Yup, this is our fourth night in this state. Right now I'm writing this from my bed at the swanky Historic Route 66 Motel in Tucumcari, New Mexico. Lori and I pulled into town about an hour ago, and everything was so eerie and dark, we fully expected Rod Serling to appear in front of us. I'm not kidding--when we got off the exit from I-40, the street lights along Route 66 were out and none of the business' signs were lit. I still don't know if there was a power outage from the wind or what. The place looked like a ghost town except for this one motel, which appeared to be practically full, so we decided to stay here.
The town is creepy as hell--at night, anyway--though this motel is actually very clean. The owner, who checked us in, is from Pennsylvania, which for some reason I find comforting. Anyway, you can tell by the sign that it doesn't quite match up to the Santa Fe accommodations we've been spoiled with the past two nights, to say the least. My friend Joan is an amazing hostess!
Here she is walking her dog, Jake, in the 'hood.
Here's the outside of her gorgeous house.
We finally made it to downtown Santa Fe today, and it's just a beautiful city. It's exactly like you'd imagine--blue sky, lots of art and culture, incredible architecture, and a paradise for shoppers. This is a fantastic place for a girls' trip!
We walked around the plaza area and then took a ride around town in this.
Joan took this picture of me and Lori with the poor rickshaw girl, who had to pedal the three of us around town. We felt so bad for her, and guilty about the big-ass breakfast we enjoyed just beforehand. As she struggled to get us up Canyon Drive, I thought about how I once hired a rickshaw to take me and my grandson, Connor, to our car at the Saratoga Racetrack. Unhappy with the speed of our ride, Connor whispered to me, "I wish I had a whip!"
Afterward we had drinks on the roof of a hotel I wish I could remember the name of.
But I sure as hell remember the name of my beer!
Tomorrow we're getting an early start and hope to make it all the way to Oklahoma City. We'll be passing through Amarillo, Texas, and you know us--if it's a fun time, we're takin' our time!
4 comments:
Let me know when you get close to Dollywood. Love the Alien beer.
When did you start drinking Alien beer? I am shocked! Joan's house was really nice...so New-Mexico-ish.
Looks like a fun time...wish I was there having fun too.
It is so dang windy here...can't believe the winds in Henderson!!!
I loved Connor's comment!
Alien beer? Really?
Love the details of your trip!
I loved santa Fe. Was there for ten days about... ten years ago. I loved being able to WALK the length of the city, and that you could ALWAYS here live music floating out of some hotel, restaurant, or doorway. I walked to the mighty river one day, just to see it. This was February. People pointed me in the direction and finally I saw that the tree tops were below the tops of houses a few blocks ahead. I got to the park and went down to the river and stepped over it.
That's when it wholly struck me how different the relationship to water is there! But I LOVED hitting la Place before everything was set up and hearing the stories of how many generations had set up in one particular spot... and being told I was a gringo JUST like the AFrican American who ran the native African artifacts shop.
TWO weeks wouldn't have been enough.
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