Amy's America

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It took me forever to wake up today – in fact, I’m not sure I ever really woke up. Maybe my vanilla milkshake from the Route 66 Diner was spiked. Nah, think all the days of travel are just catching up with me. To be honest, I’m glad the trip is starting to wind down (if you can call another month winding down). I suppose that’s not really a bad thing. Hopefully by the time I get home, I’ll be ready to be there.

Once we were up (not necessarily awake, as stated above) we met Marion’s friend Mike and went to the Owl Café. Very quaint little place that is known for its Owl Burger, the original green chile cheeseburger. While I got eggs instead, since it was breakfast, I did try green chile for the first time. I liked it – it gives a good kick. But even that didn’t really wake me up.

While Mike would have loved to join us were we going to the Atomic Museum, I instead opted to take the Tramway to the top of Sandia Peak. We rode on the world’s longest passenger tramway. It takes 15 minutes to get to the top (no one fainted or threw up in our tram, although we were told it’s a somewhat regular occurrence), where the elevation is 10,378 feet. Pretty Cool. (It was also the first ski area in New Mexico.)

We wandered around, trying not to slip, trip or fall off any cliffs. We also tried to avoid rattlesnakes, but thought it would’ve been pretty cool to see a bear. No sightings of either. We also didn’t see any watermelons, although sandia in Spanish means watermelon. They named it that because at sunset, the rocks turn pink. Marion and I had a blast up there – in fact, she made all of my time in New Mexico fun. (Just wish Tina could’ve been there with us!)

I left Albuquerque a bit later than I planned (the fun of trying to find an internet connection and wait for photos to upload while on the road). I started to head toward Roswell when it occurred to me that I was going miles out of my way just to see alien signs and paraphernalia, not even real aliens. (I definitely would have driven out of my way for that.) So I put my friend Katy’s Austin address into Aidan: 12h 30m and nearly 900 miles. I decided I’d head there and just stop somewhere along the way when I got tired. I realized that I’d also be losing another hour going into Central Time – so the aliens were definitely out.

It just happened that the new route took me through one of the places I originally said I wanted to stop: Truth or Consequences, New Mexico. How cool would it be to put that as your return address on an envelope? I stopped briefly for gas, so I could say I was there and got back on the road.

What finally drew me to a full stop was a movie theater. I was tired and felt like zoning out and getting my mind off things, realized there was a movie theater in El Paso, Texas, so stopped. Unfortunately none of the movies I wanted to see would be starting for more than an hour, so I just got popcorn (afraid it was dinner again) and went to find a place to bed down for the night. Hopefully I can get an early start tomorrow because it’s going to be a long – hopefully good – day…

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Marion and I tried to find out exactly how much we could fit into one day:

• Go out for breakfast
• Job interview
• Civil War monument (farthest western point for fighting in the Civil War)
• Pecos National Historical Park (survived our hike without encountering any strange bearded men – AKA Spanish invaders – or rattlesnakes) http://www.nps.gov/peco/
• Lunch at the Cowgirl Café in Santa Fe
• Explore downtown Santa Fe including: St. Francis Cathedral; Historic Le Fonda Hotel; Loretto Chapel with the Miraculous Staircase (really cool story – check out the link); The plaza; The Palace of the Governors, the oldest public building in America, dating from 1610; now Native American artisans sell their wares along the front of the building; Canyon Road, lined with amazing, unique art galleries; The Roundhouse, the state capitol building; Santa Fe Trail Monument, which reminded me of the land run monument in Oklahoma; and Buffalo – finally, for the first time on my trip! (Other than when Jeff ate it in Denver, but that didn’t exactly look the same…)
• Drive some of the Santa Fe Trail
• Plan next few road trip stops (Roswell, Austin, Houston, New Orleans…) and confirm
• Straight No Chaser concert – they’re an unbelievable acapella group – see them live if you can, and if not, check out their videos online        
• Route 66 Diner – Exactly what you’d expect, so perfect! Met a guy who is on a similar road trip, but had bad luck tonight in that some kids hit his car. Offered to buy him a milk shake to cheer him up, but that doesn’t really help when you have a brand new shiny red BMW with a dent in it…

Not bad for one day, huh?

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Arizona is breathtakingly beautiful. Ok, maybe not every street in Phoenix, but it’s just a short drive to some of nature’s finest sights. It’s amazing to think it wasn’t long ago that the entire place was desert. You’re reminded, though, when you are on one of the mountain peaks and look down on the city. It’s hard NOT to notice that there are only a couple of blue spots in the big picture you see in front of you. So no, Arizona couldn’t be my settling place, since you know I need at least a large body of water. But I do think this is a fabulous place to visit and will be back.

The main reason I’ll return is that I have family here: my Aunt Ri and Uncle John. I haven’t seen them since they moved here four years ago – and it feels like even longer. Every Memorial Day weekend when we were young, my cousin Tara and I used to go with our families to a condo John and Ri rented down the Cape. They were always memorable holidays, especially when Ri decided it was time we knew about the birds and the bees. Not only did I never forget that, neither did my mother!

While not quite as eye opening as my earlier lessons, I did learn a lot today, as John and RI showed me around their adopted area. We went to the top of South Mountain and got some beautiful views of the city. We drove completely around the city (always keeping it to our left, as Uncle John pointed out). And we explored Old Town Scottsdale, which is a great western town, complete with cowboys and indians, as you’ll see in the slideshow.

After much too short of a visit, I got back on the road and made my way to Sedona. I didn’t need Aidan to tell me when we got there – you see red and just know. I did actually make one stop before I got there, though. I was lucky enough to make it to Montezuma Castle National Monument  just before closing time. It’s a five-story, 20-room dwelling built into a cliff and dates back to the 1100s! You can’t go in it, but it’s amazing to look at and think about how and why they built it and lived.

When I was kicked out of the historic site (gates must be closed) I tried my best to get to Sedona for sunset. I didn’t quite make it, although I did see the sun go down. It just wasn’t quite the scene I’d hoped for. (But then again, what ever is?) I soon drove into Sedona, and was able to get a few pictures before dark. I’d planned to go to Flagstaff tonight, where rooms are cheaper and it’s closer to tomorrow’s destination (Albuquerque), but I decided to stay over and wake up in Sedona. I need to see the red rocks in the real sunlight – after all, I’ve come all this way…

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