Colorado is HIGH country

Durango, CO

Santa Fe Sunday

Not all shops sell southwest products

Not open until dinner

Need directions??

SANTA FE, NM - - Sunday's free parking gets us into SF early.  On the day's schedule:  breakfast and wandering one last time.  Tomorrow we head for Durango, Co.

Santa Fe railyard farmers market snaps

The Saturday market draws large crowds

Most, but not all, in booths

You need bright clothing to grab attention to yourself

Chili and flower table/wall decorations

A barn owl from the ST Raptor Center

Hawks draw a lot of attention

Sun, shadow and adobe

SANTA FE, NM - - Three views of light and texture.  The subject is the Randall Davie Audubon Center & Sanctuary.  The 135 acre grounds and homeof the artist were ceded to Audubon to preserve as sanctuary of birds, animals and plants.

Another year, another snowstorm

"The Bus" gets an application of 'popcorn' snow

The pile on the back of the roof was about 4" thick

Somewhere on the picnic table our temperature sensor  is somewhat buried

More trains

SANTA FE, NM - - Aside from the parks commemorating something historic, SF has a scattering of railroad cars and locomotives on display.

Old Santa Fe

SANTA FE, NM - - Sunday morning we rolled down to SF  nice and early to secure a parking space close to the library (free parking on Sunday).  And to get a bit more breakfast than we've had lately...huevos rancheros for me and a fruity bowl of oatmel for Lydia.
     Once fortified we set out to walk to historic Fort Marcy.  On the plus side there were plenty of historic information markers on the grounds.  Alas the only remains of the fort were a few mounds left from the 1820-21 initial fortification.  However the location, with a great  view of the surrounding area was utilized numerous times...mainly for security.
     Santa Fe is the oldest state capitol but if Florida moved the seat of power to St. Augustine, we'd beat  them.  In the early to mid-1800's, Santa Fe was a major trade route.  The Royal Road of the Interior had goods flowing from Mexico to SF.  Then a version of what would collectively be known as the Santa Fe Trail added in a route from Missouri to SF.  Finally SF to California completed the matrix.  

The colors of Santa Fe

SANTA FE, NM - - Colorful items are seen on almost every street.

A quarter can sometimes save a lot of hassel

A roll of quarters

The "boot"

SANTA FE, NM - - The parking police don't fool around.  Feed enough quarters into the parking meter or be prepared for an unpleasant surprise  if the time runs out.  Actually, they give you a ticket first...then the boot. 

Portabello and sweet potato fries

I-40 at the NM state line

A slightly hazy Santa Fe as seen from the SF ski area

Lunch at Cafe Sonder

SANTA FE, NM - - Thursday morning we left the campground and headed upward to the Santa Fe ski area.  We had been to the 10,400' location a couple of years ago when enough snow still prevailed for hard core snow boarders to be hiking up a slope.  This time a few stubborn snow patches could be seen, but the view towards SF was a lot better.
     Once in SF, we headed to a restaurant we had spotted the day before with a nice patio and FREE Parking.  Once you drive around downtown SF you quickly realize you need to carry plenty of quarters for the parking meters in case you get lucky enough to find a space.  Besides the parking perk at Cafe Sonder the food was very good with great coffee in big cups.
      If you're counting, this was our 26th anniversary so it was a special meal.  Sorry meat lovers Lydia had a veggie burger while I grazed on a portabello burger with avacado and sweet potato fries.

Black Canyon camping

SANTA FE, NM - - Santa Fe has been our first true vacation destination since we left OB.  Traveling I-40 West from our stop in North Carolina was a necessary evil, made more devilish by the windy conditions mentioned in previous blogs.
     We got to to NM on Saturday, spent one night in a state park before heading to SF and Black Canyon.  We've been lucky enough to score a nice site where we plan to be for a few days in one of the nicest Forest Service sites we've stayed in.   Not only is the campground cool, but the weather is too, literally.  It's been 40-degrees at 6am the past three nights at 8400'.  Not quite Florida weather.  With humidity at around 20 percent, we'll take it  

The wind will get you

The trailer and the tractor...a victim of the wind??

ELK CITY, OK - - We're having coffee in the Beyond the Pallet coffee shop in Elk City, OK.  The wind is blowing steady at 20mph.  Yesterday it was steady 30mph with gusts of 40mph as this tractor trailer (I-40 just inside the Oklahoma state line) apparently found out.  The driver might have been taking evasive action in traffic and got caught out.  We never did find out.  But there was a long one traffic lane section on both sides of the Interstate while crews worked to remove the wreckage.
     We parked near the BtP but decided to check out the numerous vehicles parked outside a location down the street.  It was a barber shop.  We should have known.  In  our search for a breakfast place this was the third barber shop we'd seen including two in Clinton, OK where we'd stayed last night.  Apparently, men looking to get away from wives / lovers / someone else's wife /lover head for the barber shop for a breather.  Or maybe this is a Saturday morning ritual with no evil connotations. 

Right place, right time

CARLISLE, AR -  - Sometimes you find yourself just along for the ride.  Let me explain.  I was driving as we were heading West on I-40 in Tennessee.  There had been some sporadic light rain.  Two vehicles merged from an entrance ramp.  Neither was rolling fast enough and soon .had some traffic built up behind ... including us.  One vehicle, a white work van, finally pulled over.  And as we passed, it was easy to see the driver (a middle-aged individual) engrossed in his cell phone which he had  in one hand resting  on the steering wheel.  Not a good idea.
     A short way down the road, traffic slowed dramatically.  I was watching my mirrors closely monitoring traffic behind.  Luckily, the van driver - - who was in the other lane - - decided to look up at the traffic to see how it was moving.  It wasn't.  (I was stopped so I kept my eyes glued to the mirror.)
     The van driver panic-braked so hard there were large plumes of smoke from the tires and it looked like the rear wheels lifted off the road.  A very hard right turn took the van to the shoulder of the road and the slight ditch beside it.  The driver appeared to try a hard a hard left to save himself (and take out the traffic he had just missed).  The front end slid a bit; momentum took over and the van rolled over a few times down the edge before coming to a stop.  A couple of vehicles stopped to help.
     A couple of miles down the road we saw an ambulance headed toward the wreck.  
    

History lessons

Steel rail view of Southern Pines station built in 1898

CLEMMONS, NC - - Traveling with Lydia in the area where she grew up is always a history lesson for me.  Like a lot of towns in the 'Old South' Southern Pines has railroad tracks thru the middle of town. Unlike most towns it also has a working station where Amtrak's Silver Star stops.  If you're heading to New York City or stops along the line then catch the 7am train as it heads North.  Want to go to Miami or a stop on the way?  The train from NYC heading South rolls thru Southern Pines at 7:30pm.
     There's a story behind nearly everywhere we went  around West End, Pinehurst, Liberty, Julian and Greensboro in our two day stay. Lydia drives because she knows every back road...and it's way easier on the nerves if she doesn't have to give me directions.    

Summer officially began today!!

Still Life...with toes, traffic and our mascot "bus"

Wide load and escort...I-95 Northbound

Day One destination

WEST END, NC - - We're nearly 500 miles from OB on our way to visit some of Lydia's relatives.  Tuesday is visit day with a few detours ...mainly breakfast at Mac's Breakfast Anytime (yes, you can get pancakes at 2:30pm) in Southern Pines... a favorite of mine. Wednesday it's I-40 West and, eventually, New Mexico and wandering around out West for a couple of months.