Yesterday we did 300-some odd miles from Amarillo to Santa Fe and Albuquerque.
Our first stop was the “Cadillac Ranch,” just outside of Amarillo.
It consists of 10 old graffiti-covered Cadillacs half-buried nose-first in the ground and was created by an artists’ collective in the 70′s. They are occasionally repainted and people are encouraged to add graffiti.
Next, we crossed over into New Mexico and stopped in Tucumcari for lunch (and ice cream!). This is the Blue Swallow in Tucumcari, a recently restored motel on Route 66:
After lunch, we turned northwest towards Santa Fe. About 20 miles before, we stopped off at the Pecos National Historical Park, which contains the ruins of an old Pecos pueblo.
The sky was quite dramatic at this point, as there was a storm in the distance. Because there aren’t a lot of hills or trees, we could see the lightning from quite far away.
We arrived in Santa Fe and took a walk around its small but lovely downtown. Most all the buildings are done with a Pueblo-style facade.
I tried to take some artsy photos:
This is the St. Francis of Assissi Cathedral in Santa Fe. Notice the unfinished steeples.
We had dinner at a Spanish restaurant called El Messon, at which my dad criticized the paella heavily, then headed down to Albuquerque for the night. The drive south was very interesting, as there was a storm hitting Albuquerque. The lightning was frequent and extremely impressive against the night horizon; it was a terrific light show. Once in Albuquerque, it suddenly started hailing on us, which was quite a surprise to me, considering the temperature. After that, the rain got so thick that I couldn’t even see as I drove, and traffic slowed to a crawl of blinking hazard lights. We made it through those patches, though, spent the night here, and today we’re off to Arizona to see the Painted Desert and the Petrified Forest!
Tags: Heavy Things, Life
in the pictures in the gallery is that butte outside of Tucumcarie? If so I have seen it, think the pictures are great and they do bring back many memories of my travels across country. They are like visiting favorite riends