ABQ to Flagstaff

(K) Hi all. Trying to get my blogging done early tonight. Spent the early part of the day in Old Town Albuquerque, which was sort of like Santa Fe, but not as nice. Had a nice lunch at an outdoor cafe--some delicious chilles rellenos (my apologies to any Spanish-speaking blog readers, I'm pretty sure I don't know how to spell that...but I sure know how to eat them!). Albuquerque was pretty boring, I'm not gonna lie to you-- it's just a big city with a small historic district. From there we had a 4+ hour drive to Flagstaff, AZ. We were pleasantly surprised when we arrived in Flagstaff-- it's a mountain town. Lots of trees and the highest peak in AZ (12,000+ ft.) is our backdrop. It's pretty cool, we are going to explore the downtown area tonight.

Also, I saw a scorpion today! Fortunately, it was behind a glass plate. In an aquarium. In the Albuquerque Rattlesnake museum. One exhibit had what looked like a HUGE black scorpion in it and I totally freaked out and started grabbing furiously at Rob's shirt so I'd have something to hide behind. But then he informed me that the huge black scorpion was fake (it was in there to show how big a scorpion could get). The actual scorpion was tiny and might have been dead. So that was ok. Phew. Close call.

(R) It blog time, baby! Don't know if anyone is still out there but we are now in Flagstaff, AZ. Finished off Albuquerque (again copied and pasted from Ks portion of the blog) in style...we went to old town, looked around and ate some more delicious southwestern cuisine. It was in the oldest building/house in Albuquerque-built in the early 1700s...good food, great iced tea. I/we are really getting into the iced tea thing. It seems like it's all the rage in the south. It cures the heat stroke that you suffer everytime you go out. We went to the rattle snake musem (again in old town). Nice exibits, snakes, snakes, snakes...most of them rattlers. K freaked out over a scorpion in one of the tanks. It ended up being PLASTIC...even after I told her she was still disturbed...I think because of the possibility that one like that could exist (it WAS pretty big). Random thoughts on Albuquerque. Albuquerque is far inferior to Santa Fe, it's basically a city full of national brands and stip malls. The nob hill area was the highlight, pretty cool, kinda collegey. Overall ok city but I'm not obsessed with it. It was like OK city minus the scrumtious steak with just a tinge of Santa Fe.
We once again did what we do best and hit the road, something very obvious as we have crossed the country...there are tons of Subways, TONS. They are everywhere. Who eats that much Subway....is it even that good? Do they need to be at almost every exit? I have spent too much time thinking about this. I was dragging a little bit but Flagstaff has rejuvenated me. Great town. Went to Beaver St. Brewery...their Red Ale was tasty. I didn't expect it but Flagstaff has a forest...a lot of trees and a pine scent in the air. We went there close to 9 pm and the Brewpub was packed out with people eating. In OK city the place would be closed. Everything and everybody is really outdoorsy...a lot of facial hair. I shouldn't have shaved last month.