Most of the visitor's center folk that we met across our journey played the role of informant very well; where to go for a nice meal, what the weather was going to be like, asking where we were coming from, and one woman who even offered to explain what a tornado was; we dont get those in Canada I guess. But there was one visitor center host who seemed to go a little further in giving you the goods on where to go. A large strong frame complimented by a large white afro was the first thing to greet you when you walked in. Followed closely by his large eyes that seemed to take in every pixel that life was sprouting out at each milisecond. His suggestion for where to get a decent margarita in Santa Fe was based on how alcoholic it was. His suggestion for what to give 'the little lady' was dependant on how coherent I wanted her to be. He recommended that we go to the Inn on Anasaze where they serve a cheap but very strong margarita. His suggestion was that she only drink three quarters so that she would be good and liquored but not to have her drink the whole thing as she'd be 'no good to you; she'd be in a coma', punctuated by eyes that became more white than iris. That was within the first few minutes of us asking where to get a good drink. The conversation carried on effortlessly and we soon found ourselves listening to his description of the conversation that he had with his ex-wife while sitting in the back of an ambulance after getting in a life changing and almost life ending accident. We werent sure how we were privy to the info. but he mentioned that he was in shock while talking with her; we strangely felt that he hadnt come out of his shock just yet. Once we got back on track that we were indeed touring through the area and looking for the gems of Santa Fe he proceeded to go back to his desk and pull out a zip-lock bag of two cookies. He offered us an entire cookie, much to our polite acceptance of only half, we ended up eating the whole thing. I asked him if there was anything wacky in said cookie, to which he replied "Sorry", with a bit of an undertermined expression and downcast eyes. It was followed up with a "no" that rose out of his throat just as his large white eyes came up and caught our gaze of apprehension. He is by far the most interesting man, and not just visitor center person, that we could have met and would like to have stayed chatting with him, but food, beer, margaritas, sunshine and a debriefing on "The Guthrie Experience" needed to be got to. Below is a picture that some other fortunate soul who had the opportunity to meet him has posted. If in Santa Fe you should stop in and have a listen and chat with Joe Guthrie. Actually, if you're anywhere in New Mexico for that matter, you should stop in for a chat with Joe Guthrie. One of the many interesting and 'enchanted' people in New Mexico that we had the pleasure of meeting.
"The Guthrie"
West Coast
Sunday, April 1, 2012
Friday, March 30, 2012
We drove through a lot of nothing on the way to
Arizona. The weather was warm and for
the 5-6 hours it took us to get to Flagstaff, Arizona we assumed that the
weather was warm all the miles in between.
However, when we arrived into Flagstaff, there was snow on the ground
and snow covered mountains. We stopped
to get gas and realized that it was quite frigid out! We had no idea that we
would be going from a warm, dry Santa Fe to a cold, frosty climate in a town
with an elevation of 7,000 feet!
The town of Flagstaff was immediately amazing. We drove through downtown keeping an eye out
for possible accommodations and I spotted a hostel. We ended up staying at the De Beaux Hostel in
downtown Flagstaff. It was my first
hostel experience so I was a bit skeptical but it felt like a comfortable
little community. We had a
small…extremely small….private room with a bed and a tiny shower. It was within walking distance to everything downtown
and a 90 minute drive to the Grand Canyon.
Fortunately, we didn’t have such a long drive that day so we were able
to check in, change and have time to get to the Grand Canyon National Park to
check it out. Although we were
exhausted, we are SO very glad we made the drive out there and back. I’m not going to say much about the Grand
Canyon because, as cliché and cheesy at it may sound, there are simply no
words. It was bigger and more majestic
than anything I have ever witnessed. It
is an infinite mass of carvings of land and colors. You do not have enough sight in your two
eyeballs to take it all in and it is something that you will never quite wrap
your brain around.
We drove an hour and a half back to our hostel, almost in
silence as there isn’t much to say after witnessing such an amazing thing. Our tummies had no problems talking for us,
however. It was definitely dinner
time. It was, or close to, freezing
temperatures by the time we got back to the hostel. We ran in to throw on more layers of clothes
and head out to find food. We were
excited to 1) have so many options in front of us and 2) to be able to walk the
options without having to drive around aimlessly. We ended up at the Railway Brewery. Jason and a flight so that he could sample 6
of the local brews while I had a margarita (I was on a margarita mission after
having Maria’s in Santa Fe). It took us
all of an hour to eat and finish our drinks.
Jason looked at me and said, “I’m really feeling that beer.” Apparently, according to our server, the
effects of alcohol intensify with the elevation.
A gentleman came by our table and announced that they were
providing free two step lessons in the back for anyone who wanted to
participate and that in an hour they were going to be moving all of the tables
for dancing and two-step. Jason and I
toyed with the idea but opted out. We
considered trying the Flag Brewery across the street but decided that it had
been a long enough day and that we had a LONG
drive to Los Angeles the next morning.
The next morning we got up around 6:30 and went for a run
downtown. He didn’t notice as much, but
the elevation definitely makes a difference when trying to get air into your
lungs and breathe properly (or perhaps it was the horrible diet and lack of
exercise over the past week). Jason and
I went to breakfast in the common area separately. That way we could take turns showering and
taking care of other restroom neccessities (sometimes you just need some
privacy…haha!). Once showered, I went to
the common area to post on the blog while Jason packed, showered and played
guitar. The plan was to leave by 9am but
I was held up when I met a couple from Toronto.
They were two ladies who had been together for 13 years and each year
they take a trip somewhere new. I spent
about 20-30 minutes chatting with them before I realized the time. I told them goodbye and wished them
well. They did the same. We threw things into the car and prepared for
what we knew would be a long day.
Sunday, March 25, 2012
PS: these blogs are written from the road and posted once we get internet connection in a hotel before falling asleep - please disregard any grammatical or spelling errors....or anything that just doesn't make sense in general. Thank you :)
Farewell, Texas! We were finally on our way to New
Mexico. It only took about an hour to
get to the boarder from Amarillo. It’s
amazing how much the scenery changes from state to state. We stopped in at the Visitor’s Center to get
some information and, per the recommendation of the front desk clerk, decided
to take the scenic route to Santa Fe.
The terrain changed from spans of flat land to dry, red canyons and was
absolutely stunning to see in person. It
was about a 4 hour drive to Santa Fe from the boarder (I’m proud to say that I
actually drove that entire distance and it was the most I’ve driven thus
far). Fortunately, we had a good bit of
fuel in the tank because there was literally nothing for miles and miles other
than the amazing scenery. We came up to
a small store in the middle of nowhere off of 25 South and decided we’d stop in
for a potty break and a small snack.
There no other vehicles in sight and I was unsure if it was even open or
operating at all. We pulled open the
first door then pushed in the second door.
We were greeted by a buzzing noise.
I immediately shut the door thinking it was an alarm going off. Jason encouraged me to go on in. Apparently, the noise it to signal to the
people upstairs to leave their living room, come down the ramp and greet the
customers. An older Spanish gentleman
with a limp arm and a flannel shirt, cowboy hat and large belt buckle. It looked as if we had stepped into a house/bar/once-was
fuel station. To the right were a couple
of pool tables and cleaning supplies. To the left there was a bar fully stocked
with the following: liquor, bags of chips and popcorn, M&M’s and Bud
Light. “What can I do for you, little
lady?” he asked. I explained that we
were hoping to use the restroom and grab a snack. His little granddaughter in Dora the Explorer
pajama’s followed him closely as well as his little dog, Buddy. He encouraged us to stay and have a beer with
him. “We can’t, we’re driving into Santa
Fe and it’s 11am.” With a thick accent
he said, “Oh, come on. One beer ain’t
gonna kill ya. Do a shot
then…something!” We declined although looking back now we wish we would
have. He had a lot of interesting things
to say about New Mexico as well as a few theories on how all of the land and
property must be owned by “doctors or drug dealers.”
New Mexico is an interesting place to be. Everything is made of adobe – homes, schools,
churches, everything – other than mobile homes which are randomly scattered
about the land in no particular rhyme or reason. Santa Fe is a busy little city. We stopped at the visitor’s center in town
where we met the most interesting person.
The attendant’s name was Joe Guthrie.
He was tall, black, wide eyed and animated with a big white afro. He was very charismatic and said that the
government gave him that job to keep him off welfare after a terrible car
incident. He was hilarious. He had homemade cookies with him and offered
them to Jason and myself. Actually, he
pushed them onto us. Saying “no” wasn’t
an option. Jason said that it was the
best cookie he’s ever eaten. He loved
Joe’s cookie.
We were starting to get really hungry so we stopped in at
the Second Street Brewery for lunch and a brew.
From there we headed into downtown to walk around for a bit and take a
few photographs. Like New Orleans, it’s
one of those cities you wish you could spend more time in. On the way out, we stopped at Maria’s Kitchen
for a margarita as several of the locals had recommended. Maria’s offers over 150 different tequilas
and an entire book of different margaritas! We each had a margarita (which was
fantastic…and strong!) while we looked online for accommodations in Albuquerque.
We checked into the Super 8 around 7pm (“I’m not really sure
where the ‘Super’ comes in…….or the ‘8’” – Jason). It felt later to me and, as usual, I was
showered and asleep within an hour as Jason worked on the blog and probably
checking emails and such since he had no one else to talk to. I vaguely remember him asking valid questions
such as “Do they have a place we can do laundry here? Is there a fitness
center?” I’m not sure if he got an answer.
I felt like I was in a coma. In
fact, I fell asleep sitting up on the bed trying to fill out postcards. Lame. Anyway, the next morning it was off to
Flagstaff, AZ and to hopefully get in a peek at the Grand Canyon in all of its
glory.
Friday, March 23, 2012
Damarillo. Its actually Amarillo, but once you’ve been there the preceding title makes more sense. We leftShreveport and decided that we’d drive as far as we could without fallingasleep, which put us in Amarillo,approximately 620 miles from Shreveport.We decided to try and get some miles under our wheels as there isn’tmuch to see in Texas where we were passing through. Driving around Dallas to head north was anexperience. When you’ve been in smalltown after small town, to encounter a city that spurred on its own TV show, it felt like we were in a differentworld. It was busy, fast and hectic andthere were definitely more SUV’s and trucks than cars. We finally got through after figuring out thebest way around Dallas and headed north.The map that we are using wasn’t totally clear so with some backtrackingand route finding and a few arguments,we eventually got ourselves in the right direction. We passed through numerous towns on the waythrough to Amarillo and each one had such a peculiar feel to it. Perhaps the most peculiar was when we passedthrough Conway, which had a road side amusement fair going on, with no onethere. The vacant ferriswheel did lapswhile the controller sat below staring out towards the road. It was such a weird vibe. The only cars it seemed at the time on theroad were the ones either coming from Amarillo or heading to Amarillo. At this time of the day however it wasgetting towards sunset, so we had the chance to see some beautiful Texas sky asthere was a sliver of sky between the clouds and the horizon.Everythingis bigger in Texas; including their steak houses. After we drove around trying to find a placeto eat, once finally in Amarillo, we settled in at the Big Texan. I guess it’s a well known spot by those whohave ever had the chance to drive on the 40 headed West. Its claim to fame is the 72 ounce steakeating contest. You have 59 minutes and 59seconds to eat four and a half pounds of steak including the salad, rolls andbaked potato. If you do its free. If you don’t it will set you back $72.00,paid up front of course. The currentrecord is 8 minutes and 52 seconds. Onlyin Texas I think. Both Tess and I optedfor the burgers as we weren’t feeling steak.And to think that my diet consisted of nothing with faces or feathersfor a significant part of my late 20’s and 30’s. Therest of the restaurant is decorated with the heads of various animals mountedon the walls, large chandeliers, a group of men who play music at your table, ashooting gallery at the otherside of the bar, a woman who plays honky-tonk onan upright pian’er but the saving grace is the microbrewery there that servesup some pretty good beers. A growler [64oz] will set you back $14 the first time and $10 afterwards. It was nice to have a good beer after the daythat we had. I think we’re both lookingforward to getting into New Mexico.
The wind was picking up something awful and the weather
reports were indicating a huge storm that was getting ready to hit southeastern
parts of Mississippi and Louisiana – right where we were, of course. Sorry for stressing you out, mama and daddy! J It was impossible to
explain not stopping by New Orleans being that we were so close. So, despite the bad weather headed in our
direction, we decided to stop in and see it for about an hour. We walked around the French Quarter and had
coffee at Beignet Café to fill out postcards.
Jason was given a nice little treat from a bird who decided to poo on
him and his camera. It was amazing to
see the devastation still left behind from Hurricane Katrina in both New
Orleans and Biloxi. Driveways, foundations
and chimneys of homes remain but nothing else.
You could see where there were clearly shopping centers and parking lots and now there is
nothing. Especially driving into New
Orleans from the interstate, homes stood eerily boarded up and the roofs were
being covered with moss and other plant life and covered in spray paint and
graffiti. Being there gives you a
bizarre feeling in your gut when you try to imagine what must have been going
through the minds of these people as they were about to lose everything they
had ever known.
We rushed back to the car so that we didn’t have to pay for
an additional hour of parking….we missed it by 2 minutes! Actually, the
employee at the booth said we missed the cut off by 4 minutes and she wouldn’t
budge on that fact. Frustrating. We got back onto 10-West and ran into the
storm. The sky was a blue/green/grey
color we had never seen before and it was only noon. Then, the heavens opened and it rained unlike
anything we had ever seen. Cars were
pulled over with flashing lights and although we were only driving 20 mph, we
couldn’t even make out the lines on the road.
AM radio was playing so that we could listen to the local weather
reports. Bad news – two tornados had
been reported….Good news – we were going the opposite direction. We didn’t quite make it to Dallas after
having to drive a round-about way to avoid the storm but we were safe. After decided at 7pm that we were just too
exhausted to make it another 3 hours to Dallas, we had dinner at Posado’s and
booked a reservation at the Ramada in Shreveport, LA. We made plans to settle in early, do some
laundry and work on the blog together.
While Jason was moving the Jeep, I took a hot shower, threw on pj’s and
settled in. He poured us each a glass
(no, plastic hotel cup) of Sasquatch Stout he brought from Vancouver which was
delicious. Cheers! Then, we got out the
laptop to begin on the blog. I was asleep in about 3 minutes. Sorry, Jason.
I got up this morning (Thursday) for a makeshift workout in the “workout
facility” at the Ramada while Jason caught up on sleep. I couldn’t blame him as he drove the entire
day yesterday and I seem to be experiencing some sort of narcolepsy falling
asleep any and everywhere. We had the
continental breakfast at the hotel, finished our postcards, packed up the car
again and hit the road. Next
destination: Amarillo, Texas. Translation: Maybe somewhere in Texas but who
really knows?
There isn’t much to say about our journey through Alabama
other than this: we finally realized that we were driving across the country,
that it was going to be a long way, and that it was going to be a lot of car
time. Also, Grace and Garland are towns
that must feel like “home” to those who live there (and have mostly likely
always lived there and will always live there); however, it feels like anything
but “home” to those passing through for food and fuel. We took an exit which lead us to a sign with
arrows pointing in opposite directions.
One lead to the town of Grace, the other to Garland. We drove both ways and each looked identical
– dirt roads with people sitting on porches staring at us as if we didn’t
belong….and we didn’t. You could almost
hear crickets, banjos and the clicking of shotguns (“and the whistle of wind
through teeth….no tooth!” – Jason).
We stopped at the Alabama Visitor’s Center to take a picture
and get some information. As we were
doing so we were greeted by James who had a thick Alabama accent (I didn’t
realize southern accents had their own twang but they definitely do). He was an older man who had probably been
working there for years and new a lot.
He took pictures of us by the Alabama sign. Jason was sure that James was either staring
at my necklace or something in that general vicinity and that Jason himself may
not have made it into the photograph that James was snapping.
Although our next scheduled stop was Dallas, we decided it
would be nice to drive a bit out of the way to see the Gulf Coast….so, that’s
what we did. We had checked into
accommodations in New Orleans, but they were not in the budget. Biloxi, MS had plenty of cheap hotels right
on the coast line so we headed that way excited about a good night’s sleep in a
room by the water. As it turns out, in Biloxi, cheap = skank. We aren’t
pretentious by any stretch of the imagination; however, the Flamingo at
$34.95/night wasn’t worth investing in bullet proof vests and watching our
luggage (and our backs) overnight in shifts.
We drove around and around Biloxi checking out hotels and finally came
to the conclusion that it’s either pay a little more or give up peace of
mind. We stayed at the Super 8 on the
coast line of Biloxi. We requested a
room where we could park the Jeep right by our room window and brought inside
the valuables – guitars, cameras, laptop, etc.
For dinner we went to Shaggy’s which is right on the beach
and completely open. It is most likely
the site of lots of drunken nights and debauchery among college students and
spring breakers, but was a neat place to see the water, have dinner and not
discuss the road for a minute. I had a
blackened chicken club and margarita and Jason had the grilled fish sandwich
and Indian Summer Ale. We chowed down on
food and made small talk with the bar tender about our travels. It didn’t go far beyond how horrible Texas is
to drive through and how miserable we would be. In her defense, she did the
drive through Texas all by herself and with a 5 month old baby. Yikes.
Thursday, March 22, 2012
We finally arrived in Huntersville, NC around 9pm to see my
best friend, Sonya, her boyfriend Jacob and his roommate Ryan. We had no issues other than a noise we
couldn’t quite figure out – the constant locking and unlocking of the doors on
their own accord. Jason proudly
announced that he fixed it the next morning, “I jiggled some wires. I think
we’re good.” I don’t believe that he
meant it at the time, but we haven’t had the issue since. We all sat around and mingled for about 2
hours. It was nice and relaxing as we
were all feeling exhausted – them from St. Patty’s Day shenanigans the day
before and Jason and I for obvious reasons (refer to previous post).
We got up around 8am the day which was Monday morning. Our next destination was Newnan, GA to see my
other best friend, Liz, and her husband, Jonathan. I wanted to stop at the Vortex with Jason
before we made it to Newnan. It is a
unique pub/restaurant in Little Five Points in Atlanta, GA. If you are ever nearby, check it out. Man v. Food from the Travel Channel was there
as well trying out different things from the food menu including the
‘Elvis.’ I, like millions of others,
felt the need to share my current location status with hundreds of others on
Facebook. My friend from college, Andy,
saw my post and said that he lived just next door. He rode his bike on over and the three of us
sat down to have a beer before moving down to Newnan. He had just gotten back from Europe with his
girlfriend 1pm the day before!
Around 8pm, we arrived into the cute little town of
Newnan. Liz and Jonathan were great
hosts offering to help us unload the vehicle and have the upstairs prepared for
us. Jason and I pulled out the guitar in
an attempt to entertain with playing and singing but, apparently, we didn’t
have it in us. Instead, the four of us
sat down talked about music and technology (well, mostly Jonathan talked about
technology and we tried to understand it).
Like the night before, we didn’t get to socialize as much as we would
have liked due to lack of time and energy; however, it was so nice to see them
on the way out!
Jason and I got up at 6am Tuesday and went for a run around
the neighborhood. That involved more
than throwing on running shoes and a t-shirt as my running clothes were buried
somewhere in the bottom of the chaos that was and is the inside of this Jeep
Liberty. After pulling everything out of
the car, taking clothes from the bottom suitcase, repacking the car, we finally
headed out for the run. There were lots
of beautiful streets and flowers blooming and felt good to stretch the legs
before sitting down in the car for what we knew would be the longest day of
driving so far. We showered, had a quick cup of coffee and had breakfast at the
Redneck Gourmet per Liz and Jonathan’s recommendation (we both had the veggie
omelet and it was fantastic….other than the unexpected potty break I needed as
a result). And, on that note, we were
off to Alabama….
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)