1840 miles driven so far.
When we woke up this morning, little did we know that today's journey was going to be the most enjoyable one since we left Chicago, with dramatic changes of scenery, beautiful towns, unexpected events and our first contact with the wilderness.
After an energising breakfast where we successfully made our own waffles :-) , we hit the road as usual, this time following the Santa Fe trail that ovelaps with Route 66. This is a route specially filled with history, as it saw some of the oldest Native American settlers, the earliest Spanish missions and towns, a busy history of smuggling, contraband and outlaws during the Western era and a large tourist activity nowadays.This area has also been the background for many Western films, and the landscape seemed very familiar due to this.
Our first stop came very quickly at the Pecos River National Park, site of an old Indian settlement: Pecos Pueblo. This is one of the oldest remains of this type in the country and it acquired a relatively high importance due to its control of the trading routes. It was later occupied by the Spaniards, who built a church and began building with adobe bricks. Before that, the Indians used to live in homes excavated in the ground. Remains of the site can still be seen as part of the national park, and it really makes for a nice sight.
We where now in the desert, as we were quickly remainded when we saw a huge snake crossing the path just in front of us! Fortunately, it wasn't a rattlesnake, but still it inspired some respect.
We then headed to the town of Santa Fe, which is considered the oldest town in the country, as well as one of its top tourist attractions. The town was built in the typical Spanish style and most buildings retain the old Mexican character, even the new ones. This town is really charming and we enjoyed having a stroll around the old center district.
The weather was very good and, being a Sunday, it was full of tourists. This was also the perfect spot to try a burrito for lunch.
We have really enjoyed visiting Santa Fe. It is completely different from the other cities and towns we've seen so far and has a unique character that takes you into a different world.
Leaving Santa Fe, we opted to leave Route 66, which would take us directly to Albuquerque and instead take a diversion through the Jemez mountains. So, we headed to Los Alamos, where the first atomic weapons were developed and also Hulk was born.
We soon reached the valley formed by the Rio Grande, which is not too big at this point but constitutes the second largest river in North America.
We saw a lot of volvanic rocks around, and a local explained us that this area was the result of nearby volcanic activity in the past. Actually, the road would take us to the border of the volcan's crater.
Back on the road, the scenery quickly changed to that of high mountains, as we were ascending up to almost 3000 meters, and there were still spots of snow remaining from the winter.
At the highest point of the Jemez Mountains, we reached the crater of the volcan named "Valles Caldera" a vast grass-filled area 13 miles across, and quite an impressive view amongst the trees and mountains.
The road then followed through the valley, with its alpine landscape on the way down to Albuquerque.
Another change of scenery awaited us, this time back to desert covered in red sand and rocks.
We stopped at Jemez Pueblo and experienced the mexican approach to fast food with small stands where they sell traditional home cooking meals that looked delicious.
Finally we were getting close to Albuquerque catching a first glimpse of the Sandia Mountains which lie next to the city. These mountains are called Sandia (watermelon) because of the reddish coloration they get at sunset.
We checked in our hotel, but this time contrary to other days the day was still not finished for us. A quick change of clothes and we were ready to go downtown to attend Paco de Lucía concert.
It was the perfect end to a day full of changes, sights and surprises (including being bitten by a red desert ant which is surprisingly quite painful...).
When we woke up this morning, little did we know that today's journey was going to be the most enjoyable one since we left Chicago, with dramatic changes of scenery, beautiful towns, unexpected events and our first contact with the wilderness.
After an energising breakfast where we successfully made our own waffles :-) , we hit the road as usual, this time following the Santa Fe trail that ovelaps with Route 66. This is a route specially filled with history, as it saw some of the oldest Native American settlers, the earliest Spanish missions and towns, a busy history of smuggling, contraband and outlaws during the Western era and a large tourist activity nowadays.This area has also been the background for many Western films, and the landscape seemed very familiar due to this.
Our first stop came very quickly at the Pecos River National Park, site of an old Indian settlement: Pecos Pueblo. This is one of the oldest remains of this type in the country and it acquired a relatively high importance due to its control of the trading routes. It was later occupied by the Spaniards, who built a church and began building with adobe bricks. Before that, the Indians used to live in homes excavated in the ground. Remains of the site can still be seen as part of the national park, and it really makes for a nice sight.
We then headed to the town of Santa Fe, which is considered the oldest town in the country, as well as one of its top tourist attractions. The town was built in the typical Spanish style and most buildings retain the old Mexican character, even the new ones. This town is really charming and we enjoyed having a stroll around the old center district.
The weather was very good and, being a Sunday, it was full of tourists. This was also the perfect spot to try a burrito for lunch.
We have really enjoyed visiting Santa Fe. It is completely different from the other cities and towns we've seen so far and has a unique character that takes you into a different world.
Leaving Santa Fe, we opted to leave Route 66, which would take us directly to Albuquerque and instead take a diversion through the Jemez mountains. So, we headed to Los Alamos, where the first atomic weapons were developed and also Hulk was born.
We soon reached the valley formed by the Rio Grande, which is not too big at this point but constitutes the second largest river in North America.
We saw a lot of volvanic rocks around, and a local explained us that this area was the result of nearby volcanic activity in the past. Actually, the road would take us to the border of the volcan's crater.
Back on the road, the scenery quickly changed to that of high mountains, as we were ascending up to almost 3000 meters, and there were still spots of snow remaining from the winter.
At the highest point of the Jemez Mountains, we reached the crater of the volcan named "Valles Caldera" a vast grass-filled area 13 miles across, and quite an impressive view amongst the trees and mountains.
The road then followed through the valley, with its alpine landscape on the way down to Albuquerque.
Another change of scenery awaited us, this time back to desert covered in red sand and rocks.
We stopped at Jemez Pueblo and experienced the mexican approach to fast food with small stands where they sell traditional home cooking meals that looked delicious.
Finally we were getting close to Albuquerque catching a first glimpse of the Sandia Mountains which lie next to the city. These mountains are called Sandia (watermelon) because of the reddish coloration they get at sunset.
We checked in our hotel, but this time contrary to other days the day was still not finished for us. A quick change of clothes and we were ready to go downtown to attend Paco de Lucía concert.
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