Drive home

We drove home from Amarillo over 2 days, with an overnight stop in Springfield, MO. Not much to say other than we're home. Got in about 6:30 PM. I think the highlights of this trip were White Sands and Carlsbad Caverns, although we enjoyed everything we saw and visited. There's still more to see in New Mexico. I think in the future we may do a trip through southern Colorado and on to northern AZ, we could hit Taos, Los Alamos and Sky City (if it's open ) on a trip like that. In total we visited Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico, and Oklahoma on this trip. For those who might be wondering, we put 4,375 miles on the car during this trip. The car worked perfectly and rode nice and smooth. Also gas is much cheaper out west than in Illinois, but you probably could have guessed that. Oh, and yes, our marriage survived 15 days of just the 2 of us together!

Roswell and Cadillac Ranch

Today was the last day in New Mexico and the first leg of the trip home. We drove up to Roswell, where it's all aliens, all the time. Pretty much what you would expect, lots of hokey stuff and also the "Official UFO Museum", where they explain the crash in 1947 that many people claim was a UFO. All that we got out of it is that something did crash and the government didn't want to tell people what it was. I also got a "compression chair massage" for $15 that got rid of the back pain I woke up with as an after-effect of the hotel bed and the hike in the caverns and also helped some with my sore feet. After Roswell we drove towards Amarillo, TX on the beginning of our trio home. We stopped on the outskirts of Amarillo to see Cadillac Ranch, which is 10 Cadillacs stuck front end down in a farm field that people spray paint, how can you NOT stop for that?

Carlsbad Caverns

This place can be summed up with "Wow, wow, wow..." and "that's a lot of freaking bats" We made the 3 hour drive from Las Cruces to Carlsbad Caverns today. A couple of days ago I described White Sands as feeling like you're on another planet. Carlsbad Caverns also gives this feeling, for me it felt like I was walking through the Mines of Moria (dorky Lord of the Rings reference). Every time you turn a corner you see another awe-inspiring site. There's just cool views everywhere down there. Pictures do not do it justice, but I took about 147 billion anyway. We also came back to see the bats leave the cave at dusk. Question: How long does it take half a million bats to leave a cave? Answer: We left after 40 minutes. Yes, that's a lot of freaking bats, really neat to see in person. However the ride back out from the cave at night is pretty butt-clenchy since you know there's a steep drop-off about 3 feet from the road but you can't see it. Good day, highly recommend this. A long walk down and my toes may never forgive me, but hey, they wanted to be part of the foot, so it's their own fault.

Gila Cliff Dwellings

Today we drove up past Silver City to the Gila Cliff Dwellings. We had the Ranger guided "tour", which was really just a kid telling us stuff that he wasn't sure was true. He gave a lot of "probably" answers and even said "I saw one in a gift shop that had 2 levels" when talking about what one of the rooms might have been. So, it was really cool to see the cliff dwellings, but the ranger was not the greatest guide in the world. No cell service anywhere near the place, so we got a little lost going home before I stopped to look at the map on the brochure to determine that we had to turn around and find the right state route. Thank the almighty for our ability to read a map, and a compass on our rear view mirror. Stopped in Deming for dinner in someone's garage, actually a place we entered from an alley called "Elisa's House of Pies and Restaurant". We were the only ones in the place except for the older black couple that ran it. The wife took our orders and the husband went in back and cooked. The food was really good, it felt like eating at a family party. We sat and talked to the couple for about 30 minutes after we were done. Very interesting people, they retired and then got bored so they started selling pies and then opened the restaurant.

White Sands National Monument

There are places where you really feel like you're on another planet. White Sands is definitely one of them. After breakfast at Our Country Kitchen, which is in a converted house in a neighborhood, we drove the 20 minutes to White Sands today. With a landscape that reminds you of the moon and a temperature that brings Venus to mind, otherworldly is the best way to describe this place. We did luck out with the weather as it was "only" 94 and there were clouds passing by that blocked out the sun. What is interesting is the sand was really not that hot, I guess the fact that it's white results in it reflecting the heat rather than absorbing it. The sand is comprised of Gypsum from the mountains that surround this area, which gives it the white color and also results in it being more fine than what you would typically find on a beach. We drove to one of the picnic areas which look a little like something from a sci-fi movie with the shelters and how they are surrounded by the white sand dunes on every side. Unbelievably, some people were actually having picnics in these picnic areas. All we wanted to do was go play in the sand a bit and then get back into our A/C. We rented a saucer and tried sledding down the dunes. While this was neat to do, as a sledding experience, it reminded me of trying to sled in melting snow. You don't move real quick, unless you're a little kid. But it was fun. Overall the place kind of seemed like it was covered in snow, but it was sand, and really hot out. They even plow the sand off the roads, and that looks like snow plowed to the side. We then drove down to Las Cruces where the front desk clerk recommended we eat at La Posta de Mesilla, which is a really cool (and big) restaurant. The food was good and we ate too much of it. Also, we had the rarest of experiences, the wife had two drinks and I had one. Although I'm pretty sure my margarita consisted of Tequila mixed with another Tequila with a splash of Triple Sec. So now we're back in the hotel room, holding our bellies and getting ready to call it a night. Gila Cliff Dwellings tomorrow!

Some ruins and space stuff

We got up this morning and headed south from Albuquerque, since it a bit of a drive to Alamogordo where we are staying tonight, we decided to stop at the Abo and Gran Quivira ruins, which were on the way to Alamogordo, where we were staying that night. Abo ruins are very small, there are ruins of both the ancient Native village and the mission built on the site in the 1600s. Gran Quivira was basically a bigger version of Abo. Both of these were nice stops on the way to break up the drive, but don't know if I would drive out of my way to see them. In Alamogordo, we stopped at the world's biggest pistachio (mainly to use the bathroom and wash the sunscreen out of my eye). After checking into our hotel we went to the New Mexico History of Space museum, which was kind of interesting. I got to land the space shuttle (flawlessly of course). They have a lot on display there, some of it was very interesting. We had dinner at Y'all's steakhouse, which was meh. I was hoping for a steakhouse experience, but instead it was more like the Denny's of steakhouses. Not terrible, but not great either. To make me feel better we then got hot fudge sundaes at Sonic before calling it a night. Tomorrow, White Sands National Monument.

Fire and Ice, El Morro

Today our first destination was Sky City and the Acoma Pueblo, and it was closed. We happened to go there during the 5 day period when they are shut down, even though they are usually open 7 days a week. Sooo, that was a letdown. After that "detour" we went to see the area called "Fire and Ice" about 1 1/2 hours west of Albuquerque. Here you can hike to a dormant volcano and then walk over to an ice cave, where the temp is 31 F all year. The Bandera volcano was kind of neat to see, as the cinder cone is still mostly intact and you can see the lava flow and the path it cut through the forest 3000 years ago. Easy walk to the volcano and back. Going down to the ice cave involves 64 uneven stairs and you can feel it getting cooler with every step, which was nice since it was the typical 90+ degrees. We had brought warm clothes with us, but we didn't need them as it is only really cold at the bottom and you're not there long enough to worry about it. You can literally go up a step or two and be warm again. Honestly while the ice cave is cool (hehe), it was a bit of a let down. It wasn't as spectacular as I had hoped and you can't walk down in the cave itself, just to a viewing platform. It is interesting to see ice that has been there thousands of years in an area that is so hot in the summer. After the Fire and Ice area we drove about 20 minutes over to El Morro Monument, which is also know as Inscription Rock. This area has a spring fed pond in a rock formation that has been used for hundreds (thousands?) of years as a stopping point on the main trail used by both natives and settlers in the west. Because of this you can see many different inscriptions, from petroglyphs made by early natives to fancy etched inscriptions by the Spanish and others coming through in the 1800s. By the time we left El Morro we were starving as we never had lunch so went in search of a town to eat in, but we had no cell service so there was no way to use Yelp to find a good place to eat, no to mention any way to use the GPS on our phones, so we were left to use our survival instincts, guess how well that went. The signs coming out of El Morro pointed to towns either way, the one to the west was closer so we headed that way, mistake. The first "town" we came to didn't seem to have anything other than a couple of shacks, so we kept going. The next town was in the Zuni reservation and there really wasn't much there either, but by this point we were 2 1/2 hours west of Albuquerque and had to head back. In the end we ate at a Subway in the gas station on the Zuni reservation, as that seemed the safest bet. It did the job. Tomorrow we head to southwest New Mexico to see the sites in that area.

Sandia Peak and Old Town Albuquerque

We started our time in Albuquerque by taking the tram up to Sandia Peak-which is a 15 minute ride. Everyone stands on the tram and you kind of feel like a sardine the way you're packed in there. Interesting ride up the side of a mountain with the guide pointing out some things along the way. One of the things he pointed out was a cabin built for the caretakers of the tram and other personnel. It is built on the top of an outcropping and the current version is the 3rd cabin built there. The first 2 were made of wood and were both stuck by lightning and burned down, so this last time they built it out of stone. There also a couple of dips during the ride that make it more interesting, in an roller coaster type of way. Very cool up on the top, about 60 degrees as compared to around 90 at the bottom. Spectacular views of all of Albuquerque below on one side and some nice views of the mountain on the other sides. Got some rain while we were on top, then headed down in the sardine tram. Some people saw hang gliders on the way down, but I missed them. After the tram, we walked around Old Town Albuquerque, which is pretty cool. We ate at Church Street Cafe, which had pretty good "New Mexican" food. We then walked around a bit more, got some gelato and ate that while people (and puppy) watching in the plaza. We were pretty drained by the end of the day and went back to the hotel to cool off and call it a night.

Cumbres-Toltec Scenic Railroad

After our day yesterday, sitting on a train all day was a good idea, as anything involving more movement would have been tough. The railroad trip was good, very scenic views as you wind through the mountains of norther New Mexico and southern Colorado being pulled by a steam engine. We saw some cattle, so apparently there are ranches all the way up there, can't imagine how they keep track of all of the cows. We saw some old buildings, this was a major railway route for supplying the Southwest back in the day. Morning was more woodsy, afternoon more of the higher views into canyons and some tunnels. In between we stopped for a cafeteria lunch, which was pretty good actually, in old town called Osier. All through the trip there were amazing views. I stood outside between cars for a while enjoying the cool air and getting some good pictures, but then we hit an area where the track was about 2 feet from a 800 foot cliff, so rather then fill my pants I headed back inside for the rest of the trip. Some people would call something like this boring, but we found it relaxing and a nice change from all the walking/hiking of the previous days. Drove down to Albuquerque after the ride

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Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument and Chama

After breakfast in the hotel we headed to the Tent Rocks area to see some cool rock formation and get some nature. They have 2 hikes you can take there, one is about a mile and goes over to a cave, that sounded doable. Unfortunately I failed at sign reading and we accidentally took the tough 3 mile round trip slot canyon trail to the top of the formation, I think it was 650 feet up. This trail involved some pretty tough going, basically climbing in some areas and with pretty significant drop-offs in other areas. We found out later the trail is classified as "Moderately strenuous", which I guess means if you 50 and not in great shape you're going to feel this one. Also, of course it was hot and dry so we used up all our water by the time we made it down. The view from the top was pretty cool, never seen formations like that. But Precious is still referring to this as "The day my husband tried to kill me", so don't think we'll be repeating anything like this anytime soon. After that adventure we got in the car and drove to Chama, where we will be taking a train ride through the mountains tomorrow. Along the way we stopped at Echo Amphitheater just to take pictures because it looked cool from the road and to have a potty break. We arrived in Chama, which is a tiny town in northern New Mexico and checked into the Elkhorn lodge for the night. We had dinner at Boxcar Cafe, decent food but SLOOOW service, and I mean SLOOOWW. Back to the room to crash, no problem sleeping this night. A couple of things about Elkhorn Lodge, it's pretty nice, but no A/C, just a ceiling fan. I guess this isn't a problem 99% of the time, as it's pretty high up in the mountains, but it was a little warm when we were there. Also the shower was evidently designed for little people. My chest was nice and clean by the time I was done.

Exploring Santa Fe

Started our day with breakfast at the Pantry restaurant. This is one of those "everybody knows your name" type of local places. Food was good, atmosphere was really good. We then drove down to the historic plaza in the middle of the city. Walked around looking at the Native American jewelry and other things they were selling and took in some sites around the plaza. From the plaza we walked over to St. Francis Cathedral, which is a cool old cathedral built very early in Santa Fe's history. To me the most interesting part of this cathedral, more than all the stained glass and artwork, was the flying Jesus over the altar (see pic below). Gotta say, never seen that before. Our next stop was Meow Wolf. I don't know what to call this exactly, kind of a fun house/art gallery/weirdness. It is set up like a house, with a lot of little rooms and passageways between the rooms. When you take a path or turn a corner you never really know what you're going to see. For example if you take one little hallway and open the door you come out of the refrigerator in another room, where you're greeted by some surprised people. Pretty fun and, this is important on a July afternoon in Santa Fe, indoors and air-conditioned. We ate dinner at the Santa Fe Capitol Grill where I went to the bathroom and for some reason the wife ordered both wings and nachos for us. There was a sh*t-ton of nachos and the wings were pretty spicy. We barely made a dent in the nachos before our food came. I had some really good green-chile fettuccine. Try it if you ever see it on a menu. After that meal we waddled back to our car and headed to the hotel for the night.

Capulin Volcano-Fort Union-Santa Fe

The Capulin volcano is a dormant cinder cone volcano. It was pretty neat to see and the views were very cool. Since the land around is mostly flat you can see a REALLY long way from the summit. We drove up to the top and walked the crater rim trail, which is about a mile with a 300 foot elevation change, which it turns out, is more than it seems, especially when the temp is around 90. But we did it and it was nice. We made a impromptu stop at Fort Union after seeing the sign for it on the highway. Fort Union was the biggest Fort in the west, it supplied all the other posts in the southwest. It was a bit of a let down as what was actually there were the ruins of the Fort, in other words, foundations, partial walls, and some chimneys. But it was mildly interesting anyway and it broke up the drive. We stopped in Montezuma, NM to see the hot springs, which were a huge disappointment. There were not what you think of when you hear hot springs, These were basically out door bathtubs with moss growing on the bottoms and sides, with some odd people hanging around in them. I put my hand in the water and it wasn't even hot, really. These would more accurately be called "icky lukewarm cisterns". Pass. We did have a nice dinner at a Mexican place (shocking) called Kocina De Raphael in Las Vegas, NM. We arrived in Santa Fe around 7:30, so the same time we got into Clayton the night before. I hit the hot tub for a bit while Deb relaxed in the room before we called it a night. Oh, I also watched Season 3 episode 3 of Stranger Things. Shit's getting real on that show. Total miles: 271

KC to Clayton,NM

Today was a long driving day. It was already going to be our longest day of driving and then we hit some storms that slowed us down a it. We drove through torrential downpours for about 30 minutes. We eventually got to Kingman, KS. Kingman has a Main street that is right out of central casting for Main Street, America. We stopped there for lunch at Jeri's cafe, which is also your standard small town restaurant, complete with the liar's club of retired farmers sitting around shooting the breeze. My fried chicken sandwich was really good but Deb's chicken tenders were "meh". We eventually rolled into Clayton around 7:30. We grabbed dinner from the Mexican restaurant next door. When I say grabbed, that is pretty accurate, we ordered our food to go and the cashier asked if we wanted a bag of chips. We said "Sure" and she handed us a big zip-loc baggie to fill up from the bin of chips. Whatever, the chips were good, the rest of the food was fine, but nothing special. Tomorrow we head to Santa Fe. Total miles: 471

Kansas City here we come

Left at 9:42. The original plan was to have an A.I.S (Asses In Seats) of 9, but a wedding the night before meant we didn't get to bed until around 1:30 last night, so...there went the 9:00 A.I.S. Had our healthy breakfast from McDonald's drive thru and headed west. About 2 hours in we had to stop near Atlanta (yes there's an Atlanta, Illinois) to put gas in the car and remove the coffee and iced tea we had at breakfast from our bodies. We also picked up our standard garbage food snacks for the car ride. After another 1 hour 45 minutes we had to stop again so someone could finish "processing" the rest of her iced tea. This was in Barry, Illinois. 2.5 hours of the wife driving got us to a gas station near Cameron, Missouri for the standard refuel and bio-break. Drove one more hour to the Fairfield Inn near the KC airport at 5:08. By this point I was getting hangry (I could only eat so many "Whoppers" in the car) so we just dropped our stuff in the room and headed for Union Station in downtown KC to check it out (They have a big-ass flag in there) and find BBQ nearby. Found Jack Stack Barbecue across pedestrian bridge over all the RR tracks at the station. We were told it was a 20-30 minute wait, but we only had to wait 15 minutes. We sat outside, which at first was rough, since the temp was around 90 and it was friggin' humid. But after about 10 minutes the sun went behind the building and a slight breeze picked up which cooled things down nicely. We both got burnt ends and brisket, pretty good, tasted a lot like Doc's in Mokena, so I guess Doc's is authentic KC barbecue. After dinner and walking back to the car my feet were bitching at me about how this was supposed to be a day off after golf and standing a lot during the wedding the day before. So we did the 5 minute drive instead of the 20 minute walk over to the World War 1/liberty memorial. The memorial is basically a really big tower on a hilltop, nice view of KC from up there. We pretty much walked through a yoga class going on there to get a good look at the sunset. No one seemed to mind, for the most part they were all being one with the universe. After that I and my feet were done and we drove back to the hotel, getting back before 9. Tomorrow is a little longer drive into New Mexico and we were still feeling some effects from the wedding (not 25 anymore), so went right to bed. Namaste.