we have truly, madly, deeply fallen for new mexico. it is one of the most beautiful places we have ever seen. the landscape is not at all comparable to anywhere we've been. if i didn't have to be out of the country in twenty one days we'd stay a month.
we spent our first full day in albuquerque. we trail ran in rio grande state park & drove an hour up to sandia peak for views of the city. on a clear day you can see as far as colorado. to say it was awe inspiring would be an understatement. at 10,678 feet it is by far the the highest either of us have been.
in the evening we visited a few local breweries. marble, tractor & dialogue. we were very impressed with the beer selection at each & even more impressed with the enthusiasm, generosity & kindness the bartenders showed us. instead of treating us like patrons they treated us like new friends.
as i mentioned in my last post, we met a couple of kindred spirits on tuesday night. luke sparked a conversation with sarah & nathan by making a joke that sarah was almost canadian [ she is from alaska ]. & that's all it took. by the time i came back from the food truck they were in full blown conversation. it turned out we had a lot in common, & after an hour they were extending an invitation to spend a night at the casita on their property. they didn't strike us as axe murders so we took them up on it. we followed them home, stayed up until the wee hours looking over maps, regaling each other with travel tales, discussing routes we could take & sharing stories about ourselves & our families [ & drinking japanese whiskey ]. the next morning we [ groggily ] said goodbye & promised to stay in touch. & i know we will. these two are keepers. in fact, we hope to convince them to join us for part of the second leg of our journey.
wednesday morning we made our way out of town. it was difficult to leave albuquerque, but, at the same time, we were excited to be heading to santa fe. it was only a fifty mile drive & it was along the historic turquoise trail. we knew it would be beautiful & we wanted to take our time to do it.
well, the one hour trip took all night. after a few hours we'd only made it as far as madrid [ about 30 miles. because we stopped a half dozen times to take photos ] & decided then & there that we would boondock in the baseball diamond parking lot [ just, just outside of town & with bathrooms ] instead of making our way to santa fe, just to sleep in a walmart parking lot. so, we spent a bit of time exploring the area around madrid [ absolutely breathtaking ] then settled into a spot on a patio overlooking the main road so we could catch up on work [ aka, download documentaries from netflix, charge our phones & write the blog ] & watch the comings & goings of the townies & the tourists. it was relaxing & lovely. by 9 o'clock we were pulling into the parking lot, settling in & watching netflix. by 10 0'clock it was pitch black. & i mean PITCH BLACK. there are no lights in the area except the light coming from the bathroom. we were the only people for a mile. there are rattlesnakes & bunnies & who-knows-what, & we thought of all of this just as we were trying to fall asleep. needless to say neither of us slept. i had ten nightmares, all visions of the horrible things that could happen to us out there.
when we woke though, things were different. though it was 6 o'clock & neither of us had slept, we weren't tired. the view from our van was stunning. the temperature was cool [ i'd even pulled out the blanket in the middle of the night. if i was able to sleep it would have been so cozy ] & we only had a forty minute drive ahead of us. yesterday started better than i'd expected.
we arrived at starbucks on the outskirts of santa fe just after 7 o'clock. we did our normal morning routine - check emails, read the news [ luke does. i just find it depressing ], charge our phones, write the blog, check insta, facebook, etc. ], go to walmart for breakfast [ greek yogurt & granola for me, potato salad for luke ] & went to the gym.
once energized & showered we made our way into santa fe proper. though it was beautiful; it has an historic downtown with a square & a church, which we loved, it felt congested & touristy compared to albuquerque. it had shi-shi restaurants & tourist-trap like shops. we wandered for a while, i admired some hand made bracelets [ i regret not buying one. the woman selling them was lovely & all jewellery is made from scratch. the government requires the artist make everything, including the beads - i may have to convince luke it's worth a quick stop in town on the way out of here today ] then climbed up to cross of the martyrs for views of the city. by then our parking meter was expiring so we made our way back to the car & back to walmart to grab lunch [ pre made salad - $3.50 each ]. after lunch we made our way back to starbucks to finalize today's plans & drink iced tea. it was hot out & our lack of sleep was catching up to us.
but we still managed to visit the three breweries we had on our list - second street brewing [ it was just ok ], new mexico hard cider [ delicious - rhubarb, blueberry, sour cherry & cranberry just to name a few of their flavours ] & santa fe brewing company [this place kicked ass. it was out of the city on a huge property. kids & dogs were running around. it had cornhole ( luke beat me two of three games ). people were cheering other people on. it was a great atmosphere.
by the time we finished the brewery tour it was time to head home [ the walmart parking lot ]. it was 8 o'clock. time for dinner, time for a netflix documentary, time to relax. by the time we finished eating [ home made salad with black beans, peppers, kale, spinach, tomatillo guacamole & salsa ] we were exhausted. we couldn't keep our eyes open long enough to watch the film. we were fast asleep by 9:30.
now it's friday morning, 9:38. i'm writing & posting this in REAL TIME. we're at starbucks [ we had greek yogurt & granola for breakfast ], we're screenshotting the directions to today's destination [ will fill you in later ], charging our phones, sipping our iced coffees & i'm writing this blog post. in a minute i'll go into the bathroom with my backpack full of dishes & i'll wash them. then we'll hit the road. we're heading out of the city & into the desert & we can't wait [ ok, i can't wait. luke's a little nervous about rattlesnakes & black bears ].
talk soon.
follow our journey at www.instagram.com/openheartsopenroad
we spent our first full day in albuquerque. we trail ran in rio grande state park & drove an hour up to sandia peak for views of the city. on a clear day you can see as far as colorado. to say it was awe inspiring would be an understatement. at 10,678 feet it is by far the the highest either of us have been.
in the evening we visited a few local breweries. marble, tractor & dialogue. we were very impressed with the beer selection at each & even more impressed with the enthusiasm, generosity & kindness the bartenders showed us. instead of treating us like patrons they treated us like new friends.
as i mentioned in my last post, we met a couple of kindred spirits on tuesday night. luke sparked a conversation with sarah & nathan by making a joke that sarah was almost canadian [ she is from alaska ]. & that's all it took. by the time i came back from the food truck they were in full blown conversation. it turned out we had a lot in common, & after an hour they were extending an invitation to spend a night at the casita on their property. they didn't strike us as axe murders so we took them up on it. we followed them home, stayed up until the wee hours looking over maps, regaling each other with travel tales, discussing routes we could take & sharing stories about ourselves & our families [ & drinking japanese whiskey ]. the next morning we [ groggily ] said goodbye & promised to stay in touch. & i know we will. these two are keepers. in fact, we hope to convince them to join us for part of the second leg of our journey.
wednesday morning we made our way out of town. it was difficult to leave albuquerque, but, at the same time, we were excited to be heading to santa fe. it was only a fifty mile drive & it was along the historic turquoise trail. we knew it would be beautiful & we wanted to take our time to do it.
well, the one hour trip took all night. after a few hours we'd only made it as far as madrid [ about 30 miles. because we stopped a half dozen times to take photos ] & decided then & there that we would boondock in the baseball diamond parking lot [ just, just outside of town & with bathrooms ] instead of making our way to santa fe, just to sleep in a walmart parking lot. so, we spent a bit of time exploring the area around madrid [ absolutely breathtaking ] then settled into a spot on a patio overlooking the main road so we could catch up on work [ aka, download documentaries from netflix, charge our phones & write the blog ] & watch the comings & goings of the townies & the tourists. it was relaxing & lovely. by 9 o'clock we were pulling into the parking lot, settling in & watching netflix. by 10 0'clock it was pitch black. & i mean PITCH BLACK. there are no lights in the area except the light coming from the bathroom. we were the only people for a mile. there are rattlesnakes & bunnies & who-knows-what, & we thought of all of this just as we were trying to fall asleep. needless to say neither of us slept. i had ten nightmares, all visions of the horrible things that could happen to us out there.
when we woke though, things were different. though it was 6 o'clock & neither of us had slept, we weren't tired. the view from our van was stunning. the temperature was cool [ i'd even pulled out the blanket in the middle of the night. if i was able to sleep it would have been so cozy ] & we only had a forty minute drive ahead of us. yesterday started better than i'd expected.
we arrived at starbucks on the outskirts of santa fe just after 7 o'clock. we did our normal morning routine - check emails, read the news [ luke does. i just find it depressing ], charge our phones, write the blog, check insta, facebook, etc. ], go to walmart for breakfast [ greek yogurt & granola for me, potato salad for luke ] & went to the gym.
once energized & showered we made our way into santa fe proper. though it was beautiful; it has an historic downtown with a square & a church, which we loved, it felt congested & touristy compared to albuquerque. it had shi-shi restaurants & tourist-trap like shops. we wandered for a while, i admired some hand made bracelets [ i regret not buying one. the woman selling them was lovely & all jewellery is made from scratch. the government requires the artist make everything, including the beads - i may have to convince luke it's worth a quick stop in town on the way out of here today ] then climbed up to cross of the martyrs for views of the city. by then our parking meter was expiring so we made our way back to the car & back to walmart to grab lunch [ pre made salad - $3.50 each ]. after lunch we made our way back to starbucks to finalize today's plans & drink iced tea. it was hot out & our lack of sleep was catching up to us.
but we still managed to visit the three breweries we had on our list - second street brewing [ it was just ok ], new mexico hard cider [ delicious - rhubarb, blueberry, sour cherry & cranberry just to name a few of their flavours ] & santa fe brewing company [this place kicked ass. it was out of the city on a huge property. kids & dogs were running around. it had cornhole ( luke beat me two of three games ). people were cheering other people on. it was a great atmosphere.
by the time we finished the brewery tour it was time to head home [ the walmart parking lot ]. it was 8 o'clock. time for dinner, time for a netflix documentary, time to relax. by the time we finished eating [ home made salad with black beans, peppers, kale, spinach, tomatillo guacamole & salsa ] we were exhausted. we couldn't keep our eyes open long enough to watch the film. we were fast asleep by 9:30.
now it's friday morning, 9:38. i'm writing & posting this in REAL TIME. we're at starbucks [ we had greek yogurt & granola for breakfast ], we're screenshotting the directions to today's destination [ will fill you in later ], charging our phones, sipping our iced coffees & i'm writing this blog post. in a minute i'll go into the bathroom with my backpack full of dishes & i'll wash them. then we'll hit the road. we're heading out of the city & into the desert & we can't wait [ ok, i can't wait. luke's a little nervous about rattlesnakes & black bears ].
talk soon.
follow our journey at www.instagram.com/openheartsopenroad
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