Snow in the Desert

The next morning was cold and clear. We loaded up the car and, rather than eat at one of the many chain restaurants surrounding the Santa Rosa exit, we secided to strike northwest for Santa Fe to get breakfast. There was a little snow already on the ground in Santa Rosa, but the drifts deepened as we headed west. Apparently, there had been a snowstorm that paralyzed much of New Mexico about 2 days earlier. Glad we missed that!

Santa Fe was a cute little town that seemed to be full or artisan shops, art galleries, cafes, and real estate offices. Pie Girl dug the architecture, most of the city looked like an adobe pueblo, down to the gas stations. It also smelled terrific! Everyone was burning a certain type of wood (What was it called again, Patti?) that made the whole town fill with the delicious aroma. We hope to make a trip back to check it out when we have more time - and better weather. So here we were, in Santa Fe on a Sunday, during the off-season, in the days following a blizzard... not much was open. We managed to find a coffee shop and had a cup of joe with some pastries. Not the honking stack of French toast I was jonesing for, but it would do.

Pie Girl was feeling particularly inspired by our surroundings, so she opened one of the many packages from Michele, given to us when we began our journey. The one she opened was marked: Open me if you are feeling creative. It was a cannister of Play-Doh. She formed it into a giant fuchsia flower in honor of Georgia O'Keefe (who had a gallery there in Santa Fe).











We left Santa Fe and headed for Albuquerque to get back on I-40.
The snow and the more varied landscape of NM made for a more interesting drive than those other states, that we won't mention.

We arrived at Matt's place in Flagstaff, AZ around 6:00. Once we had Harry settled inside the house, we went out for dinner - you like Thai? The restaurant was hopping, and we were about to settle in for an estimated 1/2 hour wait. Two minutes later, our table was ready! The food was great, second only to the company of Matt and Joe, who entertained us with stories about moving and about the locals. Then we went home to relax. Pie Girl crawled into her sleeping bag and passed out immediately. I stayed up with Matt to watch some Venture Brothers, and some other fun stuff he had found - 'Spaced,' which is a British show made by the same guy responsible for 'Shaun of the Dead,' was hilarous! As the evening wound down, Matt and I caught up on what had been going on the last few months and took turns trying to flick popcorn into Pie Girl's gaping maw.