New Mexico Adventure #2--Driving to Santa Fe

After the festivities of the Balloon Fiesta, we checked out of our motel headed for Santa Fe via Los Alamos. We fired up the old GPS, and headed out through the backcountry of New Mexico. We soon left the outskirts of Albuquerque, and started seeing the rough deserty looking country we expect of the Southwest. I commented to my fellow travelers, “no matter how often I get to the Southwest, the beauty and sheer diffrentness amaze me”. (being the East Coast guy I am) Soon we saw our first Elk Crossing sign. We instantly found a reason to like New Mexico in that many of the back roads have 70 mph speed limits. Oh and at this time we discussed the morons in Congress that are once again dredging up the “National 55 mph speed limit”. Let’s hope they don’t figure out how to get that dinosaur passed again.

Our rental car has Sirius satellite radio, so I spent some time poking around that looking for something interesting. Only thing I figured out was you need a guide to use it. Will look up some stuff tonight on the Internet about channel lineup. There really is a lot of stuff on it—sort of like my cable at home. Too much to watch and a lot to wade through.

Climbing into the mountains, we came upon the Valles Caldera National Preserve. By the name caldera, this brings to mind the big hot lava looking areas in Yellowstone Park. This must be an old one that cooled and is now this huge mountain mesa covered with grass and zero trees. It is 89,000 acres and looking down from the road above, it is an incredible sight. I spotted a bunch of brown spots way down in the valley. We stopped at a pull off and through the binoculars it was a heard of elk. All and all it is a beautiful place. I recommend you look it up on the Internet.

We continued our drive through the mountains and came to Los Alamos. Naturally the conversation turned to history and the atomic weapons developed there. We were impressed by the security around the National Laboratory in Los Alamos. It all appeared to be very new and probably has been constructed since 911. While we were passing through the area, we saw a sign in front of the main gate that said “Mission Accomplished 1st Production Unit W76-1/MK4A Seaborne Deterrent Sept 2008”. If you Google W76-1/MK4A it appears the Bush administration had decided to greatly increase the number of submarine nuclear warheads we have at our disposal. Pretty scary to think about but also pretty comforting. If we ever have to turn Iran into a glass dish in the desert or remove North Korea from the map we have the stuff to do it.

On a lighter note, I made myself a note on my pocket recorder “Here we are in Los Alamos following the Atomic City Transport bus as it makes its rounds”. Seemed like the lighter side to the whole atomic thing. While we were riding along, I spotted a diner that had a bunch of cars around it. That is usually a good sign of some place to eat. Jerry did a great U-turn and we ended up back at the Hill Diner in Los Alamos. The special of the day was meatloaf sandwiches and chicken noodle soup. Jerry and I opted for the sandwich special with a side of deep fried green beans, and the girls both went for a dish of the soup. We ordered drinks and they arrived in quart glasses. (we figured that keeps down on trips for the waiter, and at roughly 6-7000 feet elevation, everybody is thirsty) Soon the food arrived and we were thoroughly pleased. The sandwiches were to die for, the soup was great, and the fried green beans, served with ranch as a dipping sauce, were a new experience. All in all the Hill diner which has been a Los Alamos institution for years was an excellent find. The service and food were great and the prices not crazy.

On the way out of town we saw a Los Alamos fire truck. Ever on the lookout for something interesting, I made the observation: “The Los Alamos fire department has a great anachronym on the front of their trucks, L.A.F.D. I observed “gee these guys could go to a fire and say they laughed at it” Don’t you just hate my bad puns? Then Jerry added that it would also work for Los Angles---wonder if they ever thought of that? L.O.L

After a great and scenic trip, we arrived at the Sage Inn in Santa Fe. We were greeted by an overwhelmingly attentive check in staff that attended to our every need. We found our rooms, and collectively decided that we would forgo a dinner outing after a late lunch. In addition we were all exhausted after the 36 hrs of intense activity. A good nights rest was had by all.
More later,

Wes