Road Trip 2012: Land of Enchantment

Oh my goodness, I have gotten so behind. In terms of days, we are still less than halfway through, but it feels like we are already on the home stretch! But for now, let's journey back a few days, when we explored New Mexico....

Our time in New Mexico was centered around Santa Fe. It brought us a healthy introduction to the geological splendor that is the Southwest, which we have been thoroughly enjoying at its fullest in Arizona. After making camp, we basically had a night in, with a brief stop at Olive Garden. Something about being on a road trip has us both mentally geared towards all of the Americana chain restaurants. Thus far, we have made stops at Sonic, Dennys, Olive Garden, Dairy Queen, and I think Katie got something from a Burger King at one point. A stop at Chili's is also likely. Hopefully we will return to our senses soon, but in the meantime, Sonic makes darn good mozzarella sticks.

Our full day in New Mexico started with a journey to Taos, an artistic community about an hour outside of Santa Fe.

Some cool freeway decorations

Camel Rock

The Road to Taos

Just your average freeway overpass

Preliminary research suggests this might be Frijoles Canyon

Once we got there, we realized that we knew little of what to actually do in Taos. We just knew we were supposed to go. So we wandered around Old Town, in and out of shops (met some excellent shop cats at the bookstore, Mable and Little Trouble), and had organic smoothies in the sun.

A little corner off of Old Town Taos

On our way back, we stopped at a pretty little pull-off, and attempted to get some bubble pictures a la the Grand Bubble Tour of Scotland, but our bubbles were not cooperating. You get a single picture of me show-boating instead.

The middle of the afternoon was occupied with a matinee of Snow White and the Huntsman (highly recommended, btw), and in the evening we wandered around downtown Santa Fe. An energetic and aggressive search landed us free street parking, and again we sauntered in and out of shops. Sadly, no jewelry even close to our price range, but we did meet this lovely donkey statue:

Donkey in Downtown Santa Fe

And we hung around the tiny cathedral. A building across the street had some sort of rooftop club, so it is possible that I may have busted out a little bit of the Cupid Shuffle on the cathedral steps. I don't admit to anything, but I also regret nothing.

Up the next morning to make the drive to Flagstaff. We are already pros at handling 400-mile drives in a single sitting, though we vaguely have intentions to make more frequent stops to walk around and stretch out. After the first two days, our bodies have settled quite nicely into the routine of things and no longer yell at us for keeping them in Candy (my car) for hours at a time, but we know we shouldn't take advantage....

Coming soon: the geological marvel that is Arizona!