Day 5 - Thursday - Santa Fe to Sedona

I thought you might a reminder that you can see an approximation of our path in the last 5 days (it is in fits and stops because the tracking app on my phone contributes to the draining of it's battery). As of Thursday night, we are closing in on 2,900 miles.

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The driving itself is going fine. I forgot to mention the experience of 75 mph speed limits. It can feel fast! We haven't seen too many people speed. We are pleased to notice those extra miles of progress each hour add up. We listened to an entire audio book (Water for Elephants), and in addition to Satellite radio and iPods, I of course provided a mix CD. At this point we are suffering mainly from pain and stiffness in our backs, necks, and hips. Those are our physical complaints. Mentally? Let's just say that we find amusing unusual things...like trout.

I am starting to think a more accurate blog name would have been a thousand pictures and a few hundred words. Wednesday and Thursday we took so many pictures...I suspect many from Friday too. Here  is a photo record of Thursday, beginning in Santa Fe and detouring to Valles Calderon National Wildlife Preserve (which is on the crater left behind by a collapsed crater) on our way to Sedona, AZ.

 Amazing breakfast at Cafe Pasqual's.  This is called "Huevos Motulenos" and along with eggs and tortilla it has feta and sauteed bananas and a delicious red chile sauce mmmmmm. I want to go back.

 

 Regarding the below: I am NOT kicking Kristen into the snow bank.  It is just a coincidence that we are being photographed in this position!

 We passed through an American Indian Reservation.

Dinner in Albuquerque.  The Standard Diner, which we picked because it was featured on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, was very interesting.  I didn't actually care for the dish I selected, which was one from the show. I thought the tuna was mushy.  Everything else was great (baked brie, Kristen's quinoa stuffed squash).

At night the moon was so bright that we could make out much of the mountains and landscape by its light. At one point when I was staring intensely at the road up ahead, watching for elk or deer, I witnessed a single meteor falling down the sky.