Around the World in 365 Days: Part 1 – Road Tripping

San Antonio, TX to Cortez, CO (Mesa Verde National Park) (October 18-20, 2019)

Day one of our journey was spent driving – and driving – and stopping for road construction – and driving. And in every one light town we drove through – the light was red. (No, I am not “dissing” on someone from a small town – I am simply making a statement – every-flippin- light was red). We made it to Santa Rosa, NM for the night. We drove through Santa Rosa and stopped at a local restaurant at 8PM – there were a few diners, but no staff would seat us. We ended up at the Sun and Surf restaurant (they substitute the “U” in sun with the Zia sun symbol (which is the symbol for New Mexico). They serve fried fish, which was the “surf” part, they also had burgers and the special was a “Mexican lasagna” – lasagna made with hot chilis. They are located in the middle of the main avenue with mostly chain and some local hotels, the service was friendly and the food was pretty good. Our lodging for the night was the Travelodge – nicer than most, they had a heated indoor pool. And it was quiet – which after 11 ½ hours on the road, noisy neighbors would have been bad. They also have a nice (included) breakfast with waffle maker, bagels and yoghurt. Between breakfast, free parking and free wifi – budget friendly hotels are generally a great choice. My day 1 sunset picture would not load properly.

Day two: After starting the day with a swim and breakfast, we hit the road for the 80-minute drive to Santa Fe. The town is beautiful, walkable and crested by The Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi. This early in the trip, I’m not doing much shopping, just taking it all in. We grabbed some lunch at the Del Charro Saloon – John’s stuffed hatch chili was great – spicy with a great mix of flavors. I enjoyed my veggie burger – a thick bean burger that was tasty and held together well. Then it was back in the car – and learned an important lesson – “trust the GPS” – especially when two different GPS services agree. That mistake cost us an extra 40 minutes in the car. The drive itself was beautiful – the buttes rise from the landscape in striations of white, sand, pink and orange. Since I was driving – no photos were obtained. Suffice to say, it was a beautiful drive, crossing the Continental divide, and we arrived in Cortez, Colorado around 5:30PM. Our “home” for the next 2 nights would be the Super 8. John had done well at the Ute Casino in the past when he road tripped with best friend, Kelly, so we spent the evening there. Both of us did well (not paying for the trip well, but we both walked away with more than we walked in with).

Day three: started earlier than planned with a firefighter knocking on the door at 4:30 in the morning due to a suspected gas leak. A little after 5 AM we were allowed to go back to the rooms – some drain cleaner had off gassed and caused the smell. We did get back to bed for a few hours before breakfast (still a pretty decent spread – waffle maker, yoghurt, oatmeal, and a variety of breads – including 2 slices of bread packed in zip lock bags with creamy peanut butter packs above – to go hiking lunches!). Mesa Verde National Park is a 15-minute drive from Cortez. The drive to the main views and hikes on the far side of the park takes about 45 minutes. We did the Petrograph trail which starts behind the Archeology Museum and since we did not realize it was a loop trail (we forgot to grab the trail map since we did not know before starting the trail that we were doing it) we likely hiked a little longer than needed. At one point I was closely studying a little bird next to the trail – a western chickadee, and John said “The petrel” and I responded – “It’s not a petrel – a petrel’s a sea bird…” and he interrupted – “NO, the petroglyphs, look up” – I was standing right beneath the petroglyphs, conveniently marked, with a sign “Petroglyphs”. It’s a well-marked trail, but very steep in places and you need to be in good physical condition with a good sense of balance to consider it.

John and I it took 1.5 hours to get to the petroglyphs and back. It was well worth the effort – you can judge by the pictures! We relaxed for the remainder of the afternoon, and a quick trip back out to the casino – I did not do very well, but John continued his winning for the second day in a row. Then time to sit and blog!