Day 3: Dallas to Santa Fe, NM Posted on Monday, August 10, 2009 |

So we started with our Starbucks in hand, ready to take the panhandle of Texas head on; unfortunately, my new GPS was planning to take us the complete round about way to Santa Fe. My dad's college roommate (who generously put us up for the night) mapquest-ed us better directions and we were on out way. Now there are no big towns between Dallas and Santa Fe except for Amarillo, TX; so the majority of the landscape we saw in the panhandle looked like this:

desolate, flat land

When we decided to break for lunch, at the rest area there was a most peculiar sign:

I almost didn't get of the car when i saw this

yes, we were still in Texas with rattlesnakes, supposedly. I muster the courage to use the restroom, eat my turkey sandwich that Dad made for me and soldiered on through Texas. I had a couple of chuckles on the drive. Now for all my UVA friends out there, you may or may not have heard me complain before about one of my nursing professors named Reba. She is a wonderful woman, taught me a lot but the woman is slightly crazy (in a good way i guess). As I was mesmerized by the clouds floating in the enormous Texas sky, I happened to notice what county we were in

to the right it says "childress"-reba's last name

I didn't know whether to laugh or cry when I saw it

I guess some teachers leave their permanent mark on you like that

All of the clouds looked like this today; it was as if someone took a cottonball, stretched it out and merely placed it in the sky. Today's sky was one of Texas' redeeming qualities. Other enjoyable Texas things included:

The lone star flag-there was one about every 1/2 mile or so

and a Memphis Hotel in a small po-dunk town...

After passing through Amarillo and seeing every possible restaurant chain and fast food joint in America, we kept our eyes peeled for the Cadillac Ranch. The story behind this "artwork" is pretty neat. I had never personally considered graffiti an art form, but seeing spray paint on Cadillac's sticking halfway into the dirt is amazing stuff.

Panoramic-there are actually 10 cars in real life but i had

a little difficulty stiching the pictures together

there are so many personal messages, declarations, exclamations

all over each car from spray paint

a little height comparison-i'm 5'1"

One thing I will never forget about Amarillo is when we where walking to and from the car to the artwork: the hot crosswinds. I've never experienced that kind of radiating heat continously blowing into my eyes, ears, face all at once. It almost felt like a breeze you get at the beach but carrying a furnace of heat with it. As we made our way to the New Mexico border, we spotted our first turbines of the trip. It's good to see green technology at work; it kind of gives you some hope for the future of our planet.

The landscape began to change a little bit as well; no more flat lands full of dirt and cattle. We did run into our first rainstorm of the trip shortly after the turbines. We saw the storm from afar with lightning strikes and then barreled straight into a thunderous downpour. I was afraid we would have to pull over, but Dad assured me that he's "an excellent driver".

The storm looming

caught in cats and dogs

Then, the sky parted, sun streamed in and New Mexico appeared.

I also managed to get some light reading in; not recommended for the faint of heart or anyone with slightly prudish tendencies. Tucker Max is a frat boy on steroids.

I had no idea that Santa Fe had mountains; I actually did know, but it wasn't until seeing the mountains that I jogged my memory. Believe it or not, there is a ski resort in Santa Fe and it is decent.

In the daylight...

And then at sunset

For dinner, the hotel recommended authentic New Mexican cuisine; read: very very spicy Mexican food, as in you start sweating at your first bite. Regardless, it was delicious and I will be stuffed for a week.

mmmm...delicious

After dinner, we came back and crashed. We are staying at the Hotel Santa Fe; if you ever get the chance to stay here, you have to. Everything is impeccably decorated and the service is amazing (hello personal butler for the floor?!?!?) Crazy stuff. Tomorrow we're hoping to go to the Georgia O'Keefe Museum, load up on yummy foods at Whole Foods, and then make it to te Grand Canyon by the afternoon. My ultimate goal is to get a picture at sunset, so I am really pumped. It's only 5 hours away on I-40, so hopefully we will make good time. It's weird, the odometer says 2000 miles already but I feel like we just started. More about the hotel and Santa Fe tomorrow!