Santa Rosa & Beyond
We have been trying to drive only in the early mornings and evenings as the temperatures are soaring where we are travelling at the moment. It is averaging 37 degrees, which in Buzz is more like 43 degrees in the middle of the day. It’s still hot in the evenings, but a bit more bearable!
This driving schedule meant that we arrived in Santa Rosa around sunset and we headed straight for a lake we had spotted on the map. It was SO refreshing to go wading in the lake after another sweltering day. It’s the small things in life hey?!
The next morning we headed on out along old Route 66 again, stopping along the way for some photo montaging action….
Albuquerque & Santa Fe
We rolled into Albuquerque (try spelling that without looking it up!) after a long and hot day of driving and spent the evening trying to cool down at a local park which for some reason didn’t have public washrooms or drinking fountains. It’s the middle of the desert people!! We found out later that there is a bit of a water crisis in New Mexico. Whatever the reason, we were thirsty and had to make do with a whisky instead. It’s a hard life we lead I know.
I’m going to diverge here to fill you in on an amazing food experience, or should I say, drink experience. While in Albuquerque we visited the aptly named Route 66 Diner and having done a little research, we knew that they were reported to have some pretty amazing shakes. What an understatement! It was the most awesome milkshake in the world. I am not kidding. I am spoiled forever for all other milkshakes. Nothing will ever compare to the richness, the creaminess, and the absolute awesomeness of this milkshake. I want to go back to Albuquerque just to have another. They also had awesome food. We shared a “Pile Up” which was a huge plate full of baked potatoes, bacon, cheese and eggs. Clogged arteries much?! Anyway, divergence over.
Diner complete with hopscotch
The next morning we awoke bright and early to another sweltering day and went for a wander through Old Town. Aidan and I have found a new obsession. Art. There is so much amazing art in New Mexico! Unfortunately our budget doesn’t stretch for new frivolous obsessions. We did however have some discussions with a couple of gallery owners about shipping two particular pieces that we fell absolutely in love with to Vancouver once the money starts flowing in again…its an investment ok?!!
After we went to pretty much every art gallery in Albuquerque; and trust me there are a lot of art galleries in Albuquerque; we headed towards Santa Fe with a stop in Madrid (pronounced MAD–RID) for some more culture. Madrid is a small town full of unique galleries, antique shops and one pub. We visited every shop. Including the pub 
Inside the Madrid pub
We arrived in Santa Fe as the sun was setting after our day of cultural endeavours and hopped on our bikes for a ride into Old Town (most cities seem to have an ‘Old Town’ neighbourhood which if you haven’t worked it out, is an area of original buildings and will generally now be full of restaurants, bars and our current favourite, galleries). We topped off the end to a great day with a bottle of red in a cute little alleyway bar that had lights twinkling all around. Perfect summer evening.
The streets of Santa Fe
Enjoying a wine at the Milagio
The next morning saw us back at Old Town ready to face another day of wandering through galleries. It’s a tough life I know. Santa Fe has one of the largest art cultures in the US, and this became quickly apparent as the more corners we turned the more galleries rose before us. Everything we saw was by far and away out of our price range, regardless of our job status, but we still loved discussing other people’s creative exploits and where we would hang them - In the apartment we don’t have - Bought with the money we don’t have. Oh well, its fun to dream!
Adobe buildings line the streets
Aidan got to see some of his photography heroes, including Cartier-Bresson, Annie Leibovitz, Elliot Erwitt, and Ansel Adams, which was pretty special. We tired long before the galleries ran out but we really enjoyed Santa Fe and would love to visit it again (with a cool $100,000 to spare – might then be able to get two or three pieces!).
Arizona to New Mexico
On our way across to New Mexico we stopped at Canyon de Shelley (pronounced De-Shay), which is still home to many of the Navajo Indians. We have come across a huge amount of Navajos selling jewellery and pottery from the side of the road and at various tourist stops but have not been that interested. At one particular lookout we struck up conversation with Antonio who was selling rock paintings. We had not seen any of these previously and as Antonio explained to us, only those who are trained to read and interpret Navajo (which is in pictures, not letters) are allowed to put the traditional stories down on paper (or in this case, on rock).
We were in awe from the narrative Antonio told us as he explained each individual drawing and how it related as a whole story. We ended up buying a couple of paintings and Antonio is going to send us the stories if we send him a picture I took of him and Aidan. He also invited us to spend a few nights with him and his family in the Canyon if we are ever in the area again! I’m sure he offers that to lots of customers but we really appreciated how genuine and open he was to share his culture with us. Very cool encounter.
New Mexico is a fascinating state. I didn’t know much about it before we arrived but ended up really enjoying our time there. Its tag line is the Land of Enchantment and I really did become a little enchanted by New Mexico.
Gallup was our first stop but unfortunately we arrived on the Memorial Day weekend so all the Route 66 shops and diner were closed. We did get to see an impressive display of neon, however there was not much else to do in Gallup so we picked a park on the side of the road and settled in for the night with a tub of ice cream and The Office for company. The next morning some loud knocking on our windows rudely awoke us. Yes that’s right, we finally got the move along from the police. Apparently we had managed to park in the one street where they were having the Memorial Day Parade. Doh!
We made a rather quick exit and headed east to EL Morro National Monument. Better known as Inscription Rock, the monument is a collection of 200 foot high sandstone cliffs that were inscribed on by travellers back in the day when trekking around on foot or horseback was in vogue. As it was Memorial Day the tourists were out in force so we tried to escape them by racing to the top of the cliffs to check out some partially excavated dwellings. Pretty impressive stuff!
We then jumped back in the car and covered a lot of miles along old Route 66, stopping at various small towns along the way for some photographising. I even drove Buzz for a couple of hours. He and I are finally bonding on the driving level.
Monument Valley
Monument Valley has been on our radar for quite a while as a must visit destination and our anticipation grew as the miles ticked over. In typical style of our road trip we hadn’t done much research and it was only when we arrived that I discovered it is the self-proclaimed eighth natural wonder of the world. Nice. (Along with a few other natural wonders I might add)
There is a 17 mile loop that goes through the valley however after driving only a mile we quickly realised that Buzz was having a rough trot of it as the road had some pretty massive pot holes and corrugations. As much as we would have loved to see the whole route it was not worth risking putting Buzz through that when he already has some wiring issues going on.
Buzz checking out the view - not a bad place to spend the night hey?!
We turned around and pulled into the campsite at the entrance for some much needed relaxation time. Driving cross-country can get pretty hot and tiring at times! With the sunset fast approaching we walked back along the trail for some photo ops. So beautiful, as captured by the renowned photographer Aidan Ward.
I can't take credit for this - Jen spotted the shot and I executed it
The following morning we got up bright and early to sit and watch the sunrise. Three 4am starts in the space of four days is a pretty good achievement if you ask me. It’s almost a spiritual experience watching a sunrise, especially in such a unique location. The morning was made even better with the comfort of a freshly brewed hot coffee.
Early morning riser - it's kind of cold in the morning when you're in the desert
Mmm... Coffee!!!
Horseshoe Bend
Horseshoe Bend is located in the Marble Canyon, about a 2 hour drive north of the Grand Canyon. The bend is viewed from the canyon rim with the Colorado River winding over 300 metres below. It is absolutely amazing and in my opinion more spectacular than the Grand Canyon. Have a look for yourself…
We arrive in the heat of the day and made the 15 minute jaunt in to check out photo locations for the sunset. We then made the trek in again for the sunset, which was absolutely mind-blowing. Creation is so amazing.
As night closed in we ended up as the last people there along with another couple that we befriended for the walk back. Ironically her name was also Jen and we bonded over food while Aidan and Will bonded over photography. Jen gave me some great suggestions for places to eat on the rest of our roadie. Invaluable information, as food is fast becoming a major theme of our trip! Aidan and I are loving our random chats with strangers and email exchanges with our new friends. It adds so much to our experiences of a place and we have been blessed to meet some really interesting and remarkable people.
Aidan was really keen to be at Horseshoe Bend for sunrise and I was more than happy with that idea until the alarm went off at 4.00am. Yuck! We did manage to drag ourselves out of bed however and it was so worth it. Sunrise is such a sacred time of day; it quiets the soul and centres the mind. If you haven’t got up for a sunrise lately, go and do it. You won’t regret it.
