Whenever we go somewhere new on vacation, we like to explore the area and play "What if...?", looking at things from the perspective of possibly relocating. Isla Mujeres has long been the fantasy, "win the lottery and move anywhere" destination, but Sedona has officially replaced it.
 
Not even on our original itinerary for this trip, several friends noted it as a must-see so we changed our schedule from a drive-by on the southern rim of the Grand Canyon and a night in Williams, to a night in Sedona instead. After staying at the amazing La Posada and driving by the Wigwams in Holbrook, our scheduled destination the next night (doing some backtracking), we canceled that and added a second night in Sedona, sight unseen. After our first night there, we added a third night, cutting our Vegas stay in half.
 
After exploring the Verde Valley region, including Slide Rock State Park, Cottonwood and Jerome, plus Sedona itself, we fell in love and the "What if...?" game morphed into "When could we....?" planning. We even checked out an open house and grilled the realtor with a bunch of
questions, finding the school system and low taxes especially appealing. It would be a big cultural change -- I can count on two hands how many black people we saw in the area, and out there, Hispanic primarily means Mexican -- but unlike areas of the Northeast where that's been a deal-breaker, the regional differences are more appealing.
 
It's still a fantasy at this point, but unlike Isla Mujeres, it's a realistic and attainable one that doesn't require winning the lottery. It could also happen as soon as next summer...

We left ABQ yesterday morning, headed for Red Rock State Park and Ceremonial, alternating between 66 and 40 whenever we could. We had to turn around near Correo and Mesitas when we couldn't locate 66, and saw a depressing Native slum/ruins right off 40 near the latter. Other parts of 66 before and after Gallup were similarly destitute or desolate, but a few areas offered some great views of the terrain.
 
Outside Gallup, we rolled into Red Rock State Park only to find most of Ceremonial had finished already, except for the rodeo, so we wandered the park instead where Salome took some great pictures. Heading into Gallup itself, we stopped at Shima Grill, a little tent restaurant on the side of the road that served Native Tacos and Native Burgers, both on delicious frybread. In Gallup, we stopped at Earl's to check out the small market of Native jewelry and crafts set up there and bought some really beautiful items, including a tourqouise and silver ring for myself.
 
Continuing West, we crossed into Arizona through some more beautiful terrain, coming across what appeared to be three separate groups of wild horses, including one hanging right by the side of the road like a deer. We've seen a lot of horses, cows and goats on this trip so far, and a bunch of prarie dogs, but no snakes, scorpions, armadillos, etc. Where are they hiding?
 
We arrived at the Petrified Forest National Park in the early evening to discover that Arizona doesn't do DST, so we had gained an hour, giving us enough time to explore almost the whole thing, which we did, and it was amazing! We got some great pictures, but there are some breathtaking views that pictures simply couldn't do justice. It was another highlight of the trip and made up for missing out on Ceremonial.
 
Between the Forest and Winslow, where we stayed at the beautiful but anachronistic La Posada Hotel, there is absolutely nothing, including the sad town of Holbrook, where we were originally going to stay tonight, at the Wigwam Motel, but since we did the Forest a day early, we changed our reservations and are heading down to Sedona a day early.
 
Yesterday was my actual birthday, my 40th, but this whole week will go down as the most amazing birthday ever!
 

I love getting out of the New York area because there is so much truth in the cliche, "familiarity breeds contempt", and there are few things I have more contempt for than the bland green landscapes along our highways, and the soullessness of our over-developed suburbs and under-nourished cities. Southwestern landscapes have always fascinated me, though; from the rugged brown mountains dotted with bright green succulents, to the simple architectural style of adobe architecture.
 
Albuquerque has offered us a bizarre mix of both the good and bad, with some wonderful examples of Pueblo Deco and Revival style architecture, and some horrible examples of bland cookie cutter developments that could be dropped into the middle of Long Island without any trouble at all.
 
We arrived in the late afternoon on Friday, and after being nickel-and-dimed by Thrifty over our rental car, headed into the city via Central venue/Route 66 to find our bed-and-breakfast, the amazing and adorable "urban oasis", Adobe Nido, located about 5 minutes north of Old Town. Our hosts, Rol and Sarah, are the rare kind of personalities that can make a B&B work -- personable without being intrusive, helpful without being over-bearing -- and their guest house is beautiful and perfect. After settling in, we headed out to explore Old Town and the neighborhood to its west, and were surprised by the randomness of older, smaller houses and empty lots, mixed in with huge new construction and one big lot full of horses, cows and a donkey.
 
After an excellent dinner at Los Cuates -- some of the best salsa I've ever had, and delicious sopapillas w/honey -- we turned in early, still two hours ahead on East Coast time.
 
The next morning, following a delicious and informative breakfast with Rol and Sarah -- the real advantage of a B&B over a hotel is getting the local angle on everything from politics to places to eat -- we headed over to the Downtown Market at Robinson Park, an impressive affair the puts the faux-progressive Montclair Farmer's Market to shame. I was surprised by the variety of vegetables that grow in this area, assuming the heat and lack of rain would be more limiting. We'd just eaten breakfast, so we didn't sample any of the foods, but we did buy the most amazing fruit juice I've ever had, a blend of watermelon, papaya and crenshaw, a fruit I'd never even heard of. Besides edibles, there was also some great artwork, jewelry and crafts on display.
 
After the Market, we walked east on Central/66 into downtown to check out some of the stores, and while taking a picture in front of the KiMo, got invited in for a quick tour of the place. "Pueblo Deco" is a combination of two of my favorite architectural styles, and the KiMo is an impressive work of art. It takes a while to soak in every detail, and pictures don't fully do it justice, but Salome got some great shots that I'll post on Flickr when we get back. I can only imagine what seeing a concert or play there must be like!
 
Heading back to the car, we stopped in at Downtown Books, possibly the most depressing bookstore I've ever been in that didn't sell comic books. More book mortuary than store or a community gathering place, every available nook and cranny had an organized but completely random selection of books stuffed into them; a casual browser's dream, but presumably a business owner's nightmare unless it's purely a labor of love.
 
Heading east on 66, we went to check out the flea market at the racetrack, only to realize it was a typical mix of garage sale items, designer knock-offs, and overpriced food, so we headed back to Old Town for the Salsa Fiesta which was a lot fun. 38 different homemade salsas competing, all prepared on-site prior to the start of the tasting. Most were pretty good, a few were outstanding (we split our two votes between our co-favorites), and by the time we were done, our mouths were burning, our stomachs were full, and we were ready to get off of our feet for a bit.
 
Hopping back in the car, we headed east on 66 again, out of Albuquerque towards Tijeras, wandered around an expensive-looking neighborhood with some impressive houses, circled back and drove up along the eastern border of the city, all the way around the northern border, across the Rio Grande and back to the western edge of 66 where we spotted the El Vado Motel, one of the more prominent of way too many sad reminders of Route 66's long-gone heyday.
 
The disparity between the haves and have-nots isn't quite as bad as it is in NYC, but it's pretty close, and learning that teachers' starting salary is only $22k makes Albuquerque an unlikely next home.

After a delicious dinner at Monroe's -- the Green Chile Cheeseburger w/ sweet potato fries is a little bit of heaven -- we headed back to Adobe Nido to shower and settle in "early" because tomorrow we have a long day of driving, broken up primarily by a stop in Gallup for Ceremonial.