Reporting from Santa Fe

[glacier_kitty]

The drive to Santa Fe yesterday was interesting..I LOVED driving on the Mogollon Rim..it's so pretty!! I loved the ponderosa pine trees. There was quite a bit of snow too. When you leave the Rim, the trees suddenly disappear and it gets pretty arid. But we drove through the Painted Desert and past the Petrified Forest..the red rocks were so pretty!! We also drove past an extinct volcano, which was cool. We ate lunch in Albuquerque (yikes! Too big cityish for me!), found a couple caches and continued the drive to Santa Fe (around 60 miles from Albuquerque). I think we found 11 caches in total! Most were on the Rim..it was lovely caching up there. Santa Fe is definitely more relaxed and nicer than ABQ. It was nice to see Cindy and Dean and their new dog Blanca and relax haha

Today we had breakfast and explored downtown Santa Fe. The architecture is really cool! I think the buildings are made of adobe. There are a bunch of shops there too..we looked in one and went to a couple churches..pretty! Cindy and Dean also went caching for the first time (their name is "chilipup" haha). One was in a hotel and you go up to the counter and ask about the cache and they bring it out to you..weird! I've never found a cache like that before haha. There's a certain area where Native Americans sell the things they've made (it's regulated, so they can't sell cheap knockoff stuff) and we checked that out. I'm wearing a Payson shirt, and they kept commenting on it haha! There was a LOT of jewelry, but I found a magnet and these cat things made out of clay or something. It's nice to support local artists. :) After that we found a couple more caches and walked to where Dean would pick us up (he went back home to check on Blanca). Well at that spot was a used bookstore!! I definitely had to go in haha. It was actually pretty nice and organized. I didn't have time to look at everything I wanted to, so I think I'm gonna go back. There was also a brochure with the used bookstores in Santa Fe, which is definitely useful haha. Then we went back to the house..tired haha



Flying out of Seattle. The clouds looked cool





Mt. St. Helens!



So close to that mountain!

I bet there's glaciers up there..











The Grand Canyon!









Driving up to Payson











That poor cactus looks like it was chewed on..

Great views







Our house!

The view from the driveway



The Mogollon Rim. I keep wanting to type "Mongolian" haha

Random selfie :P

This is by that natural arch









Part of the arch













Geology is coooool











The sunsets are gorgeous from the house!

The replica of Zane Grey's house

Sweet!! I saw the road on the map when caching and had to get a pic haha









Driving up on the Rim

Ponderosa pines <3

Found it!

Annd when you get off the Rim..this

Cool random landforms haha

A blade from a wind turbine (we saw some nearby). There was a cache there haha

Pretty rocks!!







:D /nerd


Whohoo!

Mt. Taylor, an extinct volcano

Albuquerque..*hides from the bigness*



Cindy and Dean

A cool church downtown













Another church

Big tree!





This staircase is famous and "miraculous" since it was built without nails and there's no visible means of support. It's still a mystery..

Comments

[foxydanish.livejournal.com]

Those pictures are gorgeous... Especially the sunset pictures! That's so weird about that staircase too. I've only been to Albuquerque twice, but I was definitely NOT a fan - I seriously don't care to go back. The only good thing about it, IMO, was that they had really good tacos that I found haha. I'd LOVE to see Santa Fe though!! It looks so beautiful. I like the picture of your aunt and uncle too! They look like such nice people :)