Wig Wams and old cars. Holbrook
Holbrook is also close to the Petrified Forest National Park, about 40 miles out of town. Many scared trees....
We have already been to three National Parks, and Petrified forest makes four, so after a bit of research, we had decided to get a12 month unlimited 'America The Beautiful' National Park Pass for $80.00. So at the entrance gate we spoke to the ranger, and she told us that we could deduct $65.00 from the price because we had the ability to produce the receipts for three of the parks....so now we have to do some more parks......
The Petrified Forest/Painted Desert National Park is about 100 kms sq and has thousands of large logs that have, millions of years ago, been washed down a stream, into an area where they have sunk to the bottom of a lake either been covered with silt or a volcanic dust layer. Then the minerals, mostly silica, has leached into and created an inverse copy of the cells of the wood, so that when the organic matter has been lost, the silica has remained and caused the wood to be 'preserved' and petrified.
The detail is really quite beautiful.
Showing the bark and the colors(sic).
Showing a larger expanse of Trees..terrain very similar to the Ochre Pits on the Oodnadatta track
Colours of the Mesa formations
And some R66 stuff car on old R66 at current R 40 and a Diner in the Painted Desert NP
The terrain is still very much a desert type look to it, but it is at an elevation of over 6000 feet (Australia highest peak Mount Kosciuszkois only just over 7000 ft) so they get huge variations in climate....many Mesa and sheer sandstone cliffs.
Our first stop in New Mexico was in a sizable town called Gallup. This is where we noticed our first Walmart...and just had to visit.....
O oh....
One hundred metres of breakfast sugar, certainly fascinated Nathalie.
Then on to Albuquerque, where we stopped at the old city, initially set up by the Spanish in 1790, and this part of town is lovely and peaceful.... The more senior lady at the tourist center was an absolute joy to deal with she was passionate and clearly in love with her town....she told us confidentially that she has people enquiring at her office into two categories- the tourist...who zoom in zoom out and on a strict schedule and the travellers...who she enjoys more...
The old Spanish church
Finally found our lodging, and across the road...a yoga shop...it was hot yoga, at 6500 feet....but we kept up with the local and young whippersnappers......but Nathalie would not let Andrew take his singlet off like those twenty year olds down the front of the class, something about being an embarrassment....
Today 21st May.
Had a Trolley Bus tour booked of Albuquerque, so before that we had another wander around the old city, and it was really quite quaint. This area of NM believes it has cornered the fine art market of Southern US....so this means that anything that looks like art is well outside our range.
What you didn't know about Albuquerque was that...it is a bugger to spell...it is very common place for films and tv shows to be made.....of all the films and tv shows mentioned. Breaking Bad was the only one we knew... Not that we've seen it... It's to do with the tax breaks the govt gives film makers and the 310 days of sunshine a year.
The baseball team in Albuquerque WAS named after the Simpsons Spingfield Baseball team. The Isotopes...the Hungry Hungry Homer episode apparently tells it all... A bit of culture....
Met up with the local Plods who were giving a talk to a bunch of local school kids, and these guys were with the search and rescue, and had some cool toys..like the hovercraft in the background....
There were also two mounted (on horses ) troopers there as well.
And the hovercraft between Andrew and Officer Justin.
The capital of NM is Santa Fe, and is equally quaint but much smaller than Albuquerque. Had lunch there and then visited the Loretto Chapel. The miracle of the chapel. In the 1800s some time the choir loft, where the nuns sang from was only accessible via a ladder. But the nuns were worried everyone was looking up their dresses.....so they prayed, and a mysterious bloke turned up and built then this spiral staircase, with no hand rails, then disappeared..or so the myth goes. Call me a skeptic but it is a good bit of wood work thought.. However a check of snopes dot com. Loretto chapel basically says that the design was of its time, not uncommon that no nails were used, and I reckon they just conveniently forgot who built it because they didn't want to pay the invoice.
Then staying at Tucumcari NM, and to Amarillo tomorrow?
