CHANGING LANDSCAPE: #THE RULE

We're about 1/2 hour away from the winery and the topography has become quite hilly, as opposed to loosely spread hills covered with vineyards.  

One of the things we've most enjoyed on this entire journey is the diversity of the geography in our country.  Driving out of Dallas:  Hilly with some trees for 90 minutes.  Surprise!  we thought it would be flat!  Then it became flat with blowing sagebrush through Amarillo, a smallish place where we couldn't find a pizza on a Sunday night. (We called 5 places, and ended up with CCs for the kids and Jason's Deli for me.)

!!!!!!!We're back to vineyards!!!!! For now!

Next came Tucumcari, NM, which is 30 minutes or so inside the border of NM.  Almost as soon as we entered NM the terrain changed to rolling, dry mountains.  It was quite beautiful and unlike what I expected.  The highway was flanked by anti DWI billboards.  Welcome to Indian Country!  A sad commentary.

Our approach to Santa Fe was along a desolate two lane highway.  Now THAT is what I expected.  We kept oohing at the mountains and stark beauty of the landscape.

One thing we all noticed was the dry air!  I soon purchased lip balm for all of us.

In Santa Fe we first visited the refurbished Cathedral of St Francis.  It's simple beauty of stencil work and simple stained glass stand out, along with the replica of the San Damiano cross hanging above the alter.  Somebody told me that the Franciscans evangelized the natives well, and that many of them are still staunch Catholics!  

Next we strolled around the touristy streets,  and then high-tailed it to a mexican lunch shop where I ate the most amazing Sopa Azteca.  I need THAT recipe, for sure.

We spent about 3.5 hours in Santa Fe.  I accomplished my goal of buying a piece of turquoise jewelry: A pendant of turquoise from the spent Sleeping Beauty mine located near Grand Canyon.  (NM basically has NO turquoise mines, even though they are renowned for their silver work.)

I bought my necklace from the artist whose family is of Spanish descent and has lived in the Santa Fe area since the 1500s! We bought smaller, cheaper work from one the many Navajo or Hopi's selling their wares in the square. Each girl got a silver cross with a stone in the center, for instance.  I really liked the work of a particular Navojo, but I didn't want to spend $450 for his work, exquisite as it was. 

We could've spent more time in Santa Fe, climbing a hill, or visiting museums, but our time there fit the bill  for this trip.  

Painted Desert here we come!

And FYI!  We've been driving 50 minutes and it's still beautiful: a valley of vineyards, flanked by tall, treed  hills..We have driven for days, basically since we left Dallas, without seeing a real tree!  (Of course, LA has palms, and so does any other irrigated areas of Southern CA.  Water is scarce here!

Now it's been 60 minutes since we left the vineyard and there are no more grapes.  We're in the mountains and going up, up!  boulders peak out from under a blanket of yellow grasses.  Some areas of meadows have many trees and little grass, others are heavily treed with a little grass.  Now share rock mountains appear beside the winding road...A song from Les Miserable plays on Brian's  iPod... "I know a place..."  

and I just discovered that the shear rock was not a natural formation but a blasted side of a mountain with its guts exposed for some sort of mining.  

I could go on and on!  The land overcomes one!  This is what I wanted to give my children:  America!