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Published: February 14th 2009
Last Supper
The last meal we had before leaving Austin. With Mark, Peter and LauraF - Howdy all, hope you're coping and surviving with the snow and floods back home, sounds like a blast!
M - It was a shame to leave Austin and Fiona's family. They were so nice to us that we wished we could have stayed longer, so thank you again Mark, Peter, Laura and co for a great time.
But we couldn't leave Texas without one last great memory - a run in with the local constabulary. Yes ladies and gentlemen she had to do it. Not content with travelling at the speed limit of 80 mph, F was doing considerably more than that when she looked up and saw those flashing lights in the mirror. Her first response was to turn to me and ask 'Do you think that's for me?' Bearing in mind that you couldn't see anyone for miles in either direction I told her that yes, it probably was for her. So we pull over and nervously wait for the knock on the window, hopefully not ending up on some trashy TV cop show. Well the polite young officer asked for our details and I fluttered my eyelashes at him and he gave us a caution, much
to our relief. So off we crawled into the night, thanking our lucky stars. Fiona made an effort to stick to the speed limit afterwards, although I fear with all the long empty roads around she's starting to get cocky again! All I can say is it's not coming out of our budget if she gets caught with a fine!!
Before our brush with the law we had made a quick visit to Fredericksburg, a quaint German-inspired town in the West of Texas (bizzarre?). Here we went to an Amish shop (though the servers were disappointingly normal looking) and tried some mind-blowing Salsa in a spice shop. The town had an array of free samples on offer so it makes a good place for those on a budget.
As we travelled on up into New Mexico (note - we are now 7 hours behind GMT) we were amazed by the vastness of the open plains. A near barren landscape fills your view, with only the shadows of distant mountains on the horizon. The gap between cities (for some bizarre reason any street with a house is called a city out here!) is so great that you have to fill up
Did they land?
Roswell, New Mexico. on petrol at almost every opportunity, no matter how extortionate the price. You pass many a near-deserted town, remnants of old industry that no longer turns, and birds of prey who perch themselves on telegraph polls waiting for any poor soul who dares to venture into this wilderness. Yet here the sheer emptiness is breathtaking. It makes you think about what people had to endure to arrive here and ask what was the point of them coming in the first place?
If you're looking for an answer to that question you might find it in the depths of Carlsbad Caverns National Park. Here some of the largest underground caverns in the world have been formed over millenia, just waiting for someone to discover their wonder. A good thing about visiting the US at this time of year is that most of the attractions are not full up with tourists, so you get to experience the splender at your own pace and in relative solitude. As you make your way 800ft down you enter a place that is not affected by the outside world. It remains cold and dark no matter what is happening above. Needless to say the caverns were
So naughty!
I think he's pointing South?
Santa Fe. spectacular with all sorts of weird and wonderful formations. We would've liked to have gone on a proper caving expedition with the rangers but time and cost prevailed on this one.
Apart from the scenery, one of the other things New Mexico is famous for is altogether not of this Earth (as some would have you believe). For this is the home of Roswell, the place where aliens landed some 60 years ago and were so horrified by what they saw that they still haven't admitted to it! Whether there are little green men or not is kind of a mute point nowadays, if you ever saw one you'd probably think it was some new teenage fad (young people are so weird)! Certainly the people of Roswell are making the most of it and drawing our hard earned dollars from our pockets to tell us things we already knew (or didn't) at the International UFO Museum, but then it is something you have to do if you've ever seen an episode of The X Files - it's like a pilgrimage.
From Roswell and no encounters with UFOs, we headed north towards the mountains and the city of Santa Fe. On
our way we stopped off at this great little all-American diner where Fiona had the spiceist food of her life, forcing her to sit with her mouth open for most of the meal.
Though the capital of New Mexico, Santa Fe is actually a small city, centred around the old Adobe buildings built by the Pueblo Indians for the Spanish. Nestled among the mountains the design of the structures help keep it cool in summer and warm in winter. All the buildings in the central district have to be built in this manner, which means you get a low rise, un-American feel to the place. We managed to find a place not too far from the main plaza, which is where the local Indian population bring their goods to market. There are really strict rules regarding the authenticity of these products which is good for them but it does increase the price a fair bit. The city is surrounded by several Pueblo Indian Reservations which have their own laws and seemingly their own casinos. These Indians aren't the type you will see in most Westerns as they never really resisted colonisation by other cultures (Spanish, Mexican and American). We tried
to visit some of these Pueblos but it seemed that most of them had closed for the season, one closed the day before we arrived! We even visited the nearby Santa Fe ski slope, but felt that it was probably an extravagence we couldn't afford this time (perhaps a proper ski holiday is better).
So onward north into the snow-capped mountains we travelled, through great scenery and diversions due to bad weather. The landscape here is divided between great mountain ranges and expansive plateaus, cut into by various meandering rivers. Along our path we crossed the Rio Grande gorge, the kind that makes your knees wobble a bit when you look over the side into the deep chasm below (but more of that was to come). We also came across a wedding in an old Pueblo church, where the photographs will no doubt have our gawking tourist faces in the background.
We made our way into Colorado and, after an overnight stay in the quaint mountain town of Durango and more snaking through the mountains, we ended up in a neat little place called Ouray. Here it was freezing, the road was covered on all sides by feet thick snow
and everyone had muddy 4x4s. The mountains literally envelop this place and they are your only way in and out. On the surface it may be cold, but underneath the geothermic activity provides year-round hot springs (apparently some of the best in the region according to the Great Book - Lonely Planet). Did I mention it was cold outside? Below freezing in fact, so what do you think we did? Well how often do you get the opportunity to sink yourself into 100 degree waters surrounded by snow covered mountains? So in we walked, or should I say ran from the changing rooms and dived into the relaxing waters. It was a great experience, particularly as we watched the snow clouds roll across the mountain tops. As the snow fell on our heads it melted instantly as it touched the waters (It was well worth the long twisty and turny drive to get to this place - F)
Now unfortunately the snow did not stop and our plans had been to go back south that day after our dip in the springs. Unperturbed by the blizzard we got in the car and creeped our way up the mountain side, passing stranded pick-up trucks and trying not to send ourselves into the frozen ravines. As other cars were skidding all over the place our little Chevy was holding up (in part due to some good driving by Fiona) though our progress was very slow. It would be difficult to make it back before the sun set and then we would be stuck. Now I probably should explain that neither Fiona nor myself like to give in to a challenge, most likely because we're too stubborn to admit we are wrong, even when the odds of success seem low. It was about half way up one mountain, with fallen rocks on one side and ice covered cliff faces on the other, that we turned to each other and said ' What the friggin' hell are we doing?' 'We don't need to be anywhere', we didn't even care too much about the place we were heading to. So with a knowing glance to each other (the kind where you make it seem like it was her idea) we turned back. Back to Ouray, back past the still stranded pick-up, back to the Hot Springs. And boy was it one of the best decisions we have made on this trip. F managed to haggle a good deal (she's normally too shy to ask) out of this great hotel which offered free dvds, toiletry sets and outside natural hot spring tubs! As the storm passed and we opened our wine bottle, we sat back in the hot-tub, soothed our weary traveller bones and watched the moonlight dazzle the white mountains. Needless to say this became another one of F's favourite places to be as we watched the stars twinkle and thought of home (sorry Jel and Bev but F says this beats the view in your hot-tub!). And to top it all as we drove North the next morning we saw a bald eagle soar majestically along the roadside, definitely a good decision to turn back!
Whilst in the communal hot springs a lady had suggested we pay a visit to one of America's newest National Parks, Black Canyon of the Gunnison, another deep gorge cut by the Colorado river. So that we did. It has sheer drops on either side that go down some 2,000ft. The main problem this time of year is that it is almost completely covered in snow and ice. So whilst we enjoyed the limited view we had of the gorge (the main paths and roads were closed due to bleedin' H+S!), we enjoyed even more getting back into the car and travelling onwards. Onwards towards Utah, onwards to the Great National Parks of the Wild West.
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jim guida
non-member comment
ouray hot springs
hi guys; glad you're having fun. angie and i soaked in the hot springs at ouray and the water turned my beard green! fortunately the color came out with shampoo. good luck in utah. jim jim