Days 43 and 44: Heading Home...

Well...we left Santa Fe', NM Friday and made it to Sulfur, LA tonight - all the way across the big state of TEXAS in 24 hours (driving time).  At this rate, we will be home Monday, Memorial Day.  If that happens, I will be jumping in the pool to celebrate the end of a wonderful trip!

 

 

Day 42: Santa Fe' to Taos

Looking Glass Yarn

I visited the Looking Glass Yarn and Gifts in Santa Fe' this morning....nice little yarn shop.  She didn't have the ribbon yarn I was looking for but she had some other colors I liked so not all was in vane.  I enjoyed visiting with the owner and she was most helpful, as all yarn ladies are!

 

We drove up to Taos this afternoon through the Tesuque Reservation which means Resorts and Casinos along the way.  It was a beautiful day and a beautiful drive....we never get tired of the southwest scenery.  Our first stop was to see the Rio Grande Gorge State Park.  It's really bizzare....you're driving along not expecting to see anything then BOOM you're on this bridge looking down 600 feet into the gorge. 

There is a parking place for visitors on the north side of the gorge so we drove over the bridge and stopped to get some pictures.  We walked back halfway across the bridge where the walkway expands over the gorge...makes for even more amazing views!

 

Afterwards, we drove back to Taos, parked the car and walked around the downtown Plaza where there are lots of art galleries, gift shops, mercantile stores, cantinas, etc.  A really adorable town.  Love the adobe style architecture of the buildings.  Also, low and behold, there was a

LaFonda Hotel...same as the one in Santa Fe' only smaller.

 

When we got back to Santa Fe', we stopped for dinner at yet another Mexican cantina.  Don't  think I will ever get tired of Mexican food either.  I will be sad to leave here tomorrow as I am a very big fan of the southwest. 

Day 41: Santa Fe', NM

 

This afternoon, we traveled 62 miles from Albuquerque to Santa Fe'.    We're staying in the Santa Fe Skies RV Park which is high upon a hill on the south side of Santa Fe'.  Once we got set up, we drove north on   Cerrillos Road which appears to be the main drag into downtown Santa Fe'.  There are lots of new stores, including a new Walmart, on the south side of town.

 

We made our way to Canyon Road which is one of Santa Fe's most famous streets and has been designated a Residential Arts and Crafts Zone by the city.  Authentic adobe homes, some hundreds of years old, now house art galleries specializing in Western, Native American and landscape art.  Canyon Road is a mile long narrow, one way street and it's impossible to find a place to park.

 

The Plaza

Close by is the Plaza which is basically the heart of downtown Santa Fe'.  We found a public parking lot, then walked up and down the streets that make up this art district, including a town square with Indians selling their wares.  Felt like we were back home at Spanish Springs on vendor night there for a minute!  The Plaza has dozens of art galleries, authentic southwestern pottery, rugs, jewelry and other gifts..

 

LaFonda Hotel on the Plaza

The LaFonda on the Plaza is a historic hotel right in the middle of the Plaza.  The guest rooms are undergoing renovation which is expected to be completed this summer.  We walked through the lobby and the interior is gorgeous.

 

 

 

On the opposite corner is the St. Francis Cathedral Basilica.  The parish was founded in 1610, established as a cathedral in 1853 and elevated to a Basilica in 2005.  It is a truly beautiful building.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Last stop was Jackalope, an indoor/outdoor market consisting of large, colorful flower pots and other garden art, furniture, plus a building full of native American rugs, paintings, clothes, purses, and other gifts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 40: Sandia Peak, Albuquerque, NM

I took Isa to Banfield Vet Hospital this morning to have her checked out.  The doctor said she was doing fine and over her upper-respiratory infection so she was able to give her the third booster, then sent us on our way. 

 

Once back at the motorhome, I sautéed some beef tips and put them in the crock pot with brown gravy and onions for a beef stroganoff dinner.  Fixed lunch then we both took a nap.  Neither of us are sleeping well as the mattress in the motorhome is too firm and very uncomfortable.  We've talked about replacing it but just never have.  Today we had yet another conversation about it.

 

After dinner we decided to take a ride on the Sandia Peak Aerial Tramway (aka SPAT which is what happens if the cable snaps).  It was manufactured by Bell Engineering in Lucerne, Switzerland and built in 1966 for $2 million.  Today it would cost $40 million.  The tram is 2.7 miles up to the top of the Sandia Mountains and is about a 15 minute ride and the scenery is indescribable...no wildlife however.

 

 

 

 

 

A view from the top

Tram half way up



 





Page 39: The dreaded laundry day...

Isa in the Dirty Clothes Basket

Kittens in Laundry Basket

With no help from the kittens, I finally got the laundry sorted.  Little stinkers were in rare form all day getting into trouble every time I looked around.  The laundry room was very small plus they have front loaders which made it even smaller.  Every time you opened a washer door, you had backed yourself in a corner!  The soap dispensers needed washing and there were shreds of Kleenex all over the floor.  Two people could not work in here together so, after George dropped off the laundry basket, he hi-tailed it back to the motorhome.  I'm giving them a 4 on their Laundry Room plus I'm in a bad mood already.

 

In between trips to the laundry room, I cleaned the motorhome plus put some country style steaks in the crock pot for dinner.  We've been eating out too much so I decided to fix a nice home-cooked meal of country style steak, mashed potatoes and green beans...yum!  I'm thinking that if I'm going to have to work this hard, I might as well be home!

 

When George got off work, we ran a few errands in an effort to fix some issues in the motorhome.  He installed a new on/off switch on the hand-held shower since, for some reason, it stopped working.  He also had to fix a cabinet door in the water closet that keeps coming un-hinged.  Two chores down, two to go.

 

Kept somewhat glued to TV today due to the tornados in Moore, OK.  In fact, George changed our route home because of the tornados.  Not taking any chances so we're by-passing Oklahoma. Not a very excitng day but got lots of stuff done. 

Day 38: The road to Albuquerque

Today we are on the road to Albuquerque which means more of I-40.  One very different thing is that the landscape color changed from brown to red.  We passed Flagstaff, the exit to Meteor Crater then Winslow, AZ where, two years ago I "stood on a corner"! 

 

 

I-40 in AZ

I-40 in AZ

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We stopped for lunch in Holbrook then passed the exit for the Petrified Forest which we visited 2 years ago.  Next we saw a "dirt devil" and I don't mean the vacuum cleaner.  George says a dirt devil is a little swirl of dirt in the desert created by the wind...basically a little bitty hurricane. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pretty soon we were in New Mexico where it became terribly windy and we were very glad to get into our campground.  We're staying at American RV Park on the west side of  I-40 in Albuquerque which is where we stayed two years ago...very nice, clean park which has a complimentary continental breakfast.   

TOTAL MILES DRIVEN:  4,788

Day 37: Mojave Desert

Not much to talk about today....we traveled 474 miles from Lone Pine, CA to Williams, AZ and are both exhausted.  Why is it that sitting in the passenger seat is just as exhausting as driving 474 miles?  Hmmm...something to ponder.

Mojave Desert

Colorado River

The scenery was quite different today as the majority of the roller coaster ride was through the Mojave Desert......B-O-R-I-N-G!  Along the drive, we passed several burned out ghost towns...kinda spooky. 

One view that's always pleasant to look at is the Colorado River.

Parts of 395 parallel ROUTE 66 and there were actually a few cars out there crusin'. 

 

 

 

 

 

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Another historic spot along our drive is the Bagdad Café right on Route 66.  This café was the scene of the 1987 German film "Bagdad Café", which was a comedy about a truck stop café in the middle of the Mojave Desert.  DUH!

 

 

 

I did a lot of knitting today.  Finished by brown suede scarf and almost finished the afghan I've been working on since last November.

 

We finished our book "Shark River" and started a new one, "12 Mile Limit", by Randy Wayne White of course. 

Day 36: Exploring the Eastern Sierra Nevada's

Sierra Nevadas

Creek in the valley

Our travels today took us South on 395, aka the Eastern Sierra Scenic Parkway, one of the most beautiful drives you'll experience...and we only traveled a portion of it.  395 extends all the way to Canada to the North and ends at San Bernandino, CA to the South.  We were staying on 395 in Reno, NV so the first city we passed was Carson City which is in the valley with snow-capped mountains above. 

We passed into CA and next was Topaz Lake in Antelope Valley.  Just past that, as we ascended into the mountains, part of the road had fallen off into the valley and re-construction was in progress.  At the top was Devils Gate Summit, then the quaint town of Bridgeport, CA.

 

Mono Basin Scenic Area

Mono Lake and the Mono Basin Scenic Area came up next, then Lee Vining...another quaint little town.  After that, we came upon Tioga Pass Road which is the eastern most part of Yosemite National Park.  This road is usually closed until June due to snow and ice but it was open when we were in the park; however, we did not travel the entire road due to its length and steep terrain.

 

Inyo National Forest

Inyo National Forest was next, then Mt. Whitney on our right.  Mt. Whitney is the tallest mountain in the U.S. at an elevation of just shy of 15,000 feet. Needless to say, there was snow at the top.

 

Mt. Whitney

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We're making an overnight stop at Boulder Creek RV Resort in Lone Pine, CA then off to finish the ride down 395 tomorrow.

Good news:  Isa is feeling better today.  She crawled up in my lap and slept most of the day.  I've kept a close eye on her and she is not as sneezy as yesterday.

Bad news:  Anna is sneezing.

TOTAL MILES DRIVEN:  3,972

 

Day 35: Taking care of business...

I had a relaxing morning at the hair salon here in Reno, they have THE best massage chair ever!  Then a pedicure...ok, every gal needs a day to recharge the batteries.

Late afternoon, we took Anna and Isa to the vet for their third booster shot only Isa has a cold/upper respiratory thing going on and got a shot of antibiotics instead.  She seems to be having some difficulty breathing and has slept all evening.  I sure hope the antibiotic kicks in soon....it is breaking my heart to see her feeling bad.

Day 34: Toilet Tissue Issue...

Darn Cats!

You knew it was bound to happen....the kittens disappeared into the "water closet" and were playing...then they got real quiet.  Opened the door and a whole roll of TP was in shreds on the floor - REALLY? 

 

 OK, we're on the road traveling to Reno/Sparks, NV via I-80....an absolutely beautiful drive through the Sierra Nevada's but very steep terrain! Donner Pass is the highest point of this mountain pass at 7.056 elevation with Donner Lake about nine miles west of Truckee, CA. 

Donner Pass

Donner Lake

We're staying at Bordertown Casino and RV Resort - yes, I said casino! This RV park has it's own casino!  It's a really nice park but doubt we'll get to the casino as it's "dreaded laundry day" time plus other chores.

Day 33: Sonoma, San Francisco and Sausalito

Healdsburg, CA

George decided to take the day off and hit San Francisco.  He has never been there and really wanted to see the Golden Gate Bridge.  Ok, so off we go but took the "wine route" through Sonoma Valley hitting Healdsburg, Santa Rosa and Sonoma.  Healdsburg is where Lew and Muriel used to live and it is beautiful.  We didn't stop but, from the drive-through, it looks to be a charming town.

 

 

Sonoma Valley

Through Santa Rosa and Sonoma next...the lower Sonoma Valley is full of rolling hills with wine vineyards on both sides of the street.  Reminds me of what Napa looked like 15 years ago before Macy's and others  moved in.



Sonoma NASCAR Track

After leaving Sonoma Valley, lo and behold we passed the Sonoma NASCAR Racetrack and George is, once again, in "hog heaven".

Golden Gate Bridge

Once in San Francisco, we drove up to the highest point above the bridge to take pictures.  Unfortunately, it was a bit foggy, as San Francisco often is, but at least George got to see the famous Golden Gate Bridge and some of his pictures came out fine.

 

Sausalito Bakery

We're getting hungry now so we opted for lunch on the Bay at Sausalito.  It was pretty crowded but, after driving around a few minutes, we hawked out a parking spot on the street in front of Sausalito Bakery.  I ran in to get some quarters for the meter and the food in the showcase looked great so we ate there.  Had a sandwich on their famous sourdough bread...yummy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Point Reyes Seashore

Next stop was Point Reyes National Seacoast.  It was only a short drive north of Sausalito so, why not.  We stopped at the Visitor's Center to get a map then drove up to the Lighthouse only to discover that the lighthouse road (straight up) was closed.  We walked a short distance but, it was so windy and so cold and we were so not dressed for this, that we retreated...took some pictures then drove down to the South Beach.  A little nicer weather down here so...more pictures. 

 

Lupine at Point Reyes

 

 

 

TOTAL MILES DRIVEN:  3,692