Two Beers and a Pretzel

It’s been a busy few days.  I started by backtracking to Meteor Crater, then back to Flagstaff and Sunset Crater – which is a fairly recent volcano, then the grand canyon.  I camped there, then made my way through the Painted Desert up to Bryce Canyon in Utah.  I also experimented a bit with the Infra-Red camrea and took about 7 gigs of photos over the last few days.  It’s a lot to sort thru, so I’ll probably have better picture updates when I have some time in LA.

Meteor Crater, Arizona

Sunset Crater (volcanic) outside Flagstaff

and color…

The Grand Canyon at Sunset

and in daylight – infra-red.

Bryce Canyon, Utah in Infra-Red panorama (sorry for the bad seams)

and color…

IR Astrophotography.

I woke up and took a stroll around the historic district of Santa Fe before leaving for Arizona.

FYI:  I’m really loving the Infra-red camera…

About an hour later I made it to Petroglyph National Monument in Albuquerque.

Then I hit the road again.  Once out of the city, every bend and crest in the highway revealed another landscape that made me want to stop and take pictures.

I still like the IR cam…

Then you hit the divide…

And again, after every turn there’s a new vista.  I decided against stopping on the busy freeway for this one..

I thought the  sky after the sunset was pretty cool.  No Idea why there are gaps in the pink clouds, but it really looked like that, and it was a cool effect…  I couldn’t get a good pic while driving, so this is a still capture from a video I took.

Yep, you guessed it…  Standing on a corner in Winslow, Arizona…

It was too late to see the Petrified Forest or the big Crater, so I’ll backtrack tomorrow morning to see those before heading up to the Grand Canyon after lunch.

Once I made it to Flagstaff, I ate at the uber-retro Galaxy Diner.

Actually, I haven’t even made it to Albaquerque yet – I’m in Santa Fe.

We went camping last night outside Amarillo.  In the morning, the lake was pretty nice looking.

Then I dropped Dan back at his RV, then took off for New Mexico.

Just West of Amarillo the Cadillac Ranch is hard to miss…

I had lunch at a the Midpoint Cafe exactly halfway between Los Angeles and Chicago.

About 10 miles later you enter New Mexico.

I took a little detour off Route 66 at Tucumcari…

…to take a road that Jake had recommended (for speeding and twisty roads) to get to Santa Fe.  Lucky for me there were no cops.

Then you crest a hill and the mountains come into view.

I made it to Santa Fe, found a hotel, then went into the historic downtown area.  Everything was pretty much closed (at 6PM mountain time?) so I went to a soup and salad place and watched the World Series game.  But, I did snap a decent pic of the old church at night.

Tomorrow I’ll spend the morning downtown in the art galleries and shops before hitting the road again.

Before I made it to Texas, there were still a few things to see in Oklahoma – like the “national” Route 66 Museum.

Some interesting roadside signs…

And a few wind turbine farms.

I stopped at a fairly well reputed local BBQ pit for lunch and has a beer brisket sandwich big enough for three people.  Then at the next rest area, you have no choice but realizing that you’re in Texas…

Some of the town here have creative ways of grabbing your attention.

One of the best preserved Art Deco gas stations is on this part of the route.

I made it to Amarillo just before dinner time, but I was still full from lunch, so I met my cousin Dan at a pool hall, and a night of revelry commenced…  In fact, that night, I got really sick.  Since most of my lunch from 10 hours prior made a re-appearance, I’m assuming that something in the brisket was the culprit.  I had a fair bit of alcohol, but that was nothing compared to how much I would consume in the average night with 20 year old British kids in Australia.  That, and getting sick from alcohol is usually a puke once or twice and you’re done – while this was 5 hours of hurling and heaving – more like food poisoning -ala Honduras or India.

Anyway, It turns out that I’m not the only semi-permanent traveler in the family.  My cousin Dan has perfected the art by eschewing the brick and mortar house for an RV and officially earned himself the title ‘Drifter’.

The next day I woke up late and dropped Dan off at his friend Jake’s house to start ‘working’ on preparing dinner using Jake’s home made tow behind smoker grill – SMOKEZILLA

After a while, I opted to drive out to Palo Duro Canyon state park to find a few twisty roads to drive, get some use out of my infra-red camera, and see the local sights.  Palo Duro is actually the 2nd largest canyon in North America behind the Grand Canyon.  It’s quite stunning, and truly erie in Infra Red…

You may want to click on this 5 image panorama to see the larger version…

I made it back to Jake’s house just in time for a Smoked Ham and Pork Tenderloin dinner and then about 5 hours of great conversation with Dan, Jake, and their friend Dwayne.  I’m liking Amarillo.