Santa Fe Deux

We left Royal Gorge and took a back road thru the mountains on our way to Santa Fe. Drove by the Sangre de Cristos, which are spectacular, thru beautiful canyons and wide open valleys. The aspens changing into their fall clothes are so beautiful. A bright gold that shimmers and shines with the wind and sun. The fascinating part is the gold that emanates on the mountainside thru the fir and pine trees. Dark green with these splashes of gold. Along the road, at the summit was...all of a sudden out of nowhere a sign that said Bishop's Castle. Stop!!! We have to see this. I cannot do it justice. This man has single handedly built this incredible castle out of stone, concrete, wrought iron outside walkways, stained glass windows. He was working while we were there, stirring concrete and non-stop talking at the top of his voice. "9/11 was an inside job..they wanted to put the Patriot Act into place and it worked, we gave them Homeland Security...no plane hit the pentagon..measure it folks, the Constitution is being dismantled.. I have to say I agreed with everything he said. He has quotes from the constitution painted on signs all over the place. "They" have bankrupted Social Security by stealing money from it...on and on. What a wonderful find. Back on the road trying to get to Santa Fe. You know that story! We did make it!Our second stop in Santa Fe has confirmed my first impression-this place rocks!!!GREEN CHILES RULE AND CHILE VERDE IS ON EVERY MENU.Very cultural city with an amazing art colony,views to die for and the weather is close to perfect. Shelley was so wonderful to us! She took us all kinds of places. One of the most special was up to the Santa Fe Ski Area. We rode the ski lift over 4,300' up to 11,250 ft (scary as hell with no snow to break your fall-like it would anyway).The aspens are turning yellow and gold and the mountain sides are ablaze. It's glorious. (Perky here....I was really surprised that Sammy & Shelley were scared. I told them there was a guard rail that would drop down in front of us but they wouldn't let me do it because they were afraid I would rock the boat! I was in my glory...guess I didn't have enough sense to be afraid! Finally I just reached back and pulled the rail forward and they were much happier. I have a most hilarious picture that I took of Sammy & Shelley in the lift car. Shelley is smiling and looking so beautiful....Sammy is staring straight ahead, wide eyed, and not even blinking. He was beautiful too, in an introspective sorta way!! At the top it was worth it all! At 11,250' you could see all the mountain ranges for 360 degrees. As far as Colorado & Arizona. In the distance was a huge black cloud...quite a storm brewing. Lightning! Not the brightest idea to be on top of a mountain, open to the elements. We took pictures and rode the tram down. The colors on the mountains were spectacular. Huge swathes of color, bright gold and some orange. Just don't have the words to draw you a picture.
We had a wonderful time in Santa Fe. What a complete city! So diverse, but the American Indian culture influence is prevalent. The food is out of this world. Shelley & Bart know all the best places! Shelley took us out to Madrid which is a really cool, old town which has seen many transformations. Shelley and I made hot pepper jelly and, I must say, it's excellent! It was great fun and easy! I'll be making some when I get home. Course...I won't have Santa Fe jalapenos! It got really cold - 32 - one night. It was cool weather the whole time we were there.
Our last night we went to Dara Thai. The first Thai food since we left home. Really, really good! No Sing Ha tho'.
With reluctance we hit the road for home. Our first night was Amarillo, then Bowie, TX, then Shreveport, then Vicksburg, MS. Vicksburg is very historical and beautiful. Hope to spend some time there someday. We stayed in a motel right on the Mississippi River. It started to rain when we left Bowie, and hasn't stopped since!! We knew we HAD to get the windshield wipers fixed for the trip...we figured we would see rain. We left June 5, the first rain was in Eureka Springs (15 minutes worth), then Oklahoma City as we were driving out, then, believe it or not, Pahrump for 10 minutes. (That's when the driver's side just uh, uh, uh and the passenger side wiper flew off!) So, yesterday it rained buckets, the wind blew like crazy and we bounced along. The wipers worked! Today...was worse! Found out there was a tornado in Pensacola and that would explain all the high winds and heavy rains we dealt with. Arrived safe and sound in Florida. "Flossie" seems to be balking. For the first time....