New Mexico = Old Mexico

(K) Greetings from Albuquerque. I think I almost spelled that right. Today was pretty nice-- almost no driving. We spent our morning and early afternoon walking around downtown Santa Fe and got way distracted by a really cute store called Mindy and Clyde. There we spent way too much money on Fiestaware (now radioisotope free!). We each got some nice pieces, mugs, bowls etc. All super bright, cheerful colors. And the store owner was awesome. His name was Shinji and he was from Japan. He came to Santa Fe by way of NYC (he doesn't really miss the city, he has adjusted to country life, appreciating the outdoors and what not). He told us to go check out the Plaza in Santa Fe, which we did. We saw the country's oldest church, which was built back in the 1600s by Roman Catholic Indians. We also saw this cool hotel constructed in the old adobe style. Most of the Santa Fe architecture was like that, it makes the city very distinctive, I liked it. We had lunch at a cute local cafe called the Guadeloupe Cafe where we drank lots of iced tea. Apparently, iced tea is like, the most popular beverage in the Southwest. It's everywhere. I have to admit though, in the hot sun, it really hit the spot. After lunch we drove to Albuquerque via a scenic route called the Turquoise Trail. We drove though a really cute old hippie town called Madrid (pronounced MAA-drid) and I looked for an affordable turquoise ring in at least 20 different shops. Ultimately, I was unsuccessful, but we met a really nice woman in one of the shops from Mendicino, CA and we chatted with her for a while. It's sort of funny, most of the nicest people we've met have been from New York or California. Maybe we sniff out our own. Albuquerque is ok-- it's a really big city. Santa Fe is only 65,000 people and Albuquerque is 500,000. It doesn't have any of the same cool architecture that Santa Fe had (at least not at the places we've seen). Tomorrow I think we'll walk around the old Rt. 66 region and do some shopping before heading west to Flagstaff, AZ.

Does anyone know about scorpions? Where do they live? I'm terrified of seeing them, seeing that they embody all the aspects of animals that creep me out (lots of legs, would be really crunchy if I stepped on them, and are poisonous). I hope we do not run into one.

(R) Today, today, today, was nice. The driving was downright delightful (more later). We woke up where we went to sleep, in Santa Fe, NM. The architecture is insane (earth tone adobe flat roof), I know I already said this but as we checked out more of the city this was slap you in the face apparent. Even the Chevron's and the Border's books were adobe style. It hard to tell what stores are...normally a Walgreens looks like a Walgreens, but in SF you really have to look at the sign to know what it is. SF is really small, 65, 000 people small. For how small it is, the city (town?) has a lot to offer...a lot of shops, art, and history. We walked around 'downtown' and checked out the different stores and grabbed a much needed coffee at Aztec's. Good coffee...it was a kinda funky cafe, it had a devil George W. head in the corner. Amusing. We drank a coffee and headed back to the story where we spotted fiestaware. Got some good deals and cool colorful items...much needed in my very white/neutral apartment. It is no longer radio active AND it is now microwave and dishwasher safe. What the hell was wrong with the previous generation--it was not only RADIOACTIVE but you couldn't put it in the dishwasher OR microwave? We chatted up the store owner, Shinji, for probably close to an hour. He moved out from NYC about 3 years ago. Big change for him but he seemed positive about it. He pointed us in the right direction for Santa Fe, Albuquerque (I just copied and pasted that from Ks portion), and the Grand Canyon. Also talked race relations in SF...there are many ethnicities in SF including American Indians, Mexicans, Hispanics, and Whites and he mentioned that they are all pretty much segregated. New Yorkers ARE nice! I just had to come to New Mexico to fully realize it. We next saw the plaza/oldest church/old adobe hotel (see Ks part). Had to get one more shot of southwestern cuisine. Went to Guadeloupe's, nice food, cold ice tea. It was hot today, a dry heat, especially in the sun (not unbearable though). The ice tea really hit the spot especially after eating the chedder jalopeno soup. It was one of those times you just close your eyes and take a long sip of the tea and really appreciate the coolness and taste of the drink. AFter lunch and walking around a little more including the art district where there was a bunch of studios (mostly for rich tourists), we headed off to Albuquerque on the scenic route called the Turquoise Trail (what K said about this here). MADrid was pretty cool. We really hit it off with one of the store owners...she's from Cali-Mendicino, CA. Nice place, nice person. With out a doubt-hippie. She is also famous, 'Wild Hogs' was filmed in MADrid and she ended up being and extra in it. She got to slap John Trovolta a high five and was in like 5 scenes. Sweet. The drive was great AND short like 1.5 h or something. Albuquerque has been good, big city, NOTHING like SF. I got a delicious burger at a local brewery. Grilled, topped with green chile, bacon, and pepper jack. Delic-love green chile! Hit the spot. Also, there were a lot of young people around most from the U of NM. GO LOS LOBOS! It was kinda strange since everywhere we've been going out has had a significantly older crowd. Meat head dudes were abundant. It was nice to be the 'mature' one again.