Flagstaff - Santa Fe - 21/1/13

We woke up at 7.30, having had a great night's sleep, which was certainly needed. Had breakfast at the hostel, a pretty spartan affair, instant porridge and toast (not terribly exciting). Despite getting up at this early time, we didn't manage to motivate ourselves to get back onto the road to leave for Santa Fe until around 9.30 - mostly on the I-40. - this time we elected the so-called 'fast' way rather than diverting for the 'scenic route' on Route 66, having learned form yesterday's error.

En route we saw signs for the Petrified Forest, also an area that contains the Painted Desert. We had read about this and thought it might be good to see, but hadn't got any further with that idea until we came across it and figured that it would criminal to miss it.

B learned that the process of petrifying is when wood turns to stone, via submerging in oxygen free ash and silt. This then was able to turn into silica over the years and not rot, eventually being uncovered and the proverbial rock hard. (As an illustration of how hard, some cross sections of tree that were cut for the little museum had taken fully 3 DAYS of continuous cutting with diamond/carbide discs and 3 WEEKS to polish).

Luckily, it so happened, it was free admission to the National Park when we arrive, usually $10, due to a national holiday. Within 2 minutes of entering the park, we stopped to look at some petrified tree trunks, just lying around, that were now rock. Even the bark patterns were preserved on some of them, but the inside of the trunks were beautiful colours of quartz and crystal stone - reds, yellows, blues, whites and dark purples. A further 45 minutes of driving through the park led us to the Painted Desert. This was an incredible landscape of pinky/red Arizona sandstone that stretched for miles (more or less to the horizon). It would have been great to have had the time to picnic on the edge of it, but we were aware of the timescale and didn't want a repeat of the day before, rolling into town in the dark. There was a lot to do in the park in terms of 3 mile walks etc. which would have been great if we'd have had the time to complete. We stopped at the gift shop on the way out and bought a lovely sandstone lamp.

Onwards to Santa Fe - on the way we stopped at Denny's Diner for lunch, a US chain set up in the 50s - although as much as we can we have tried to avoid chains, the food was cheap and very tasty. B had pancakes, 2 fried eggs and bacon for $4 and a burrito for myself for a similar price.

Still better than Scummo's.

We arrived in Santa Fe around 5.30-5.45, just as it was getting dark. First time that we have managed to  arrive in near daylight! We checked into the Econolodge, a lovely little hotel with a kingsize bed (more like giant size). Well worth $64 for the night including breakfast.

We chilled for a while, not feeling as tired as the day before despite travelling a similar distance and then chipped out for evening tea at a local mexican place recommended by the hotel owners. The food here was delicious. B ordered a sopapilla, which is kind of like a leavened bread stuffed with chicken and guac (her choice of filling). I ordered fajitas, that arrived with some of the nicest, freshest tortillas that I have ever eaten. We were given free dessert, which was plain, sweet sopapillas (rather like a donut mix) that honey is drizzled onto. Very tasty. Once back at the hotel, we both passed out fairly sharpish.

399 miles travelled, approx. 71/2 8 hours with a 90 minute stop for the appreciation of the petrified forest (not really long enough as mentioned) and 45 mins for lunch.


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