9:35 am. 24 miles of 1 lane at 45 mph. Sheesh. Gotta love it. Guess I have some quality time with Max ahead of me.
9:38 am. I'm complainin about construction and I look up as the Interstate cuts through a mesa. It's stunning. Shut up, Diane! If you are going slow, you have more time to enjoy the beauty.
I am filled with wonder at the majesty of God's creation. My eyes fill with tears as I am overcome with this incredible beauty. It's not often that I am exposed to brand-new visual experiences as grand as this, I am a little overwhelmed (and I was so overwhelmed, that it didn't occur to me to take pictures out the window of the car!)
10:27 am. Went under an overpass which was gorgeous. Yup, the overpass. Done in the yellow sandstone and painted with Indian symbols. My ears are popping. We're gaining altitude.
10:55 am. Rest area. Much needed potty break. Whoops. Are you kidding? There's a historical marker here. Cool!
11:08 am. It just occurred to me. I don't need to go to Santa Fe to shop. I can just go online and have things shipped. Ok, not funny? Yes, it is if you know me.
11:24 am. Turned north to Santa Fe. Hilarious! We were going to stop at Cline's Corner - a huge trading post, off-interstate junk place, but it is just west of the exit. I can't get to it. That's a hoot. No shopping for me!
Huh! Weird flash. We're listening to tons of 70s music. "Brandy by Looking Glass just came on and I had a quick flash to me driving in Sigourney in the 70s singing along with the radio on this song.
The air is getting thin as we achieve higher elevation. Max just turned up the fan so that we had more air blowing around in here.
11:35 am. I can stand it no longer. I made Max pull over and shoot some pictures. This is amazing. Sangro di Cristo Mountains., clouds, huge vistas ... oh my! (Max's pictures will be up on Flickr next week. Our internet connections have been awful and don't allow him to upload those huge files.)
12:25 pm. Approaching Santa Fe. Ok, I know this isn't new information, but watching the color palette change is pretty wild. Dusty rose in the earth, pastel yellow, sage green in the brush, light purple hues everywhere.
2:42 pm. Leaving Santa Fe. Guess what. I'm not a shopper. I should have known better when I didn't go shopping in Estes Park last summer. Fran, this is SO a place you would adore. We started driving down the small streets and found ourselves in a crush of people and cars and activity and I couldn't breathe. The idea of wandering from store to store looking for stuff that I don't need quickly became a bad idea.
We found an authentic Mexican restaurant. Run by Mexicans, the menu was in Spanish with the English translation as an aside, filled with Mexicans. Amazing food. And we both know that were going to pay for this.
Traveling back down I-25 to grab I-40 in Albuquerque. We have a long drive ahead of us to get to Holbrook, AZ. Off we go.
4:36 pm. Scenic overlook (nothing there - really). The local Indians have set up stalls at these overlooks and sell their wares. Sometimes they're filled, other times, one lone man stands in a booth hoping to catch a tourist.
5:28 pm. Prewitt, NM. Red cliffs are replacing the yellow mesas. Beautiful!
6:23 pm. Jut left Gallup, NM. Yup, we were too late. The stores had closed. Tons of Indian shops. It figures. No shopping for me.
6:00 pm. We just gained another hour by driving into Arizona. But, the sun is setting anyway. Arizona messes with Daylight Savings - so, for six months out of the year, they are on Pacific time and the other 6 they are on Mountain time.
6:00 pm. Arrive at the Wigwam motel (pictures in the next blog). What a great idea! Difficult to drag into the 21st century. No phone in the room, no internet, but beautifully kept up ... rustic furnishings. Lots of old cars parked in front of the wigwams. Awesome.
7:30 pm. Looking for a place to eat supper. We ended up at a little dive attached to a different motel. Total dive. Run by an Indian ... no one else was in there the entire time Max and I ate. We decided to eat at the counter and make it easy on the old guy. The Mexican food was starting to catch up to us and all we wanted was something light and bland. Tuna salad sandwich for me (that he made from scratch while I waited) and hot beef/potatoes for Max.
Back to the room. I hardly know what to do with myself with no internet access to keep up with you all. I read a book and went to sleep.
Good night!
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