There's No Place Like Home!

Hello!

Just a quickie note to let you know that we got home about 2:30 pm this afternoon!

Up this morning about 5-ish -- you know, that "let's get a move on" kind of mood, and out the door about 6 am.  Great ride south to Gallup, and then freeway from there to Holbrook.  Again, off the freeway and south through Snow Flake, Show Low and Globe and then home.

We are now unpacked and I am on laundry load #3.  Most everything put away, and though we did find ants in our bedroom and in our closet, everything else was just fine!  Thank you so much to Stew and Bob for looking after things while we were away!

Thanks to anyone who came with us; hope the driving wasn't too boring!  And lots of love until our next adventure!
m
xxx

From Denver to Farmington, NM!

Hello!

I went to bed a little after 9 pm last night, and slept really well.  We were up around 5-ish and, having decided that Home2 Suites breakfast wasn’t exactly what we were looking for, we packed up and headed out on I-70 West, breaking off after the Eisenhower Tunnel for Leadville. 

From the freeway heading to Leadville

Love those snow capped mountains!

Off the freeway and heading to Leadville

I think I saw The Unsinkable Molly Brown somewhere around the age of 14, and ever since, I have had a soft spot for Leadville.  Not sure why – and I have been there numerous times, but it just rather appealed to me.  So, we decided to head there for breakfast.  It was nice and cool – about 60 degrees, when we left the hotel this morning – but truly, it got down to 31 degrees as we headed higher and higher!  What fun, considering how hot it has been everywhere we have stayed.  I also needed to use my jacket, which was the first time, I think, since we started the trip and went to the baseball game in Denver!

My kind of house ...

Downtown Leadville

It took us about an hour and half to get to Leadville, and we decided on the Golden Burro Café for breakfast.  Not really crowded at all.  R had an order of hash browns and an order of ham with toast.  I had their Miner’s Breakfast – two eggs (scrambled) with hash browns, 2 link sausages and toast.  Everything was great – and very filling!  Took a few photos of Leadville as it is today, and then headed south toward the New Mexican border.

We were really in a valley between two Rocky Mountain ranges, and the drive was lovely and not very crowded.  R’s plan was to take US Highway 285 south to Antonito, where we started heading west on highway 17.  This was a wonderful, winding road, with very little traffic, but lots of beautiful trees and what looked like great camping areas.  The only other traffic seemed to be campers as well.  We took highway 17 into New Mexico and picked up highway US 64 in Chama.  We also had lunch at the Box Car Café in Chama.  R had a BLT with French fries, and I had a nice green salad with Ranch dressing.  Chama is the home of the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Narrow-Gauge Railroad – which comes complete with several different vintage steam engines!  R has always loved trains, and it’s too bad we didn’t really have the time to take a trip – but we have put that on our hit list for a future visit. 

From Chama, it was about a two-hour drive into Farmington and the Hotel2 Suites.  Again, lovely drive with very little traffic, and we are comfortably installed in suite 301 – plenty of room, and very comfortable bed!  (I know because I tried to take a nap, but was unsuccessful.)  We are now heading out to the St. Clair Winery & Bistro for dinner!

Now heading south toward New Mexico

Loved the red school house!

Lots to look at!

Beautiful river!

Now in New Mexico!

Neat lunch spot!

R's "Moby" Trout

My spicy meatloaf!

More later!

m

xxx

Back from a really lovely dinner!  And who knew grapes would grow in northwestern New Mexico?  Lovely room, good service and a very interesting menu.  R had the trout, (which he called Moby Trout because of its size!) which was presented on a plate on top of a melange of cranberries, wild rice, quinoa, barley and corn.  He started with a Caesar salad.  I started with a green salad with blue cheese dressing, followed by their Southwestern Meatloaf.  It was wonderful!  Thin slices of meatloaf made with hatch chilies and a chipotle glaze, served over Yukon gold smashed potatoes and thin slices of zucchini.  We both had glasses of St. Clair Sauvignon Blanc, which was excellent.  SO surprised that food of this quality could be available here, but very happy to find it!  As a postscript, there was a self-serve frozen yogurt shop in the same little strip mall … wonderful as well!

So, we are back in for the night.  Home to Tucson tomorrow!

m

xxx

And on into Colorado!

Hello!

Up this morning about 5:30 am and down for breakfast about 6:30.   Robert tells me there was quite a lightning display last night, although I did sleep through most of it.  He said he didn’t hear any thunder, though – just the lightning display!  Breakfast was excellent and filling, and we were checked out and down to the car about 7:30 am. 

Discovered even before we knew it that we were on a very short Kansas tollway, which goes from Lawrence to Topeka, which is the state capital.  We are both fairly ignorant about anything in Kansas – did you know, for instance, that it is called the Sunflower State?  We didn’t, although R did guess at the State mammal – the Bison, and he was, of course, correct. 

Rolling hills in eastern Kansas

Lots of cows!

In looking at the map of the I-70 freeway in Kansas, it is basically as straight as an arrow until just before you leave the state, when I-70 heads a bit north to intersect with Denver.  We discovered that there are very few cities in Kansas, and just huge swathes of agricultural land.  Robert pointed out that there were very few farm houses that you could see from the freeway, and that the territory seemed to be very much managed by large conglomerates.  The eastern part of Kansas is really lovely – rolling hills and crests where you can actually see a view!  I did, however, mistake the fact that the absolutely HUGE grain elevators were not high rise office buildings – but from a distance, they sure do look alike!

Once you pass the middle part of the state, the land flattens out completely, and with the hazy horizon line, it was not what we would call attractive.  We stopped at Arby’s in Colby KS for lunch, and were then back on our way towards Denver.

There are trees in eastern Kansas!

Enjoying the scenery

Starting to flatten out!

Things finally got a bit better as we passed into Colorado, and eventually, voila – we could see the Rockies!  And they had snow on them!  Very neat!  I had been thinking that Denver and other local places have been so hot lately, that all the snow might have melted, but that was definitely not the case!  Very much looking forward to our drive through the mountains tomorrow!

Lovely house in the middle of Denver!

We especially loved the huge median area

Of course, we hit Denver somewhere around 2:30 pm and the freeways were already backing up with traffic, construction and accidents.  We decided to try to completely avoid traffic, and drive instead right through town and out the far side on surface streets.  Well … there are truly some stunning homes and lots of green space and huge trees in the center for Denver!  It was a beautiful drive – also made all the better by being able to avoid the stopped or very slowly moving freeways that we went over or under! 

Finally turned into Lakewood, and arrived at Home2 Suites, our hotel for the night.  For anyone unfamiliar with Home2 Suites, they are very interesting.  A Hilton chain, they are long and wide and wide open, using heavy curtaining to divide up the spaces in the room, if you want.  They have a microwave, full sink, full-size fridge and dishwasher, just no cooktop.  Then there is a lovely desk for the computer, and a full-size and very comfy sofa/sofa bed with ottoman.  Then a TV with shelves and drawers, a very large space for luggage, and then a closet.  As R points out, if he wants to stay up and watch TV, he has only to pull the curtain, and I’ll be able to sleep!  The fact is, though, that if I’m tired, then I can sleep no matter what’s on TV! 

We’ll be heading out soon in search of Indian food – R has found a good place not too far from here, and then back in for (hopefully!) a nice and quiet night!

R in Little India in Lakewood

Lovely decor!

So!  More later!

m

xxx

Back now from the restaurant.  Just a couple of miles away, so not too hard to find.  Part of a shopping area/mall.  Lovely decor.  Excellent appetizers of samosa and pakoras.  Mains were chicken tikka (although they delivered chicken tikka masala, but we decided to live with it...) and shrimp vindaloo, with garlic naan.  Good but not great!  All accompanied by an Indian man playing the sitar, which was really lovely!  Done early and headed back to hotel to watch the Rockies on TV!

m

xxx