Stephen didn't sleep well in Santa Fe, so I let him lie in bed dozing a little later in the morning whilst I dd a bit of internet surfing to research further where we were going next. It was just as well I did! We were going to Taos Pueblo to see the fantastic old Native American village, which are still inhabited to to this day. There are quite strict rules that must be followed and I wanted to make sure that I knew what these were. I got to the home page of the Taos Pueblo and discovered that it was closed for 10 weeks for Ceremonial festivities. It would have been a LONG detour to go there and find we couldn't go in!
It was a long driving day as it was. About 5 hours driving from Santa Fe to Mesa Verde which was our next stop on the tour. We passed through some varied landscape. From the brown desert around Santa Fe through the snow as we entered Colorado and into the mountains. The journey probably took a lot longer than 5 hours as we were constantly stopping the car and jumping out to admire the view! We stopped at a great place called Echo place where water had eroded the cliff and created a giant echo chamber. There was no noise other than the rustle of the trees, the occasional bird and Stephen yelling "Hellooo"...helloo...helloo as it echoed round the chamber.
The towns we passed through were barely worthy of the name town. These were tiny settlements of a few houses. This made finding somewhere to eat rather tricky as there weren't any restaurants or stores either. Finally we see a sign which promised civilisation at Pagoda Springs...McDonalds 50 miles ahead! For the second time in a year I have eaten McDonalds...and when you're starving (it was 2:30pm by this time), it doesn't taste half bad!
We stopped in Durango for a quick walk around and an ice cream from Coldstones. It was a really charming little town - all Victorian buildings and saloons. It has a narrow gauge railway too, and its supposed to be the most scenic railway journey in the US if you ever get the chance to visit in the summer when it runs.
We got to Sundance Bear Lodge about 5pm and were greeted loudly by Chester and Oreo - the two doggies of the owners who were out. They were off collecting friends from Durango and left us a note to make ourselves at home in the Log Cabin which we'd booked. Yes - a log cabin! This was a great chance to live out any Calamity Jane fantasies!! Thankfully this was more like her cabin after the makeover!! It was really homely and well tricked out. Sue had turned on the fire and the electric blanket and it was all toasty.
We had a little explore and then prepared for the main event. Sunset over Mesa Verde. We got some great photos - Stephen more than me as my camera batteries died just as it was getting interesting and I had to rush to change them. D'oh!!
As we'd eaten late we weren't really hungry. The cabin was self-catering but we'd not seen a shop to pick anything up so we headed for the car with the intention of driving to Cortez which was the nearest big town. We got 10 minutes along the road and decided to turn back to Mancos (the nearest 2 horse town!) and find the local bar. And it was a local bar!! Formica tables and chairs, pool tables and a momentary silence when we walked in! They served pizza and beer and one of the locals (the 2nd grade schoolteacher) came for a chat.
Then it was back to the cabin to bed as we were both exhausted. We're experiencing the benefits of fresh air and exercise on this trip. Neither of us can stay awake past 10pm, and we're often in bed long before that!
Friday, 6 March 2009
Wednesday, 4 March 2009
Photos of Santa Fe
The Turquoise Trail from ABQ to Santa Fe
Just off the Plaza in Santa Fe
The arty shot through the sculpture!
The Shed was where we had dinner
Route 66 markers are everywhere! We walked some of it today.
Decor outside a shop
The outside of Loretto Chapel
The mysterious staircase
The oldest house in the USA
St Miguel Mission - the oldest church in the USA
Just a nice scene!
Ye Olde WagoneSanta Fe
After packing up (we're going to have to get used to that over the next 10 days!) we hit the road and drove the Turquoise Trail up to Santa Fe. It was a lovely drive up through the high plains desert, through little towns such as Golden and Madrid (Maa-drid - as featured in the Road Hogs movie).
Santa Fe is lovely. If anything even lovelier than Albuquerque in a kind of small town kind of way. Not that its a small town, far from it - its the State capital - but the old centre has a real small town feel. We had a lovely afternoon wandering round the plaza and in and out of the shops. We got a real bargain in one of the posh shops selling Native American pottery. After a bit of hard bargaining we got a whacking 75% off 3 items. Obviously there was some part of being marked up to mark down, but still I think we got a bargain.
We went to Loretto Chapel to marvel at the spiral staircase. Legend has it that the Sisters needed a staircase built to the choir loft, but no means of building it, so they prayed for help. A mysterious stranger turned up and built them (free of charge) a spiral staircase which has no central post, no visible means of support and which goes through two 360 degree turns. Certainly an engineering miracle, if not a religious one!
Had a lovely night supping margaritas and had dinner in The Shed which did great Mexican food.
Santa Fe is lovely. If anything even lovelier than Albuquerque in a kind of small town kind of way. Not that its a small town, far from it - its the State capital - but the old centre has a real small town feel. We had a lovely afternoon wandering round the plaza and in and out of the shops. We got a real bargain in one of the posh shops selling Native American pottery. After a bit of hard bargaining we got a whacking 75% off 3 items. Obviously there was some part of being marked up to mark down, but still I think we got a bargain.
We went to Loretto Chapel to marvel at the spiral staircase. Legend has it that the Sisters needed a staircase built to the choir loft, but no means of building it, so they prayed for help. A mysterious stranger turned up and built them (free of charge) a spiral staircase which has no central post, no visible means of support and which goes through two 360 degree turns. Certainly an engineering miracle, if not a religious one!
Had a lovely night supping margaritas and had dinner in The Shed which did great Mexican food.
one margarita, two margarita, three margarita...floor
Santa Fe....Margarita....great margarita....nother mar'rita....hic!
Tuesday, 3 March 2009
Albuquerque photos
Old Town Albuquerque
The church of San Felipe de Neri
Me!
Interesting architectue in Old Town
At the Elephant Bar
The giant GMC SUV
I loved the chilis at the Petroglyph visitor centre
Petroglyphs pecked into the rock. The earliest date back to 1000 BC
"Are you photographing a rattler?" Is he kidding me??
One mile up and you begin to feel it.Especially when scrambling uphill over rocks!
Urgh. There is SO much wildlife....I'm putting myself in mortal danger on this trip!
Okay - enough is enough! Bears? No-one mentioned bears....This was the sign that greeted me at the top of Sandia Peak...
The view from the top of the peak
The cable car machinery
At the top of the peak
Snow!!!
10,387 ft equals 2 miles high!I swear between the rattlers, the bears and the lack of oxygen
Stephen is trying to bump me off!!!
The view from the top
It was worth every freezing, oxygen deprived moment to watch a sunset like this one.It just to better and better.
Under a Blood Red Sky
Yes. It WAS that cold!
Albuquerque at sunset
X marks the spot!
Albuquerque - what a great town!
We were up early and headed straight over to the Petroglyphs National Monument. It was great driving over, as there was loads to see en-route. I love the fact that even the road flyovers are coloured turquoise and coral to match the landscape.
We found the visitors centre and got directions to the easy trail. The first trail was a "30 minute walk round a partly paved path". HA! The first trail was an uphill rock scramble with the occasional patch of paving! I was wearing sensible footwear at least, but did have a handbag as I didn't really want to leave it in the car. The views from the top were worth it. And the Petroglyphs were fascinating...although I had to admit I didn't notice too many on the scramble back down!! I had to laugh at the sign that said "No Running"...How?? I was barely managing walking!!! I was bending down to take a photo of a petroglyph when Stephen called back "Are you taking a photo of a rattlesnake?". "Honey, if there was a rattlesnake I wouldn't be taking a photo. I'd be ignore the no running sign and hurdling over the rocks on my way back to the car!"
We spent the rest of the morning on Old Town Albuquerque which was so pretty. We were disappointed that the Atomic Museum was closed down, but we made up for that by having lunch on the patio the Church Street Cafe. Great food, even if the waiter was definitely NOT a multi-tasker!!
Our afternoon activity was a drive along Route 66. Or should I say "We got our kicks, on Route 66". We did stop by Zachary's for a quick peruse (okay I'll admit it...and purchase...) of their fantastic turquoise jewellery.
Around 4pm we headed over to Sandia Peak Tramway for the ride to the top. It takes 15 minutes to the top by cable car. What a view on the way up! What a view from the top! We'd asked the guy at the bottom what temperature it was at the top so we could judge how many jackets to take. His sage advice was that it would be 20 degrees colder at the top, so as it was in the 70's at the bottom it'd be in the 50's at the top. We went with jackets (not coats) and I took a scarf.....He was WRONG! There was snow on the ground at the top, and when the sun went down it was totally freakin' freezing!! Although it was worth freezing half to death for the fantastic sunset photos we got. Usually when we're capturing sunsets we're suffering with mosquitoes and rum based drinks - thi was a new experience, but it was worth it!!!
I did have a moment when we were up there...I went to the restroom in the restaurant. The floor seemed to slope away towards the back, and they seemed to have compensated for this by building a shelf on which the toilet sat. The shelf did not extend forward enough that you could stand on it though! This may be fine for someone who's over 5'6"...for someone who's 5'0" it presents something of a challenge!! I had to throw myself upwards and backwards in a kind of fosbery flop manoeuvre in order to make the seat. Its just as well I was where I was, because I was peeing myself laughing at this point!!
We found the visitors centre and got directions to the easy trail. The first trail was a "30 minute walk round a partly paved path". HA! The first trail was an uphill rock scramble with the occasional patch of paving! I was wearing sensible footwear at least, but did have a handbag as I didn't really want to leave it in the car. The views from the top were worth it. And the Petroglyphs were fascinating...although I had to admit I didn't notice too many on the scramble back down!! I had to laugh at the sign that said "No Running"...How?? I was barely managing walking!!! I was bending down to take a photo of a petroglyph when Stephen called back "Are you taking a photo of a rattlesnake?". "Honey, if there was a rattlesnake I wouldn't be taking a photo. I'd be ignore the no running sign and hurdling over the rocks on my way back to the car!"
We spent the rest of the morning on Old Town Albuquerque which was so pretty. We were disappointed that the Atomic Museum was closed down, but we made up for that by having lunch on the patio the Church Street Cafe. Great food, even if the waiter was definitely NOT a multi-tasker!!
Our afternoon activity was a drive along Route 66. Or should I say "We got our kicks, on Route 66". We did stop by Zachary's for a quick peruse (okay I'll admit it...and purchase...) of their fantastic turquoise jewellery.
Around 4pm we headed over to Sandia Peak Tramway for the ride to the top. It takes 15 minutes to the top by cable car. What a view on the way up! What a view from the top! We'd asked the guy at the bottom what temperature it was at the top so we could judge how many jackets to take. His sage advice was that it would be 20 degrees colder at the top, so as it was in the 70's at the bottom it'd be in the 50's at the top. We went with jackets (not coats) and I took a scarf.....He was WRONG! There was snow on the ground at the top, and when the sun went down it was totally freakin' freezing!! Although it was worth freezing half to death for the fantastic sunset photos we got. Usually when we're capturing sunsets we're suffering with mosquitoes and rum based drinks - thi was a new experience, but it was worth it!!!
I did have a moment when we were up there...I went to the restroom in the restaurant. The floor seemed to slope away towards the back, and they seemed to have compensated for this by building a shelf on which the toilet sat. The shelf did not extend forward enough that you could stand on it though! This may be fine for someone who's over 5'6"...for someone who's 5'0" it presents something of a challenge!! I had to throw myself upwards and backwards in a kind of fosbery flop manoeuvre in order to make the seat. Its just as well I was where I was, because I was peeing myself laughing at this point!!
Travelling to Albuquerque
I obviously forgot my Christmas vow never to fly AA again when I booked the flights for this trip! Check in was actually okay. The little machine things actually let us check in, so we didn't have to queue for an agent. But we did have to queue for bag drop - and it wasn't a small queue either! The flight was fine. We were sat directly behind one another on the flight. Stephen had the nervous lady traveller, and I had the lady who didn't speak more than a few words of English.
The fun began when they were doing the drinks service.... The lady next to me asked for Ginger Ale, then said something else. The stewardess looked puzzled and looked at me. "What did she say?" Time to unplug the ipod and pay attention. "No yellow" was what she was saying. The Stewardess and I shared a blank look, before the Ah-ha! moment... "No lemon!" Actually, it turned out that it was "no ice", but that was easily rectified. We had just poured our drinks into the plastic cups when we hit the turbulence. It was actually pretty bouncy - enough that the pilot told the crew to suspend service and go strap themselves in. This was where Stephen had to do his bit. The lady next to him was totally freaking out, crying, praying, wanting a large whisky...He did the whole reassurance bit like the superstar he is!
The folks at the car rental place were great! So friendly and really full of helpful info like dinner reservations. We picked out a giant blue SUV and loaded up the trunk with our many many bags and headed up to the hotel. It was directly across the road from a new mall with a couple of good restaurants. We went with the rental car guys recommendation and went to the Elephant Bar for dinner. Great margaritas, truly excellent food (Pacific Rim as well as traditional US food) and really funky decor.
The fun began when they were doing the drinks service.... The lady next to me asked for Ginger Ale, then said something else. The stewardess looked puzzled and looked at me. "What did she say?" Time to unplug the ipod and pay attention. "No yellow" was what she was saying. The Stewardess and I shared a blank look, before the Ah-ha! moment... "No lemon!" Actually, it turned out that it was "no ice", but that was easily rectified. We had just poured our drinks into the plastic cups when we hit the turbulence. It was actually pretty bouncy - enough that the pilot told the crew to suspend service and go strap themselves in. This was where Stephen had to do his bit. The lady next to him was totally freaking out, crying, praying, wanting a large whisky...He did the whole reassurance bit like the superstar he is!
The folks at the car rental place were great! So friendly and really full of helpful info like dinner reservations. We picked out a giant blue SUV and loaded up the trunk with our many many bags and headed up to the hotel. It was directly across the road from a new mall with a couple of good restaurants. We went with the rental car guys recommendation and went to the Elephant Bar for dinner. Great margaritas, truly excellent food (Pacific Rim as well as traditional US food) and really funky decor.
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