The Drive South.
Day one was spent driving away from the Canyons of southern Utah and what a stunning rear-view it was. There is absolutely no question that Utah is one of the most beautiful, alluring, mysterious and alien places in the lower 48. And I mean alien in so many ways. We ended the first day on the road in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
On day two we headed south out of Albuquerque, up and over some high country through a town called "Chilili." Chilili is an old Spanish Land Grant. As we drove through the town, there was an unfriendly sign that said, "no trespassing, no photography," and some other "get-out-you-don't-live-here" warnings. Within two minutes of passing the sign we drove by the cemetery which was a completely Mexican, Day of the Dead freak-out...it was unreal. It had ribbons and statues and fences and...I don't know what else. We obeyed the sign and did not take a picture (I wanted to, badly). Not much later we passed a roadrunner. The real bird. Roadrunners are beautiful, dinosaur-looking things, and proudly turquoise.
We drove toward Corona and UFO crash country. As fate would have it, the front page of the Albuquerque newspaper that morning featured a picture of the National Christmas Tree at Capitol Hill. The tree came from Santa Fe National Forest in northern New Mexico, and school kids from across the state had made all the ornaments. The photo was a close-up of an alien ornament with the Capitol Building in the background. It was awesome! Some school kid was putting the aliens back into Christmas, where they belong. Only in New Mexico. Then, we were in Roswell by lunchtime (Coincidence? I report, you decide). The Wal-Mart in Roswell actually has an alien on the front of the building, and the Arby's proudly welcomes aliens as well. There was a store there selling "Indian Jewelry--Mexican Imports--Alien Gifts." Bizarre. We camped at Davis Mountains State Park in West Texas on night two. A mule deer walked into our camp and walked up to us. I held out my hand and it sniffed me. In all the years of living out west, seeing hundreds--maybe thousands--of mule deer, I have NEVER been as close to one as I was on Friday. Its nose touched my hand. It was clammy like a dog's nose. It was, in a way, an alien encounter of sorts.
On day three we drove down to Marfa, Texas, home to the mysterious "Marfa Lights." Marfa has a whole visitor center set up at the light viewing area. It's amazing...I visited two very strange places within 24 hours. We drove on through Alpine, Sanderson, and then to Langtry, home of Judge Roy Bean and his guilded lilly saloon/courthouse. It was a high desert, wind blown, weathered wood building, standing only by the grace of God. Oddly, Langtry is almost a ghost town itself, with many derelict buildings. Mexico was just a look away. Bean hosted a boxing match on an island in the Rio Grand River so the US authorities couldn't come and break it up. Bizarre, again. The West Texas desert is big, open country. It has a certain zen to it, sort of like the plains of western Kansas. We drove north into Hill Country and stayed in Junction, Texas. Suddenly, with a bend in the road, we were in white tail deer country, and mule deer were behind us to the west.
On day four, we drove on east through Hill Country toward Austin. We stopped in Fredericksburg for breakfast and walked the dog around the very sweet limestone historic buildings. We are now at my grandmother-in-law's. She is 96 and sort of forgetful, but at least she's happy to see us, and thrilled that we could come and visit. From here, on Tuesday, we will go into Louisiana. And that is the trip so far. I've kept good notes in my hand-written journal, and transposing them into the blog is sort of strange. Plus, I'm not used to blogging without being online, either. So this entire process is totally new for me. My writing seems stilted, sort of. But I am also trying to condense four days into one blog entry. It's not exactly working, but at least I'm blogging. Photos are forthcoming.
Hello, this is Drew writing this. This is NOT Julie writing in this paragraph, but in fact her husband Drew. Please do not confuse this paragraph (which is written by Drew) with the previous paragraphs and, in fact, this entire blog which has been and is authored by Julie, not Drew (with the exception of this paragraph). Thank you and hello.
On day two we headed south out of Albuquerque, up and over some high country through a town called "Chilili." Chilili is an old Spanish Land Grant. As we drove through the town, there was an unfriendly sign that said, "no trespassing, no photography," and some other "get-out-you-don't-live-here" warnings. Within two minutes of passing the sign we drove by the cemetery which was a completely Mexican, Day of the Dead freak-out...it was unreal. It had ribbons and statues and fences and...I don't know what else. We obeyed the sign and did not take a picture (I wanted to, badly). Not much later we passed a roadrunner. The real bird. Roadrunners are beautiful, dinosaur-looking things, and proudly turquoise.
We drove toward Corona and UFO crash country. As fate would have it, the front page of the Albuquerque newspaper that morning featured a picture of the National Christmas Tree at Capitol Hill. The tree came from Santa Fe National Forest in northern New Mexico, and school kids from across the state had made all the ornaments. The photo was a close-up of an alien ornament with the Capitol Building in the background. It was awesome! Some school kid was putting the aliens back into Christmas, where they belong. Only in New Mexico. Then, we were in Roswell by lunchtime (Coincidence? I report, you decide). The Wal-Mart in Roswell actually has an alien on the front of the building, and the Arby's proudly welcomes aliens as well. There was a store there selling "Indian Jewelry--Mexican Imports--Alien Gifts." Bizarre. We camped at Davis Mountains State Park in West Texas on night two. A mule deer walked into our camp and walked up to us. I held out my hand and it sniffed me. In all the years of living out west, seeing hundreds--maybe thousands--of mule deer, I have NEVER been as close to one as I was on Friday. Its nose touched my hand. It was clammy like a dog's nose. It was, in a way, an alien encounter of sorts.
On day three we drove down to Marfa, Texas, home to the mysterious "Marfa Lights." Marfa has a whole visitor center set up at the light viewing area. It's amazing...I visited two very strange places within 24 hours. We drove on through Alpine, Sanderson, and then to Langtry, home of Judge Roy Bean and his guilded lilly saloon/courthouse. It was a high desert, wind blown, weathered wood building, standing only by the grace of God. Oddly, Langtry is almost a ghost town itself, with many derelict buildings. Mexico was just a look away. Bean hosted a boxing match on an island in the Rio Grand River so the US authorities couldn't come and break it up. Bizarre, again. The West Texas desert is big, open country. It has a certain zen to it, sort of like the plains of western Kansas. We drove north into Hill Country and stayed in Junction, Texas. Suddenly, with a bend in the road, we were in white tail deer country, and mule deer were behind us to the west.
On day four, we drove on east through Hill Country toward Austin. We stopped in Fredericksburg for breakfast and walked the dog around the very sweet limestone historic buildings. We are now at my grandmother-in-law's. She is 96 and sort of forgetful, but at least she's happy to see us, and thrilled that we could come and visit. From here, on Tuesday, we will go into Louisiana. And that is the trip so far. I've kept good notes in my hand-written journal, and transposing them into the blog is sort of strange. Plus, I'm not used to blogging without being online, either. So this entire process is totally new for me. My writing seems stilted, sort of. But I am also trying to condense four days into one blog entry. It's not exactly working, but at least I'm blogging. Photos are forthcoming.
Hello, this is Drew writing this. This is NOT Julie writing in this paragraph, but in fact her husband Drew. Please do not confuse this paragraph (which is written by Drew) with the previous paragraphs and, in fact, this entire blog which has been and is authored by Julie, not Drew (with the exception of this paragraph). Thank you and hello.
1 Comments:
To the outraged reader in Austin, Texas, that called me a liar:
When we drove by Chilili and saw the cemetery, it was not more than a month since Day of the Dead. There were still some decorations remaining.
Anonymous commenting and name-calling is weak. Next time, leave an email.
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