We got up naturally instead of setting an alarm. It was 18°F (-8°C) at 6:45. There was beautiful pastel color on the light layer of clouds — we should have gone to the Bernardo Wildlife Area of the Ladd S. Gordon Wildlife Complex this morning. Last night, we decided to skip the Bernardo Wildlife Area this morning so we'd have time to go to the Rio Grande Zoo in Albuquerque this afternoon. I had my normal breakfast, then finished a blog entry. We prepped the RV to move and left at 9:50 with me in the RV and J following in the Jeep.

We stopped closer to Bernardo to hook up the Jeep to tow.

We went to the Roadrunner Pit Stop in Belen around 10:40 to use their free dump station. Then we took on fresh water after I unwrapped the faucet that had a slow leak and had been wrapped in towels and plastic bags to keep it from freezing — what a hassle. We left at 11:30 after I wrapped the faucet back up.

We went to the Costco in Albuquerque at 12:15 to fill up the RV and the Jeep with gas at $2.409/gal. We had to wait for a pump, and then I had to pull forward after filling the RV so we could fuel the Jeep. We left at 12:35.

We stopped at the nearby Panda Express so J could get some take away. She thoroughly enjoyed the Sweetfire Chicken Breast. We left at 12:45.

Rio Grande Zoo

We reached the Rio Grande Zoo, part of the Albuquerque Biological Park, around 1:10. I changed into cold-weather photography gear and went into the zoo. J stayed in the RV to relax and wait for better light. Shortly after I entered the zoo, I stopped to photograph the flamingos. I usually bypass them, but this time they were mostly resting with their beaks nestled in the feathers of their backs and they appeared to be shivering a bit. I enjoyed taking some close-up artistic compositions of the flamingos, and the image to the left is my favorite of the day.

Then I went to check out the lowland gorillas and orangutans. Their enclosures are particularly suited for photography because they provide almost eye-level viewing without any obstructions. I photographed some of the lowland gorillas and just watched the orangutans. The orangutan enclosure is better for photography in the morning because the sun is backwards in the afternoon. I stayed and watched because the baby orangutan (born in October 2008) was out and climbing around. We had seen the baby on our first visit to the zoo in April 2009, and it was much more independent now but still really cute.
I went over to the large duck pond and photographed the wood ducks and American wigeons, and passed on the mallards. I also photographed a very cooperative peacock and peahen near the pond. J had come into the zoo and found me as I was photographing some wood ducks on the bank of the pond. The image of the wood duck pair (left) is very unique.

J and I went over to the lowland gorillas and orangutans, and the light with the sun behind some thin clouds was better now for the gorillas. The orangutan mother, baby, and old female had gone inside, but the old male was still resting outside (below left). He was in complete shade, and the Image Stabilization sure helped me get a sharp image at 1/30 sec!

We went back to the duck pond, and J found the hooded merganser (above right)— her target species. He was out in the middle, but eventually came quite close (left). It was the first time I had photographed a hooded merganser and it was the best opportunity J had had, so we thoroughly enjoyed it.

We returned to the RV around 4:45 and cleaned up. We left around 5:10.

Trader Joe's

We went to Trader Joe's in the northeast part of Albuquerque around 5:40. Trader Joe's is a unique grocery store chain that started in Pasadena in 1967. I learned about it when I lived in Long Beach, California, and was happy to find out that they have stores in New Mexico. They carry lots of natural, pseudo-natural, and specialty foods that can't be found elsewhere. They are famous for their "Two Buck Chuck" — wines by Charles Shaw that are an incredible value at $2.99 that make great table wines. We picked up items to make a gourmet picnic and we also picked up some of their soup and pasta. J enjoyed this visit much more than her first visit in July 2008. She had been expecting something quite different, and was disappointed. I had to practically drag her kicking and screaming to go back this time, but I think we'll go back sooner rather than later this time. We finished shopping around 6:40.

We went back to the RV, put away most of the groceries, and then had our picnic dinner. We had 62% Supreme Brie Cheese (J really liked that), Ementaler cheese (I really liked that), Volpi Soppressata Salami, a baguette and some Charles Shaw Merlot. It was delicious! We had some Trader Joe's Dark Chocolate Roasted Pistachio Toffee for dessert, and that was great too! We left at 7:25.

We went to the Sandia Casino just north of Albuquerque at 7:40 to spend the night in their parking lot. Most casinos in New Mexico allow free overnight RV parking because they probably expect folks to gamble more if they only have to walk back to their house parked in their lot. Neither J nor I enjoy casinos, but their parking lots are an acceptable place to spend the night. I started downloading the images I took today and we turned on the generator at 7:45. I had a second glass of merlot while doing some computer work. I started to downselect images from today in iView.

My mother called and let us know that my Uncle J will have surgery for the tumor in his Meckel's Cave (part of the brain) on January 13. (You may read more about his condition on my blog entry for December 13, 2009.) When my uncle asked if he could have it done sooner, the doctor said there was nothing to worry about.

I finished downselecting images from today in iView and turned off the generator at 9:45. I looked into glyde.com, a site for selling CDs, DVDs, and similar media. According to its founder, who is a former founder of Ebay, it's so easy to use, even his mother can sell things. I have a large CD collection that I'd like to sell, but haven't done anything about it because it would be labor-intensive to list the items on eBay. At glyde, they provide the pictures and description, so the listing process is much easier. Part of their transaction process involves them sending the seller a preprinted envelope in which to ship the item. That would be great if you get your mail every day, but I'm not sure how that would work for me when I only get my mail about twice month. I emailed their customer support to see if I would be able to use their site.