Having seen a lot of what the Midwest had to offer in engagement rings, Albuquerque, New Mexico and its Southwestern appeal would be Nick and Sarah`s next stop.  They would also catch up with the International Balloon Fiesta, in which 700 hot-air balloons would take off at once.  It was a major to-do in the city, and put Albuquerque, New Mexico on the world-wide map.  Prior to that, Sarah`s only knowledge of Albuquerque is that Bugs Bunny often lamented that he should have taken a left turn there.

With a rather long goodbye and quite a bit of crying from Sarah and Karen, Nick finally started driving in the late afternoon.  The drive was about six hours, so Nick and Sarah were very happy to see the Hotel Blue at 717 Central Ave. NW, Albuquerque, NM 87102.  It didn`t have the look or feel of the chain hotels, and they wanted to try something a little different.  Certainly, they had that "different feel" in Breckenridge, and they wanted to keep that going, as long as it wasn`t too expensive.  As soon as they got to their room, they discovered that it had HDTV and CNN, so they settled in for the night, ordered pizza, and watched some World Series baseball, although neither of their teams had made it that far that year.

The hotel, they discovered, was pretty much in the middle of everything that they wanted to see in the city.  After a good night`s sleep, they woke up refreshed and decided to spend their day at the Rio Grande Zoo, the Albuquerque Aquarium, and then a bit of fishing at Tingley Beach ponds, which was in between the two.  First, they would take care of business by checking in at a funky little jewelry store with the perfect address on Gold Avenue.  They were dressed fairly casually, because, today, they were not shopping for themselves, technically.
They walked into the jewelry store and approached a man working there.  He was impeccably dressed and his hair was in perfect order, so they guessed he was the right guy to talk to. 

"I`m Carlos", he said.  "Can I help you find anything?"

Nick cleared his throat. "I`m looking for an engagement ring", he said, nervously shifting his weight from side to side.

Carlos seemed genuinely delighted.  He looked at Sarah.  "And you`re here to help pick it out?  That`s so modern of you!"

Sarah smiled.  "It`s not for me.  It`s for my friend`s partner."

Carlos couldn`t hold back his grin. "Partner, okay.  So are we looking at a simple band, or do you want some diamonds?  What is your price range?"

"From what I understand," Nick said, "I can get something pretty nice for about $1,000, no?"

"Oh, yes," Carlos told him.  "Let me show you some of our beauties.  Do you know his ring size?"

Thankful that they found either a raging metrosexual or a nice gay man, Nick and Sarah smiled at each other.

"11 1/2," Nick said.  "Big hands."

Sarah turned away and stifled a laugh.  Carlos helped them look over some beautiful rings.  The brushed silver somehow had an outdoors-y, southwestern appeal.  Nick eventually picked one that was brushed silver, titanium with a gold stripe.  It was just under $900. Nick held it, tried it on and found it too big.  He could only imagine what Carlos was thinking. 

"You have beautiful things," Nick told Carlos.  "I`m going to think about it first".
He and Sarah thanked Carlos for his time and walked to the Rio Grande Zoo, which wasn`t far away at 903 10th Street West.  They walked around, holding hands and checking out the animals.  Of course, the big cats were Sarah`s favorite, but she liked seeing the camels and orangutans, too.  They decided to skip the Aquarium, and went straight to Tingley Beach, stopping at Tingley Outfitters to get fishing gear and licenses. 

They spent the rest of the day at one of the ponds at Tingley Beach.  They went to the South Pond, which was a catch-and-release trout pond, mostly because neither wanted to have to try to clean a fish later.  While Nick was certain he could find out how on google, he found the prospect of having to scale and gut a fish "disgusting". 

After a relaxing afternoon of fishing—which is basically a man`s term for `getting out of the house to drink beer`—they made their way back to the hotel before they went out to experience Albuquerque nightlife. 

Just up the street, at 409 Central Ave. NW, Albuquerque, NM, they found a place called "Anodyne", and fell in love with it immediately.  It was like your best friend`s basement with a pool table, only multiplied by about a hundred.  There were couches and booths and a jukebox—and over 100 beers to choose from.

"Get me a beer, willya, babe?  You know where I`ll be", and Sarah walked directly to the jukebox.  Pulling several dollar bills out of her wallet, she made her selections and then joined Nick on one of the couches.  After only a few beers and maybe half an hour, Nick could tell that Sarah`s selections had begun. 
He grabbed her and kissed her on the forehead.  "Only my girl would follow Joy Division with Johnny Cash.  Am I right?"

"So right you are," she told him, and, although there was no real dance floor in front of them, Sarah got up to dance.  She couldn`t help herself with 80`s new wave and, later, 90`s grunge.  And a few cheesy power ballads in between.  Never did anything feel so right as singing REO Speedwagon`s "Keep On Lovin` You" at top volume, after about 5 beers, in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

The next morning, they got up practically at the crack of dawn, showered, and made their way to the appropriately-named Balloon Fiesta Park.  They wanted to be there in time for the Flight of the Nations Mass ascension and Flying Competition, which started at 7am.  Fortunately, there was a park-and-ride set up, because it seemed that all 100,000 people that flood into Albuquerque for the Balloon Fiesta wanted to be at that specific event.

"The guidebook says that they once had over a thousand balloons in the air at once," Sarah told Nick, yelling above the crowd.  "They cut it back to 700 for safety reasons and something about quality over quantity.  Do you have another sugar, sugar?" she asked him.

Keeping his eyes on the spectacle above them, he reached into his pocket and pulled out another sugar packet for her coffee.  They watched as hot air balloons representing all different countries flew overhead. 

"It`s so beautiful," Sarah commented.

"Amazing," Nick agreed, and they watched wordlessly until the ascension had ascended to the point that they were colorful confetti in the sky. 

"What now?" Sarah asked.  "The Special Shape Rodeo isn`t until tomorrow at the crack of dawn.  Will we be spending the rest of the day at Anodyne?"  She was joking.  No way was the bar open yet.

Nick took her by the hand and told her: "I have a surprise for you."

After walking to another area of Balloon Fiesta Park, Sarah saw a balloon, all inflated and ready to go.  "Is this for me?" Sarah asked.

Nick smiled.  She jumped on him and kissed him.  She had never ridden in a hot-air balloon before.  That day, with the clearest skies they could have dreamed of, they got to see New Mexico from above.  It was amazing. 

"It`s totally terrifying, but amazing at the same time," Sarah gushed.  She felt like she could see the whole country.

After their ride, they drove back to the hotel for a nap, then dinner, then back to Anodyne.  By only the second night, they knew the bartenders` names and felt at home.  Sarah continued to dance to everything she could find from Joy Division to the Thompson Twins.

The next morning, they woke up to see the Special Shape Rodeo.  As they watched balloons shaped like cows and birds, airplanes and trains, storks and fish and just about any shape imaginable, Sarah announced that maybe they should be designing cool hot-air balloons.

"But baby," Nick told her, "I already have my own hot-air balloon, right here," and he kissed her forehead. 

"Walked right into that one, didn`t I?" Sarah said.

"You betcha," Nick responded.

Afterwards, after buying every piece of Balloon Fiesta paraphernalia she could carry, and picking up an amazing Native American necklace, they left the grounds.  The Pueblo Indian Reservation was so close that sometimes wayward balloon pilots made emergency landings on the property.  Although there were rumors that the Indians arrested trespassers, the Indians were actually helpful.  Sarah and Nick repaid them for their kindness by hitting the Sandia Casino for several hours before the fireworks show. 

"Do you think we should go to Santa Fe before we leave New Mexico?" Sarah asked Nick as they were settling in for fireworks.

"Do I think we should?  Definitely.  I`ll bet Santa Fe, New Mexico has beautiful engagement rings for me and my fictitious gay lover.  But I don`t think we have time.  Maybe on the way back?  I`d like to see it," Nick told her as he popped open a Wet Mountain IPA from Il Vicino Brewery in Albuquerque. 

As Nick handed the beer to her, she said: "Definitely.  And I like your choice of beer."

"Just absorbing the local flavor," Nick told her.

"Literally," she responded, and they lay down on their backs to watch the fireworks that would mark the end of their trip to Albuquerque, New Mexico.