road trip

Bound for Santa Fe

/ L. Ryan Storms / Leave a comment

Day 5: 6/6/24
From: Aspen, Colorado (Difficult Campground)
To: Santa Fe, NM
Distance: 300 miles

I’m up at 4 am. Why am I up at 4 am? Because my body is not used to camping. I made the executive decision somewhere in the blackness of night that I would flip my sleeping position so I could try to escape Husband’s snores, my head now at everyone else’s feet. It worked for the most part, but I’m generally a light sleeper and so I still wake with every shift of sleeping bags. The cold forest air has my head stuffy this morning, so allergy meds were my first go-to. (I thought about taking a Sudafed, but as we’re camping at an elevation of 8,000 ft, I’d rather not make my heart explode. It’s already working double time to keep up as it is.)

Up and out of the campground by 8 am, but not before first admiring a mule deer at a camp site next to us. It turns out Independence Pass isn’t as bad when driving the other direction. Or maybe it’s that we’re fresh off a night of sleep and haven’t been driving for 6 hours before getting to it this time. Who can say?

We make a quick stop in the teeny “town” of Twin Peaks so Husband can grab a coffee from a van and get to see an awesome magpie who lives nearby. They are big, gorgeous, incredibly smart birds in the raven family and I’m so glad I had the chance to see one live!

Before we head to Santa Fe, we need to find a Cabela’s. Husband cannot sleep on this creaky air mat again. It kept everyone waking every time he moved last night. A quick trip to Albuquerque tomorrow on our way to Mesa Verde National Park only adds 20 minutes to our drive, and there, we’ll find an air mat like mine waiting at curbside pickup at Cabela’s because the internet is a wonderful thing and I ordered one as soon as I had reception again.

On the way to New Mexico, we encounter a dust devil in southern Colorado. Fun! (And much better than encountering a tornado.)

We arrive in Santa Fe at a lovely inn in the middle of town around 2:30 pm, but check in isn’t until 4, so we walk the street and peruse the shops until our room is ready. There are so many vendors both outdoors and in with an array of beautiful artwork, pottery, jewelry, clothing, and so much more. You could easily spend a week shopping and half a year’s salary here.

We stop by the Loretto Chapel, but don’t go in since we’ve already gotten a call that our room is ready. But locals tell us about the “miraculous staircase,” so I make a point to find out more online. Neat? Yes. But we’re not terribly sad we missed viewing the inside in person. It’s plenty gorgeous from the outside.

Our room at the inn is lovely and inviting with a fireplace we almost certainly won’t use, and a walled porch with a gate that leads to a courtyard garden that separates the guest rooms from each other.

After hot showers and a rest, Husband and Older Child go out for dinner with promises to bring back food for me and Younger Child, who are just too beat to keep going today. I update the blog with all of yesterday’s activity, since we had zero reception for much of our adventures in the Rocky Mountains.

Aaaaand, by 9 pm we realize our air conditioning is broken. I figured we’d be sweltering during this trip. I just didn’t figure it would be while in an adorable inn in the middle of Santa Fe. I kind of figured it would be later when we were camping and hiking in the desert. Maintenance leaves at 8, so a poor security guard who doesn’t know anything about A/C repair is sent to our room. He does his very best to make it manageable. (It was getting rough when outside seemed cool at 80 degrees…) A few minutes later, he returns with a standing fan to help move the air in the room. We are very grateful.

Within a half hour, the room is tolerable and we are finally ready to get to bed. It’s been a low key night watching television after so much activity over the last few days.

Tomorrow, we head *back* to Colorado. But nowhere near Aspen this time, so we will NOT be heading over Independence Pass. Whew!

Let the Real Vacation Begin

/ L. Ryan Storms / 1 Comment

Original Post: July 19, 2015

It wasn’t as though we weren’t already on vacation, but somehow it just didn’t feel like it when we were visiting someplace we’d seen before.

Day two was the start of the real excitement for me, and the beginning of the “real” vacation.  I couldn’t wait to see the miles we’d cover and all of the things we’d see.

As it turned out, the things we would see were generally limited to this:

And this:

And this:

Okay, so we basically passed farm after farm.  The pastoral land was beautiful (though nothing new to those of us who live in Pennsylvania), but the overcast skies were a bit of a downer. 

When we finally neared St. Louis, my excitement began to rise despite the clouds that threatened to suffocate us.  The famed Arch is The Gateway to the West and though it’s a manmade landmark, the sight of it rising above the mighty Mississippi River was highly anticipated.

We’re here! We’re really here!

The Jefferson National Expansion Monument (as the pamphlets proclaim this to actually be) has a history far longer than I want to delve into. (Or than you actually want to read, I’m sure.  If you really wanted to read about it, you’d be Googling that right now and not reading a travel blog…)  According to the pamphlet, “The Gateway Arch is a memorial site where you can contemplate the epic mass-migration and settlement of the American West during the 1800s.  Thomas Jefferson estimated that it might take 1,000 generations for Americans to fully extend across the vast continent.  Instead, in fewer than 90 years what Americans called the frontier had ended.”

Oddly enough, it wasn’t here that I really contemplated the westward movement of settlers through the country, which is sort of ironic since it’s the entire reason the monument exists. For me, that speculation would come later.

After we arrived at the hotel (with a fabulous view of the Arch right from our room), we went straight to the Arch to arrange a ride to the top on the tram.  “Are you claustrophobic?” the ticket agent asked us.  “Do you have a fear of heights?” she said.  Hmmm. I wasn’t either of these, but it’s amazing how quickly you reconsider things when asked questions like these.

The next open tram ride was scheduled for 6:25 pm and it was only 3.  Wait, what?  3?  Oh!  We passed through a time zone and didn’t even know it.  Sweet way to gain an hour in the day.  And what did we do with it?  Napped.  Yep.

When we finally did head to the Arch for our tram ride, we quickly discovered that we could have stayed in the hotel an extra hour.  One of the two trams was closed and the line for the other was looped through the lobby multiple times.  We sorely regretted not having stopped for dinner first.

We finally made it to the waiting area for the tram and watched as a couple of teenage girls balked last minute as soon as they saw what they’d be riding in.  What did it look like?  Like this:

This tiny little pod seated 5 people for a 4-minute ride up 630 ft to the top of the arch. The views, despite the flooded Mississippi River, were spectacular.

It was a bit cozy to say the least.  A 4-minute ride 630 ft to the top and then we were able to appreciate 360 degrees of spectacular views.  If you ever have the chance to do it (and you’re not claustrophobic or afraid of heights), take the ride!  It’s worth it.

This guy looks awfully relaxed. Oh, that’s right. German chocolate cake martini.

Off to a fabulous dinner at Carmine’s Steakhouse with my dinner date, who got himself pretty loopy on a German chocolate cake martini while waiting for dinner to be served.

Excellent food, excellent company, and then we were on our way back to the Arch for some evening photos.  I’m glad we ventured out again, tired though we were, because that’s when we got the most spectacular shots.

I know, I know.  How many photos can one person take of a big metal manmade structure?  If I count all of the ones I deleted, I think probably 284, but no one’s really counting.  It seemed that every time I was finished taking photos and we were ready to retire for the night, I’d look back and see another angle or different lighting that made me want to try all over again.

It was a great “real” first evening of our vacation and I went to bed that night looking forward to traveling into new territory, places I’d never seen and would soon have the chance to photograph!  Bring on Day 3!