Photo Album

Check out the 714-S-1 and 714-S-2's Grand Philmont Adventure from 7/12 - 7/26/04. There are bunches of libraries. These libraries are in chronological order. Keep clicking to see them all. Note that these photos are high resolution and your browser may take longer than normal to display them all (depending on connection speed and other factors). Library #1

It is all smiles as we arrived at Orlando International Airport on July 12, 2004 @ 5am. After an effortless check-in of everyone's backpacks and day packs, it was all about getting on with the show! Everyone is busy getting their travel "entertainment" ready for the 3.5 hour flight to Albuquerque.

Once we left the Albuquerque Airport, our ground tour operator, Blue Sky Adventures started us out at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History.

Blue Sky Adventures is owned and operated by Scouters for Scouters. Below, Phyllis gives us a briefing in front of the National Atomic Museum.

Below are replicas of "Fat Man" and "Little Boy", two of the infamous WWII bombs.

After the long flight and touring, we were all ready for our first meal in New Mexico. Blake's Lotta Burger was our appointed stop. Everyone agreed that this was an awesome choice!

Our next stop was Old Downtown Albuquerque. There are several street vendors hawking authentic New Mexican Tribal jewelry, clothes and other items. Several of us had fun negotiating prices.

Purportedly, the world's largest Rattlesnake Museum...not very impressive. Most of our Crew members opted not to visit.

There are many legends that spawned from all of the Indian Tribes that call New Mexico home. One of the legends was the story about how this carving was made inside of a tree trunk.

The Sandia Tram Ride was our next stop...still on our first day out of Florida. Here we are on our way to the top with various views during the 15 minute trip.

At the top, we spent about an hour meandering about. The view was incredible!

The Cibola National Forest surrounds the area.

One of the more costly adventures on our first day was side trip to the local REI store. Our backpackers had lots of fun (and drool) as we spent about an hour checking out some of the best technical backpacking gear on the market. Some crew members made a purchase. Below, Mark S. displays his bag containing a fleece top; which he would later use almost everyday on the trek.

At last it was dinner time. Poncho's Mexican Buffet was the restaurant that was brave enough to take on 20 hungry (and tired) Scouts. There was plenty to go around for everyone. Poncho's had a unique process to refill the plates of those who could not get enough; there were little flag holders on the table which we would raise miniature Mexican flags on and that would indicate to the servers that we were ready for more. This was the kind of buffet that everyone really liked; no need to get out of your seat for more food. Nope, not here; the food just kept being delivered. We eventually waddled out on our own.