LUKE on the Drums in New Orleans.....Howl at the Moon.

As I mentioned in a previous post, Luke made a guest appearance on the drums at Howl at the Moon in New Orleans! Take a look....finally got this to load. Thanks Emily :) 

DAY 23: New Mexico.....Santa Fe

Did you ever find yourself someplace and almost immediately you're saying, "I can't wait to come back here"? Well to me, that was Santa Fe. What a really cool place. I wondered why I had waited so long to ever get there. Such a unique blend of architecture and geography and the weather is perfect. So nice that even the really nice homes for the most part aren't air conditioned despite being in an almost desert like climate.

I had reconnected with a college friend through Facebook, Carol Graebner. Carol is a lawyer who lives in Santa Fe and commutes to Albequerque. I arrived at  her house in the nearby mountain community that she lives. It is hard to tell exactly which houses are the nice ones and which ones are not as they have such a unique style of architecture from what I am use to. The adobe (and fake adobe) homes are truly different and their low profile blends them into the landscape as they seem to have almost grown out of the ground as opposed to having been built.

 But Carol's home is one of the nice ones and as we sat down on her portale (Santa Fe-ian for porch) with a glass of wine, she laid out her thoughts for our couple of days together. I was staying downtown at the Inn on Alameda, one of many quaint hotels that dot the downtown and surrounding area. Santa Fe is really not all that big so just about everything that we did was no more than a ten to fifteen minute drive.

After our glass of wine we headed down to the Plaza, which has been the social and shopping center of Santa Fe for centuries. A grassy courtyard dotted with trees was filled with all kinds of activities. From people playing instruments and music to the selling of wares. The Plaza is surrounded by a very trendy and upscale shopping district and we had the chance to visit many stores. As we came around the one corner Carol pointed out to me "The Portale" a covered sidewalk on one side of the square. Every day Native Americans participate in a lottery for a chance to get one of the coveted spots under The Portale.  Here they sell their artwork, and by artwork I mean jewelry and handcraft, a lot of it silver, copper and turquoise. Beautiful stuff  and I even bought one or two things.

We walked around the plaza, browsing and shopping and then headed over to friends of Carol's, Tom and Candy. Like many people here including Carol, Tom and Candy had moved here from Houston. Another glass of wine led to all of us going out to dinner. Extracted promises from me keep me from saying exactly what mayhem went on at dinner. Suffice it to say, What happens in Santa Fe stays in Santa Fe :)

                                      The next day I arose to a wonderful breakfast at the Inn.

 Carol had planned a hike for us with Ken and Lauren, two close friends of hers who are hikers and also are transplants from Houston. So after breakfast, I picked Carol up and we headed out to the trailhead to meet her friends. They are also Meetup hikers so it was fun to compare notes as we walked along the trail. So different is the terrain from what I was use to back home. Though not a difficult hike it was fun and I had the chance to talk with both Ken and Lauren about hiking in the Santa Fe area. The biggest difference being the elevation as we were hiking at 9,000 feet which if you are not use to it can be a challenge.

About half way through the hike we stopped at the Conservancy Center in our quest for hummingbirds. We did see one or two. The architecture of this place is stunning to me, maybe just because I am not use to it yet.

On our way back we came upon a bull snake sunning himself right in the middle of the path. I don't know if he scared us or we scared him, but he (why are snakes always called "he") slithered off into the brush as we got real close.

After all of us enjoying a wonderful Mexican lunch, Carol and I went up to Canyon Road, the art district of Santa Fe. Canyon Road for block upon block is lined with spectacular works of art and an array of sculptures, many water and wind. It was a very fun afternoon.

 Dinner found us back on Canyon Road at a restaurant called "Geronimo" where we dined outside on "the portale" :)  A dinner of tuna and prawns with risotto cakes and a glass of wine was the order of the day.

Santa Fe was a fun adventure and it was nice to see Carol. I will be back here as I felt as though I barely scratched the surface of what this town has to offer. The only alarming part of the trip, to me, was again the wild fires. Off in the distance you could see the plume of smoke reaching up into the sky.

"I can hardly imagine how Santa Fe is supported. The country around it is barren. At the North stands a snow-capped mountain while the valley in which the town is situated is drab and sandy. The streets are narrow... A Mexican will walk about town all day to sell a bundle of grass worth about a dime. They are the poorest looking people I ever saw. They subsist principally on mutton, onions and red pepper".

—letter from an American traveler, 1849

A lot has changed since 1849......I can't wait to go back.

DAY 21: New Mexico.....Land of Enchantment.....First Day

I have to tell you that I was really looking forward to visiting New Mexico. I have never been here before. Trips in the past seemed to always skirt around this state but I had been hearing so much about it that I was locked on New Mexico as my western-most stop on this trip. New Mexico landmass-wise is the fifth (thanks Carol) largest state. But in all of that land there are only about 2,000,000 people. The state motto is "Land of Enchantment" and I have to tell you from what I saw (and there are still a lot of cool places that I would like to come back to) that is spot on.

My first stop was to the Carlsbad Caverns in the southeastern part of the state. As I drove up the winding road to the caverns I was taken aback by the fact that everywhere I looked was burnt. Yes, burnt. It seems that a week ago this whole place had been on fire as part of a brush fire that had swept the area almost all the way up to the opening of the caves. A week ago I would not have been able to go into the caves. (As an aside here, I was surprised as I traveled through Texas and here again in New Mexico how many forest and wildfires there had been and how much acreage had been burnt. I counted at least twenty burnt areas between my Texas portion and here to Carlsbad. How dry and brittle the land was).

Walking up to the information booth at the Visitor's Center, I was told that today was the "Free Day" meaning it would cost me nothing to visit the caves. After a brief conversation with the Park Ranger, I decided to take the elevator down to the lower level (750 feet down) and walk around down there. As I entered the elevator alone, the woman operating the elevator looked at me up and down and said "Why are you taking the elevator down instead of walking? The walk down is wonderful and you look like you are in pretty good shape." I mumbled something about time and blah blah blah but she persisted.  So appropriately embarrassed and knowing that she was right, I remained on the elevator when the elevator stopped at the bottom and said to her, "Take me back up. I am going to walk down" and up we went. I am so glad that I did. As I headed down to the opening to the cave I passed a couple of signs that I would love to take and use to post on hikes back in Pittsburgh.

Who knows, with a little editing I might even post the yellow one on my bedroom door.....Just saying :)

 The walk down is about a mile and a half with an elevation drop of 750 feet. Dark and paved and the sounds of swallows and bats echoing all around you. When you get to the bottom you can walk around what is called "The Big Room" which is another mile and half around the perimeter of the room with many interesting sites of columns and pools and stalactites and mites. I made the walk around the perimeter and was back to the elevators at the bottom. I stood there and waited for the elevator and the door opened and the same woman operator stood before me. "Thank you" I said, "for insisting that I walk down. It was great."

"Well get in" she replied...."Nope, I am going to walk back up, but I wanted to thank you." and with a smile and a wave to each other we both headed up, her in the elevator and me on the path. It was nice to hike in the 56 degree constant temperature and the hike back up seemed to go quickly.

Later that evening I returned for "Bat Flight" which was very cool. Every evening at dusk in the summer, thousands of bats exit the caverns in search of their dinner of bugs and such. An amphitheatre is built at the entrance to the caverns to watch. No pictures of videos are allowed as they will disorient the bats. Around 7:30 the Park Ranger comes out and greets everyone and tells them what is going to happen and a little about Carlsbad and the state park system.  And at dusk the bats begin to trickle out at first. And then in greater numbers. It was quite interesting and a fun and very different evening.

After a night in the worst hotel room of my trip, I awoke the next day to head up to Santa Fe. It was one of the places on my trip that I was looking forward to as I had heard so much about it. Loading up the jeep, I headed north out of Carlsbad. I was glad to be on my way as the forecast temperature for the next three days was 107-109 degrees.

As I drove along the road I came to the town of Roswell. My attention was taken by a sign on a building on the left, and I just had to stop. Just had to.

It was the UFO Museum and Alien Research Center.....

 I paid my five dollars and entered and began my browsing and reading. It seems that  here in 1947 a space ship with some aliens in it crashed outside of Roswell and the government tried to cover it up.....at least that is how the local story goes.

Does anyone think it strange that aliens supposedly landed in July of 1947 and my sister

was born nine months later.........You decide :)

The museum is filled with first person testimonies, pictures and artifacts, pictures of other sitings, life size statues of what the aliens looked like, a section on movies about aliens and of course a gift shop.

Frankly, it was a fun and enjoyable 45 minutes or so. I left not quite sure what to think. It would have been nice if someone, anyone, had an actual picture of the aliens or even a single piece of the space ship, but it seems that they were all either misplaced or stolen or just seemed to vanish. Go figure.

I continued up to Santa Fe and was again struck by the number of  brush fire damage along the way. I seemed to make really good time on this stretch of road.

 Mid afternoon I finally arrived in Santa Fe where I met up with an old college friend from Dickinson, Carol Graebner. Exchanging hugs we sat down to a glass of wine and some conversation and she told me what she had planned for us. Carol has lived in Santa Fe full time for three years and loved the area. It was apparent that she was going to be the ultimate tour guide. It was going to be a fun couple days here.

DAY 20: Heading across Texas

Well, it was bound to happen. I mean after all, I had driven about three thousand miles. And the way that I drive. So it was really no surprise to me when I looked up into my rear view mirror and saw the flashing lights of the police car. I had just entered Texas  on what was to be a straight shot across it to my next destination in New Mexico. My mind a bit preoccupied with the GPS and figuring out my route. I eased my way over to the side of the road making sure I got well out of the traffic. The Texas state trooper came up to my passenger side window and stuck his head in and looked around. "License and Registration, Sir", he said, and as I handed them to him he looked me over and looked all around the inside of my packed up jeep. 'Lt. Victor' was written on his chest. A man about my age, he looked down at the license then back up at me. "How do you pronounce your name, Sir?" he inquired. "Fur-dee" I said trying to make it as phonetically easy as possible. "I'd a been a long time figuring that one out" he replied and I immediately realized that this guy was a good guy. "Yea, I get that a lot. It can be a hard one to figure out." He proceeded to ask me some questions about where I was heading and what I did and looking at my packed jeep asked me if I had left anything at home,  and then said, "The reason that I pulled you over is you were drifting out of your lane. Best be careful. We want to get you back home to Pittsburgh safe and sound, you hear." ...and with a "thank you officer" and a firm handshake he retreated back from my vehicle to his. I got the feeling that Lt Victor and I would be good friends.

When I planned this trip I knew that I was going to have to make a straight shot across Texas which frankly I didn't mind in the least. I like Texas. I like the people. Their independent spirit. Their rugged individualism. A local saying here is 'If you want to get something done, tell a Texan that he can't do it' and I think that there is a lot of truth to that. But this trip across Texas was going to be fun. From Beaumont to Pecos was going to be about 700 miles and how fun it was. The topography changes so drastically. The green and wetlands of Beaumont along the gulf to the hilly area around San Antonio  that looks like something out of a cowboy western movie to the flat arid and desert region of west Texas.

Of course, there is one thing that makes all of this driving a lot easier and a bit more fun......................

When talking with a Texan about the 80 mile per hour speed limit he replied, "Well, we like to

think of it as more of a suggestion than a real limit."

I'm not quite sure that Lt. Victor would agree with that :)