Blogs from New Mexico, United States, North America - page 86

Brian leaves for Santa Fe on his way to meet Seung up at LAX airport. ... read more

It was a family trip to watch my nephew play in a regional baseball tournament. We drove from Denver and made a stop in Santa Fe for a delicious lunch in the old town center at the Anasazi Restaurant at the Anasazi Inn. I had a delious sesame crusted salmon entree served perfectly rare. The rest of the family ordered other items such as the Buffalo Burger, Beef Fajitas, Ahi Tuna Tostada and the chicken enchilada. All of the entrees scored an A+ for presentation and food quality. The service was also great. While lunch was a bit on the pricey side ($10 to $15 per entree), we felt it was good value for the money. We walked off lunch around the old town center and made a bee line for Ecco gelato. Some of the ... read more

Las Vegas rests beneath the gentle shadow of the Sangre de Christo mountains, a small, vibrant city on the edge of rolling green-gold prairie, a city whose land speaks of fire-roasted chile and reflected sun. The scent of juniper and piñon welcomes you to a tree-lined city that ranchers, artists, and families who have lived here for hundreds of years call home. Beautiful music - from the plucked strings of a Mariachi's guitarrón to the elegant classical voices of the New Mexico Highlands University choir - often echos from the Plaza Park's gazebo as local dancers salsa and two-step during cool summer evenings. A stroll through the Arts and Cultural District reveals an array of aesthetic riches - from carved wooden saints and softly painted retablos, to bold modern offerings from new, up-and-coming artists. Authentic and ... read more

Last night we stayed in a little campground on old Route 66. The wind died early in the evening and didn't pick up again until this morning. We fought strong headwinds all day, cutting our gas mileage by 25%. We drove through the high plains of the Texas panhandle with the winds roaring. We stopped outside Amarillo at the Cadillac Ranch so Gena and I could take pictures. The winds nearly blew us away, but we got our pics and Gena even added a bit of graffiti of her own. Every time we stopped we had to fight the winds, getting in and out of the cars, and walking across the parking lots. The view from the rest area west of Shamrock, TX was terrific, but the winds were pretty potent, cold, too. It blew all ... read more

As we drove from Dallas to Amarillo along Route 66, everything was exactly as I imagined it would be. The road was long, straight and quiet, passing by cattle ranches, oil derricks and dusty green crop fields. The 'middle-of-nowhere', 'nothing-ever-happens-here' towns we drove through were very Deliverance-esque; there may have been no porch sitting banjo players, but that was simply because there was literally nobody around. At one point, to my great excitement, our car even got hit by tumbleweed; we are definitely in cowboy country! And, as is tradition on an American roadtrip, we got to see one example of a roadside "world's largest" - a huge white cross in the middle of a field. The sign promised spiritual enlightenment, which is exactly why we took our photographs from the car and kept on driving. ... read more