Stop 5: Toas

NOTE: Internet is SOOO spotty as of late so posts will be, too. Please keep checking back frequently--we'll be posting when the interwebs deem us worthy of a signal.

Our arrival into Taos, NM was beautiful. We had to drive through Carson State Park that included a mountain range to get here but it was well worth the drive. Our hotel room was hadn't been cleaned when we checked into it so the front desk upgraded us to a two-room suite which is a treat!

We grabbed dinner at a small Mexican restaurant--we were the only diners! Then we headed to the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge to take in the sunset. This bridge is the 2nd tallest bridge on the US highway system. It. was. spectacular. It's about 600 feet over the Rio Grande River and has walkways on either side for pedestrians. Even Sarah, our child who is most afraid of heights, eventually made her way out to the middle (after her first attempt that resulted in a full-sprint run back to solid land--a whole 10 yards--when a truck screamed by and freaked her out. I don't think I've laughed that hard in my life. Fortunately I caught a photo of her getaway for your enjoyment.). I was very proud of her trying again and I think she was very proud of herself for making it to the middle of the bridge.

We watched the sunset there and headed back to our hotel for the night.

The morning brought a bevy of phone calls with Virgin Mobile and Apple customer support because 3/4 of our phones seem to have no service in this part of the country, making for cranky teenagers and a cranky mama because she can't update the blog or get a call from the hotel when she leaves her wallet there upon checkout. Whoopies! So I spent the better part of 4 hours over 2 occasions trying to figure this thing out. Several days later we have no resolution and I'm updating a blog from crappy hotel Wi-Fi. But the view is spectacular! :)

After conceding that we'd could live with only one cell phone among us, we headed into old town square to shop for souvenirs. I'm collecting bumper stickers for our YETI cooler, Charlotte is finding postcards, and Sarah is adding to her already-impressive keychain collection along the way this trip so we try to sneak off into local shops and support their businesses while adding to our junk piles collections.

Then we set off for the Four Corners Monument and Kayenta, AZ. It was a LONG day. Memorable for sure. But long. 

Stop 4: The rain stays mainly in Amarillo

The first part of our Amarillo stop was posted at the end of yesterday's post but that wasn't all the fun we had in this Texas city. After our very rainy drive that landed us at the crazy steak place, we arrived at the hotel and enjoyed time in the pool and hot tub. When it was time to sleep, we crawled into the MOST COMFORTABLE BED EVER. As a rule, I'm terrible at sleeping but if I had a bed like the one at Home2 Suites in Amarillo, I'd sleep like a husband every night.

We enjoyed another hotel breakfast, complete with Texas-shaped waffles, then headed out for Cadillac Ranch. Because of recent flooding and the previous day's rains, it was more like Cadillac Lake. But it didn't stop us from making our way out to the field of half-buried cars to leave our mark. Charlotte took off her shoes and waded into the mucky water to mark the car with her Spanish name, Carlota.

Next up was our most scenic drive yet. Route 66 may not exist anymore but the routes we've been taking are as close as we can get these days. And today didn't disappoint. The skies in Texas were definitely bigger and Andy kept commenting on how he couldn't believe how far he could see. We were often the only car for miles. We also almost ran out of gas when we decided to forgo a gas station stop that looked a little sketchy, then realized there was no gas station for many, many, too many miles. The one gas station we did find had a sign on their extra old pump that read, "Sorry, no gas" and they told us that the next closest pump was 15 miles away. Our gas light had been on for quite some time at this point. I was pretty sure the kids were going to get earn their hotel stay this afternoon by pushing the van for the last 10 miles. But we made it and all were relieved.

Moving into New Mexico brought changes in elevation and drives through several state parks. The mountains were gorgeous and Andy kept pulling over to take photos and video from different angles. He likes trains and he couldn't resist the train tracks. We saw lots of interesting things so some of these photos are just for the sake of memory keeping. Our evening in NM has been a blast and I can't wait to write all about it!