Today was great. No car trouble, no shady B&B issues to deal with, just smooth sailing and beautiful scenery. And a little rain, but nothing serious.(I'm telling you, Amanda's description of the Bed & Breakfast situation did not begin to describe how scared I was. I've seen way too many horror movies not to have been crapping my pants while we were literally wandering around the pitch black surroundings of a house in the middle of nowhere right off the side of the highway - I felt like we were in an Eli Roth movie or something.)
We woke up and hit the Petrified Forest National Park around 8:00. No Grand Canyon, but wow. Really cool. And freezing. When you think about driving through Arizona and New Mexico in the Summer, you think shorts, right? Think again. We've been freezing our butts off the whole time. Anyway, the Petrified Forest was great. We drove from the South end to the Painted Desert at the North end (about 26 miles), and it all looked like different planets from Star Wars. The Painted Desert was absolutely beautiful, and pictures really don't do it justice, but here's one anyway.
On the way from the Painted Desert to Santa Fe, we made a few stops. First was the famous El Rancho hotel in Gallup, NM, where old-time movie actors like Ronald Reagan (the actor!?!), Gregory Peck, and Jackie Cooper used to stay while filming Westerns. We looked around a bit and had lunch there. All of the menu items were named after famous actors. I had the John Wayne, Amanda had the Burt Lancaster.
We also made a stop in Albuquerque, and we were really glad we did. They have this historic section of town called "Old Town," which we walked around in and went into a few shops. It was really quaint and comfortable (aside from the sporadic rain), and reminded me a lot of Oxford, MS, but with a Southwestern flair.We got to Santa Fe around 6:30, and checked into our hotel - the Hilton - INTERNET ACCESS!! After checking email, updating the
blog a bit, and changing clothes, we headed out for dinner. Amanda found this great Mexican place called The Shed, and afterwards we headed over to this bar called The Cowgirl where an alt-country band was playing. If I wasn't still feeling sick we'd probably still be there, but after a beer, I was just ready to head back to the hotel. All I could think about while we were there was our cold walk back (it was maybe 2 blocks, but I'm a huge wuss).Tomorrow we're going to wake up and have breakfast and spend a few hours walking around this area of town, where there are a lot of art galleries, shops, cafes, and even the oldest church in the United States. Hopefully it will be a bit warmer.
6 comments:
Great blog, although I have noticed there is a lot less whiskey and a lot more art than Howard's blog. I guess everybody is different. By the way, I stayed at the Angels Crest Lodge when I was 16 and I LOVE the Grand Canyon. Hope you guys are safe and having fun. -Storch
Great idea about the blog. Looks like you two are certainly enjoying your trip. Stay safe and please don't get yourself killed at some random B&B. -Tim Grauerholz
Looks like you weren't the only one scared of the B&B, Ben...the forests seem to be pretty 'petrified' of the place too. (yes, I really just made that awful awful joke. I'm sorry. I hope I'm not banned from the site after this.)
Looks like you guys are having a great time. Enjoy and stay warm! (and maybe you should take Andy's advice and add some more whiskey to your blog)
Did you drink Arnold Palmer?
I hope you ate some sopapillas!
I love all those Arizona places - good visits!
I'm so jealous that you doing all of these fun things! Great blog...it is inspiring me to make my own when I move...I'll make sure it has pictures of my bedroom so Amanda will know what it looks like when I tell her that I have to get off the phone to go to bed :) Also..this is Bailey in case the username is confusing you...thats a really long story I'll have to tell you when you call one time
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