It was a snowy start to our day! But the good news was that we avoided the big storm. There was about 2 inches on the car when we woke up but the roads were clear, and the skies just cloudy which made a great change from all the rain yesterday.
After filling up with petrol we drove just a few miles to Petrified Forest National Park. With a dusting of snow still all over the scenery, it was quite beautiful.
This was my second time here as ironically I stopped here on my way across the states in the other direction from Atlanta to Morgan Hill. That time we just drove I40 all the way. It was bittersweet as last time I was here I was with my mother in law Mary, who passed away last year. We also drove with a dog, but that was Pepper who was 12 years old at the time. She didn't have as much fun as Dottie seems to be having!
We did get out of the car and went for a loop walk around the Blue Mesa loop. Dottie was a bit bemused by it all though she does seem to enjoy the snow. She hasn't experienced more than a dusting yet.
This experience was very different even though that trip was actually two weeks earlier in the year because it was really cold - not because of the snow but the wind chill. We even put a sweater on the dog! The colors in the different layers of rock were not so obvious when we first arrived because of the snow but it was still beautiful.
As we were leaving the park, the snow had already gone.
Back on the road, Route 66 runs parallel to the I40 highway for most of the way out of Arizona and into New Mexico and is just a slower route, so we did some of both but largely did I40. There is not much to see except the spectacular scenery which we could see from either road. This area has lots of Indian reservations and advertising for them and their goods all along the roads. The roads were dry because of very strong crosswinds. We were now up at about 6000 feet elevation.
Our lunch stop was in Gallup, New Mexico and we didn't even notice the time change! It too was very windy and cold. 37f felt like 27f. We ended up buying a sandwich and eating it in the car!
Back on the road, we drove through Albuquerque and up to Santa Fe driving on and off route 66. We are staying in the beautiful Chimayo hotel which is dog-friendly, and right near the square downtown.
Our room in the hotel, and the courtyard outside:
We took Dottie for a walk up to the historic Fort Marcy Park just after we got here, and then walked around downtown
The hotel has a bar on site too so we were able to eat in the bar rather than in our room with a take-out for a change. Dottie flaked out on her blanket in the bar. No beer was involved! (For her anyway...) :-)
We've driven about 1260 miles so far. Into Texas tomorrow!
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