A Day Late and an Internet Connection Short

You may have noticed that I missed a day. Yep, I have to check with the property owner why the Internet won't work for me because I connect, but cannot connect to the Internet. I'm fine here at an Internet cafe in downtown Flagstaff (thank you Mix and the yummy dirty chai I'm currently sipping) and at the  motel in Roswell, so it's not my netbook.

I cannot guarantee daily posts, because I am not going to go to downtown Flagstaff to do this every day, but I'll try to be semi-regular.

On to the show...

I left Roswell about 8 yesterday morning in a pea soup fog.  No wonder aliens like the place, it's easy to hide in that crap.   When it ended though...only a few miles out of the city...WHAMO!  instant clear.

I know a lot of people find the desert boring, as it is endless miles of much the same thing, but for someone who is experiencing it for the first time, it is endlessly fascinating.  New Mexico has few scenic pull overs but a few rest areas that I took advantage of for photo ops.

this is the desert with a backdrop of red sandstone mountains and mesas.  I would get closer to the mountains and drive through a spectacular area where there was absolutely no way to pull over for photos.  Sorry I can't share that, but it's something I will probably never forget.  

This is a closer look at the cacti that are *everywhere.*  I wonder if there is a place I can buy one to take home.

There was one memorable scenic overlook that I did pull over for (I was in much less of a hurry today and would pull over more than a few times)

As you can see, I am closer to the red sandstone bluffs, and this is just a picture postcard  view of 

Which I seriously thought about going to see.  Maybe on the way back. 

This is another view from the same scenic overlook.  As I said there are few actual designated overlooks and I began to become frustrated with not being able to pull over and take photos.  I finally picked an exit at random.

I pulled over to a run down gas station...

And took a few photos of the spectacular landscape.  You're welcome...LOL.

I eventually got closer to the Arizona state line where the billboards started for the places to pull over to buy Authentic Indian crafts.  I stopped at the rest stop as soon as I crossed the state line to stretch my legs and take some more photos.

And the spectacular continues.  It got a lot better than this, but there was nowhere to pull over, to my extreme frustration!

I eventually got close to the Meteor Crater not far from Flagstaff.  The landscape did start to alter a bit with small patches of red sandstone pushing up from the earth.  Luckily, there was a rest stop.

Which means more photos.  Further along the road, I saw a mountain looming in the distance, which I found out actually looms over Flagstaff.  I turned onto Route 66, which was another thing to check off my bucket list (I'll probably explore it a bit more later this week too) and found my rental easily.

Got situated, got some groceries, got frustrated with the Internet, and went to bed early.  

Woke up early, made toast and coffee, puttered around and watched some classic Dr. Who (the rental has BBC America...wooohooo) and headed to downtown Flagstaff, where I sit typing this.  Cheers!