Flagstaff to Albuquerque, 3/23 - 4/1m 2013

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THE BASICS

Flagstaff to Winslow, including Meteor Crater and dinner at the fabulous Posada Hotel in Winslow. Winslow to Gallup with brief detour at Painted Desert. Car to Durango via Mesa Verde. Overnight in Durango. Pagosa Springs and Farmington en route back to Gallup. Gallup to Grants to Albuquerque. A day in Santa Fe. Easter in Penasco, on the High Road to Taos, with Mojo's mother and sister. A day in Albuquerque; Old Town, UNM campus. Linda on 6 AM flight to NH on Tuesday; John to Las Vegas, NM, en route north to meet L. in Denver on Saturday 4/7.

THE FLUFF

Meteor Crater is 4000' across and 550' deep. It is a certified meteor hit. It was a timely visit to that museum because there is so much in recent news about devastating consequences of a large meteor hit.

The Posada Hotel in Winslow is even more astonishing because much of Winslow is tired looking - the trains and route 66 left it in the dust. The hotel was nearly razed when along came a college student who took on renovating it back to its elegant Spanish style. Much of the work has been completed, and it is a gorgeous place. The restaurant, The Turquoise Room, is exceptional; it has won a string of gourmet awards. We had a special meal.

Between Winslow and Gallup, we visited the Painted Desert, which features the gorgeous red hues we have seen all over the west. Next day, we took the car north through Navajo reservation to Colorado. There is a windy, swoopy road, about an hour's drive in to Mesa Verde, but the drive is worth it. Communities are built into the rock, with kivas (round underground dugouts accessed by ladders) for religious ceremonies and daily activities in adverse weather.

In Durango, we were generously entertained by a teacher who once stayed at our house (via Educators Travel Service), and her husband. She gave us a fine tour of the town, which means a lot to me because Susie and Brady would like to settle there and at least I can visualize it now.

In the morning, we watched the tourist train puff off to Silverton, without us aboard. Then we drove east for an hour to Pagosa Springs, a lpretty place despite the sulfur smell from the hot springs. We watched families frolic in the pools and gazed at the somewhat snow-capped mountains which mostly surround the town. It was a long ride back to Gallup, through tree-studded mountains on Aztec land, then coal, gas, and oil drilling, and finally back to the seemingly deserted desert terrain of the Navajo land.

John sat in a Gallup coffee shop with a laptop while I browsed for gorgeous, authenticated Indian jewelry in about a dozen of the many dozen stores and pawn shops on route 66 in Gallup. Then on to Grants, where $17 set a record for an overnight stay with full hookups.

We stayed about 16 miles north of Albuquerque. We spent Easter Saturday in sunny, crowded Santa Fe. (Good Friday was not a day to drive north because 30,000 to 50,000 pilgrims were walking to Santuario de Chimayo from all directions and traffic was much affected.) We visited the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe - don't miss it! Films about her enchantment with New Mexico, and a bonus Annie Lebowitz photography exhibit, added to the pleasure of seeing O'Keeffe's paintings themselves. We also visited the International Folk Art Museum (we were feeling a bit "Indianed out") That museum has an astonishing, immense room with folk art from everywhere, arranged thematically so that you can compare how people interpret the crucifixion, e.g., in different places. You could spend many hours in that room. Instead, we headed for the courtyard cafe and had - surprise - root beer floats.

Mojo's mother had invited us to her Penasco home for Easter dinner, and we had a wonderful time and great food. Penasco is on the High Road to Taos, maybe halfway. First we visited her shop, which is absolutely fabulous and fascinating. She "upcycles" by combining second hand clothes with her artist's eye, and then has them sewn expertly. Her watercolor paintings grace the walls, and more whimsical and imaginative creations than I could begin to absorb. Jean settled in Penasco in the 1970's when she lived there at times with the Hog Farm commune. She loved the area and bought land there. Her home too is magic, full of fascinating items everywhere you look.

On Monday, we spent a few hours in Albuquerque, first meandering around Old Town. Then a sunny lunch at El Patio, with very hot green NM chilies, and a delightful walk around the University of New Mexico campus. There is a duck pond in the middle of the campus, and some students seemed to be lounging near it between classes. It was so warm and comfortable there, and today NH feels really chilly...

(Well, maybe y'all lucked out, because this is a much shorter version of the period than I wrote yesterday, but it has vanished into the air.)

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