great. I love to see things the way he does, through his descriptions. Towards the end of the night, most of the Midway was closed down for a bit due to a lightning storm. The bolts looked great snapping behind the rides. I tried to capture some lighting/fair lights combos, and got a couple that were okay, but nothing like the ones that got away ;)