ateolf | West

So we left off driving through the otherworldly beauty of southern Utah and Airzona. Some of the most incredible lanscapes of the journey. In spite of some arguments, it made for a lovely drive. We made a stop in Arizona at Canyon de Chelly. We went around the southern part, stopping off three times, I think. I was surprised at how green it was down below, with the trees and farmland. The Navajo farm the inside of the canyon. At our second overlook, there's this open area where you can walk around the open cliff top without any rail or wall. There was a family already out there and the little girl kind of started to sprint away from the canyon and tripped and fell and scraped herself. It was pretty freaky 'cuz if she had tripped the OTHER way she would have fallen to her death. Anyway, it was a beautiful spot to look at it and fun to play against my fear of heights, making myself mildly nervous and all. The road that leads to the canyon comes off the highway in a really small, depressed-looking town. Most if not all of the people were Indians. Afterwards we ate at the A & W (had never been in one before, the root beer from the fountain is actually better than what you get bottled everywhere, that was something). Well, as we were leving this creepy guy asked for some change. I feel bad because he freaked Mary Beth out and I didn't realize he got so close to her as I was going to the car. We're back on the road. We even saw a few arches off the road in parts of the drive. I don't remember which state it was (UT/AZ/NM) in which a sheep ambled across the road in front of us. Oh, and earlier, as we first hit real DESERT, The Terminator theme played on my mp3 player and it was pretty perfect music for entering a desert. And I know I've heard this before, but the desert is a lot greener than you expect. I mean, not forest green, but there's a lot more than just sand and rock. Did I mention the rain storm just before SLC the day before? There was also a rain storm before and entering Albuquerque at night. No rain in the Pacific Northwest this summer, but we see all our rain in the frickin' desert? (There was even another storm the next day). We got into Albuquerque pretty late and found a motel. Then we decided to have a look at some of the town. We went downtown to a little strip. We went to a bar called The Library, which ended up being a pretty fratty place. The bartender was wearing a very short skirt similar to those worn at The Flying Saucer and I have a suspicion she wasn't wearing panties either. So the decor was shelves of old books and Budweiser or whatever banners about how they have the sexiest staff in town. There was also a dj bumping really loudly to a small number of patrons. I'm sure it's more hoppin' on other nights (and even less tolerable).

I think we're at Tuesday? Okay, so we wake up for some more nature adventures and one of the most exciting days of the trip. We head up north through and past Santa Fe, which looked really cool with the blocky adobe buildings. What's that? Another rain storm? Yes, another rain storm. It paid off, because the rain had stopped when we reached our destinations and the places were cooled down. I'm a little out of order. Our first stop was BEFORE Santa Fe and the rain storm. Let me back up. We went to the Tent Rocks national monument. This time we walked through a canyon. The canyon walls and the tent rocks themselves were pretty fucking amazing. I was in awe the whole way through the hike. The tent rocks, like they sound, are large pillars of rock that are cone-shaped up at the top so they look a lit like tents. There are lots of them. Then we get to the end of the canyon and the trail leads up until we're at the top and looking down on all we just walked through and the whole countryside. The mountain top out to the very end was only as wide as the path. It was astounding walking out there, but also a little on the freaky side. I went out farther than Mary Beth. I had to sit down to hop over the last rock and be at the edge. I took too many pictures and was half-blind most of the time by sweat and sunscreen. That was probably my favorite part of the day, but everything that follows was outstanding too. Now we're back off through what I said earlier: rain and Santa Fe. We went to Bandelier National Monument. There was stuff about only being able to get to it on a shuttle, so we stopped at the information center in Los Alamos and the lady there said this late in the day you could just drive in and not pay (!?) so we did. The road out to it was small and narrow and winding around crazy mountainous curves. It was fun and slightly nervewracking. We did just like she said and drove around the gate blocking the road saying not to enter. So we got out for another little hike. The area was pretty impressive. The hills themselves were incredible, but we got to go up and look at the old cliff dwellings and even climbed up inside one. Again, I took too many pictures (so many that my phone's battery got dangerously low towards the end and I had to stop). We weren't sure we'd be able to make it to our last destination in time, but we figured we'd try anyway. The Sandia Peak Tramway is just outside Albuquerque up a very large mountain. It is one of the longest in the world (there were signs saying the longest there, but I don't think that's true). Anyway, it was or seemed like it was the highest we went up the whole trip. I don't feel bad about missing the Pebble Creek ski lift the day before the wedding, because this got that experience and then some. We made it there just in time to ride up before the sun set. It was setting while we were at the top of the mountain and then dark on the way down. Any later and we wouldn't have been able to get the view we had riding up. It was an incredible view. An exhilerating mix of astounding beauty and the feeling of imminent death. I mean, you KNOW the tram is safe but you sure get that feeling you're about to plummet (or at least I did). Again, it was an awesome experience. It was also much colder up top. The only time it really felt cold the whole trip. Well, after that awesome day we had a pretty rad dinner. We went to Frontier Restaurant and it's a pretty sweet counter diner (super fast, super cheap college kid fare). I had a green chile burger. Now that I'm talking about food, I realize I forgot to put in breakfast! Albuquerque's thing is red chile. We had some at Mary & Tito's in their adovada. Spicier than the sweet green chile. Anyway, Mary Beth was still restless afterwards so we went back downtown to try someplace else. This time we went to a bar called Downtown Distillery, which was actually the opposite of a distillery. Not even a tap, just bottles. Not that it matters for me. I just had a water and even that tasted funny.

Now we arrive at Wednesday morning. We're about to head off to Austin. Before leaving Albuquerque, we stopped off at Golden Crown panaderia for some fruit-filled empenadas to take with us on the road (and a few New Mexican cookies too!). I'll toss in my general impression of Albuquerque now. As a city, also pretty lame. But the nature stuff surrounding it is some seriously awesome shit. Alright, here were are, on the road between Albuquerque, NM and Austin, TX. I will leave us on this long drive for the time being, but don't worry! We'll make it. Just be patient.