New Mexico 2002
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Detail
Thursday - Day 1
I departed 8:15am, Thursday, 01 Aug 2002, setting my odometer and plugging
in my GPS. The weather was clouded, much like my mood, but as I continued
down my path my mood transformed to mild euphoria tempered by these overcast
shadows. Traffic entering into Santa Barbara was a welcome sight. It was mildly
amusing to think of my heightened awareness beyond my conventional routine,
and the persons in the cars going through the motions.
My first stop was in Winslow, CA at a Days Inn. Cost: $47 with tax.
My AAA membership saved me $4. But it wasn't all perfection, mind you.
The people next door had the TV on so loud I can hear it even through
ear plugs. No big deal, it stopped before I went to bed. I think there
were kids in there.
The trip was pretty uneventful up to Winslow. Lots of driving, lots of audio
books. I finished "Job A Comedy Of Justice," and started
another, "Starship Troopers." The first I had read once before,
and wasn't all that good, but minimally kept my attention on the
road. Starship Troopers, on the other hand, was actually quite good.
The weather was moderately overcast the whole way, patches
of sunlight here and there, and thunderstorms! Lightning danced
upon the skies in some places.
The scenery changed dramatically. I went from Santa Barbara
lush to spartan desert to arid, yet verging on green, lands. Winslow,
I think, is at about seven or eight thousand feet elevation.
Friday - Day 2
The next day I stayed in Grants, NM, at an Econo Lodge. I couldn't pass
up the $33 per night. Grants is just outside of Albuquerque. Why was I
not yet in Albuquerque? As I was heading E on I40 I thought I would see
a few sights along the way.
The first was a dinosaur park.
The Museum of the Americas International Petrified Forest -
Dinosaur Park has a long name, but only cost $5 to get inside.
I was interested in the dinosaurs, not as interested in the
museum. I have pictures of myself next to many dinosaurs.
My second stop was El Morro National Monument.
El Morro is a huge chunk of sandstone in the middle of no where,
actually in an Indian reservation. I suspect they took back
a chunk of the land to made this monument, ahem, ahem. The
sandstone rock would naturally trap rain water in the hot
summer months thereby attracting travelers. This is, in itself,
perhaps not too interesting. What makes this place a
monument is that travelers over time have left inscriptions
upon the rock. There are some from Spaniards before the
English took over, circa 1600s. There might have been a
few from before that, but I don't recall any dates before
1600. Some of the inscriptions are roughly hewn, others are
dazzlingly graceful as though from the hand of an angel. I
took many photos. The cost was $3, but I got in free with my
National Parks Pass. Woo hoo!
El Malpais was the second
National Monument at which I spent some time. This monument is
actually quite huge and I was only able to tackle one aspect of
it, the El Calderon Area.
El Calderon has a trail that brings you to many interesting
volcanic features. I saw caves, sink holes, and a cinder cone!
I have pictures of all of these formations as well. As
luck would have it, it rained most of the day. Having
just finished photographing the red and black lava stones
at the cinder cone, it began to downpour, and I mean buckets.
Fortunately I was wearing a rain poncho that I had in my
trunk for just such emergencies. As I was walking back to
my car, about 1.3 miles away as the sign said, some
archeologists walked past me. We chatted a quick bit,
then they offered to drive me back to my car. Score!
Turns out they work for the NPS.
Back at Grants, I decided to stay at an Econo Lodge rather than
drive into Albuquerque that night. I was tired and still wet
and the lodging prices were very moderate in this small town.
I hit a Wal-Mart and bought a pair of shoes for $18, my other
shoes being wet and muddy.
For dinner I ate a bagel with apple butter on it while swigging
a Dos Equis.
Saturday - Day 3
I headed from Grants to Albuquerque this morning rather late,
around 9am. As I was entering the city I saw another National
Monument sign, this for the Petroglyphs.
I decided to check it out.
The cost was $2, but was covered by my National Parks pass.
I am slowly, but surely, getting my money's worth out of
this thing. Perhaps it would be a bad thing for me to
get a cell phone... I would always be trying to get my
money's worth at the expense of my time and worry.
The petroglyphs themselves were rather primitive. I have
several pictures of them. They were sort of cool from the
standpoint that they were thousands of years old, but to see
one, you've seen them all. It was rather hot and I still hadn't
seen much of Albuquerque, so I headed out of the monument
rather quickly and perhaps pre-maturely. After all, that
next petroglyph might have been "the one" to end all
petroglyphs. I guess I like my National Monuments to be
geological, not historical. It takes all types to make the
world go around.
On the way to the petroglyphs, I had seen a branch library. So,
on the way back, I decided to stop. The lawn of this library
was HUGE! I was astonished to say the least. A side note:
there was a notice on the door of the library requesting a
full time groundskeeper. The library was open at 11:30am,
perhaps before. This is different than Santa Barbara.
There were no books for sale at this branch library, at least
that I could see.
Continuing my adventure, I drove into town. I didn't know
where I was going and therefore was not lost. It is good
to point this out because all appearances would suggest that
I was driving around aimlessly. As luck would have it, I
made it to Old Town. This is a tourist trap in the heart of
downtown Albuquerque. Little shops with Indian wares and
ice cream parlors abounded, surrounding a little park with
a pavilion. A gentleman (Wisconsin plates!) at the hotel in
Winslow, AZ suggested this place to me. I think that he was
either quite mistaken, or perhaps mad.
I started to drive again, aimlessly. I noticed the Explora
Science Center. At this point I really didn't
have any particular plans, although in the back of my mind
I did want to look up their Costco. As I was traveling
along, I came across a seemingly endless strip mall.
I noticed a Home Depot; thinking quickly, I surmised that
a Costco must be nearby, thereby obeying the synergistic bonds
between box malls. Sure enough, there it was.
I won't spend a lot of time describing Costco, but I will
point out a few things.
Fatigue and grumpiness started to envelop me, so I looked
for the nearest Starbucks to burn my tongue. After the
rejuvenating elixir of life, I came upon
Tramway Blvd which runs along the foot of the Sandia mountains.
The mountains were gorgeous! I drove along this road for miles and miles
gazing at their beauty.
Eventually I happened upon Elena Gallegos park, the lure of the majestic mountains became
too much and I had to partake. For $2 I was able to drive
to the trail heads, but the weather being ominous (and me
still being a bit fatigued), I stayed put in the parking lot. Oh, I did use
the rest room facilities, but mostly I snoozed and read the
local newspapers. A city this large was a sure bet to have
more interesting cultural events than Santa Barbara. More
people means more interesting people—it's just plain
statistics! It started to rain while I was sitting in my
car, but this was no bother to me.
Around 5:00pm I decided to head to Santa Fe to fullfill my motel
reservations at the Thunderbird Inn. The room
there was much smaller than the other rooms of which I have
stayed on this trip, but it was adequate for my needs. The
price was $55 (including tax) which was pretty good compared
to the other lodging establishments in Santa Fe.
Sunday - Day 4
I am started off the morning with brilliant sunshine and
the best tasting coffee I think I have ever had. The coffee
was complimentary from the Thunderbird Inn, and the sunshine was
complimentary from God.
When I awoke I noticed that I had a harder time breathing
than usual due—I think—to the higher altitude.
I'm sure I could get used to it over time.
My first stop of the day was Wal-Mart. It was right there, so
I figured I might get a few things I needed for home. I bought
yet another pair of shoes! I am crazy shoe man—now give me some
candy! After Wal-Mart I went to Big 5 seeking a new pair of
hiking boots. Like the Big 5 stores in my area, I was unable
to get the boot of my choice in my size.
It was now time to head to the heart of downtown Santa Fe.
Downtown Santa Fe is not laid out well for vehicles. The
public lots were full and many public/private building lots
were chained off. Street parking did not seem to be an option.
I eventually found a place to park and walked the 1/2 mile
to town.
Downtown Santa Fe screams "give me your tourist dollar!"
There are trendy cafes and galleries, Europeans, and every
ten minutes you see another tour buss. All of the buildings
are built of stucco in a wide array of colors: white, brown,
and all variants between.
I stepped into one gallery, the Georgia O' Keefe, and
found a potent price of $12 (or was it only $8?). I
could afford the price, but I could not justify it. I
left a little richer in wallet but poorer in spirit.
Pausing for directions, I finally made it to the public library.
It is my contention that the main library of a town can
be used as a metric to discern the viability of living
in that town. A large library with many services shows
a healthy town that cares about its people. The Santa
Fe main library seemed merely adequate. I
will note that there was one particular room, the
Southwest reading room, that appealed to my aesthetics.
I even stopped to take a picture.
I couldn't have scratched more than the surface of
Santa Fe, but I decided to depart and scratch it from any
potential living establishment. It just didn't have the
right feel for me.
I headed back to Albuquerque thinking that I might try
some hiking at Elena Gallegos park, the place I stopped
before. As I was getting nearer I saw the Sandia Peak Tramway.
Hey, why not? $16 and about 30 minutes later
I was a the top of Sandia Peak!
I went hiking. I had already donned my hiking
boots so I headed off at 70% George speed along Crest
Trail 130. It is always interesting to note the differences
in vegetation at the top of a mountain from that several
thousand feet below. It's a whole other ecosystem. The
high altitude was very noticeable as I cruised the trail.
The views were astonishing! I took several pictures which I suspect will pale
against reality. There were many people hiking the
trail with me, perhaps at a cruising velocity of 30%
George speed, and I passed them with ease.
I made it to the Kiwanis Cabin, purported to be the best
views of the area—it was. The cabin was a stone
structure crawling with humans like parasites on a host.
After the human count died a bit, I climbed to the top
of the cabin. There was a man up there—smoking!
Altitude affects everyone differently, but to actually
be smoking this high up was astonishing!
I struck up a conversation. The guy's name was Dave
and he has lived in Albuquerque for 22 years, but was
considering a move to Colorado. Dave worked in the
property management profession, and he gave me some
valuable information on which properties
to consider should I move to this area.
Dave used to be a hiker, having hiked "everything North of ..."&mdahsh;the
name of which escapes me now. He can't hike anymore, having
broken his leg very seriously. Dave's doctor had told him
that another fall might be his last, a most terrible prognosis.
One activity I could have tried, but didn't, was the
chair lift down the other side of Sandia Peak. It was in
operation, albeit a somewhat reverse fashion from that of winter; the
lift brought people to the bottom, dropped them off, eventually
brining them back to the top.
That night, at the Econo Lodge in Albuquerque, I met a Jewish family
looking for a cheap place to stay. The Econo Lodge employee (owner?)
was suggesting $5 for each additional person, thereby adding $15
to the advertised rate. I tapped one of them on the shoulder and gave
to him a coupon that I wasn't using that saved them the $15. Having
adjacent rooms, we chatted a bit more as we unloaded vehicles. There
was talk of getting a beer later in the evening, but I was asleep by 10:00pm.
Monday - Day 5
I stayed in Albuquerque another day, extending my visit at the
Econo Lodge to two nights. Econo Lodges are nice because they
have data jacks in their phones.
Monday was more relaxed than other days of this trip. The
morning was devoted to finding apartment information as
mentioned by "Dave" the hiker. The layouts and prices seemed
on par with what he was saying.
I happened upon a few thrift stores in the area and sought
bargain books—one of my favorite hobbies. The first place
was a Salvation Army superstore. Upon walking in I realized
why it was a "superstore." The store was colossal! There were
aisles and aisles of books! After about an hour and a
half, I left somewhat discouraged with only three books.
Talk about raising expectations only to crush them.
As I was driving through the city I saw yet another
thrift store, this time Goodwill. Still a bit shell-shocked
by the lack of quality in the previous place, I thought I'd
skip this store. At the last moment, I veered into the parking
lot. This place rocked! I ended up finding just under a dozen
cool books.
Tuesday - Day 6
After grabbing a cup of coffee I made the decision to end my
travels and head home. I guess I was just getting tired of
living out of motels and not knowing where I would sleep that
night. Travel is great to expand your mind and to clear your
head of cobwebs, but it also can take its toll on you. Sixteen
hours after heading back, I was finally home.
See some images of my trip.