Cross Canadian Amaza-Cryin' Crazy Country Cruisin'

Well, we made it! It took us Monday to Wednesday, lots of coffee, two ipods, an election, and a few scary truck stops but we made it. We started off the journey at 5 am Monday morning (early in a scary way for me) and hit the road. We decided to take the Northern route, which is the prettier one through Abequerque, then to Arizona, and stop when we felt we couldn't drive any further. You know how they say that getting out of Texas is the hard part? Well it is...the ubiquitous they were definitely right. It was pretty flat and boring getting out of Texas, but Johnette and I were excited for the trip and full of good conversation. We did get to stop at The Big Texan in Amarillo. However, neither of us tried the steak. Just wasn't in the mood to have the Great Outdoors moment. However, the place was like a Fun House full of game heads, wood paneling and floral wallpaper--pure greatness. There may have been an option to weigh myself for 25 cents in the bathroom, but I'm not certain...could have been another truck stop I'm getting confused with. I had the buffalo burger and the mashed potatoes and it didn't dissapoint. The manager had a cowboy hat and sly smile and asked us how our meal was about 3 times. When we left he tipped his hat to us and wished us well. What a way to leave Texas. We left smiling.
I wasn't until we were 150 miles outside of Albequerque that we decided that we would rather see Santa Fe. So upward ho we went, and made it to Sante Fe. I had never been to this quiet little artsy mountain town, and was curious if the reputation was true. Johnette had been before, and wanted to check out the Georgia O'Keefe Museum so we used the trusty navigator (which I highly recommend for road trips into the unkown) and headed towards downtown.
Now, I've never been a huge fan of Georgia O'Keefe's, I mean, her flowers are neat, but I've never really felt connected to her paintings. Seeing them in person changed my opinion. In real-life, the colors are so much more vibrant, the brush strokes are so effortless the way that they articulately bleed into each other. I had a much different experience standing in front of one of these colorful delights than when I've looked a print in a book or on the web. I tried to snap a photo, but I guess I misread the sign at the entrance of the gallery that said no photography. I swear it only said no food or drink...I thought it was strange that I didn't read a no photography warning but I got excited and started snapping photos. The security guard quickly appeared from around the corner, warning me of the no-photography policy, and made me delete the photos from my camera. Oops. I read the sign, but I read it the way I wanted to read it. Anyway, the security guard ended up being a very friendly and knowledgable chap even though I was a rules breaker, and ended up showing us little intricacies of some of her paintings, and giving us little bits of trivia about Ms. O'Keefe. He said more than once that standing around all day looking at her paintings had given him this insight and he had picked out all of the hidden innuendos and bits and pieces and shared it with museum patrons. The lucky ones I guess.
After the museum we grabbed a quick forgettable bite at a local tavern, took Newman for a little walk around the park and chatted with some other travelers and were on our way. I dug Santa Fe, and I really dug the GOK Museum...I wish we had time to spend the night there, but we wanted to make it to Arizona that night, so onward we went. Johnette had her trusty laptop and wireless card, so we found a few hotels online and decided we would try to make it to Flagstaff, if not Flagstaff, then Holbrook. And that was as far as we got on day one. 20 hours to Holbrook, AZ by way of Santa Fe, NM. Not too bad for a first day. If we had gone the Southern route we would have been home after 20 hours, but we weren't interested in the fast way.
We rested until 11 am, then got on the road again, this time, headed towards the Grand Canyon. A few hours later, we were on the road towards Flagstaff through the South rim of the Canyon. On the way there, we drove through a long stretch of painted desert. Purple, red, blue, orange, turquoise and everything in between. The visibility started to worsen, and as the driving became more difficult we realized, us Texas girls, that we were caught smack dab in the middle of a sandstorm. A first for the both of us, it was kind of scary, iin that you couldn't see more than 10 feet in front of you and your control of the car was limited. We had to stop for gas in the middle of the sandstorm, and as you may have guessed, it was slightly painful. And gritty. I never thought my car door could also act as a sail.
Anyway, after about 20 minutes of sandstorm, we realized that we had missed our turn for the Grand Canyon! We turned around and made it to the South rim (I learned that the North rim is closed during the winter) in about 10 minutes. It's very un-assuming that canyon. Kinda sneaks up on ya. It is beautiful though. Everything you think it will be--it is. There is no photo, no set of words that can describe the feeling you feel while looking at it. It feels like someone punched you in the gut and all you want to do is breathe but you can't. It was very cold and windy, and Johnette and I were inappropriately dressed so we spent as long as we could at each spot along the South rim drive. Newman was excited of course, I think more about the cold weather than the actual canyon. However he did sniff out some wild deer, and I wouldn't have otherwise seen a beautiful group of deer in the GC if I hadn't had Mr. Paul Newman with me. If I had let him off the leash we would have probably never seen him again. He seemed to love it. A group of Japanese tourists freaked out when they saw him and wanted both him and I to pose for a picture. I thought about saying no, but they were just so pushy and stereotypical I figured why not take part in a strange living stereotype. In hindsight I shouldn't have done it because I'll probably end up on some Japanese fetish website, but I was on a road trip dammit, it seemed like the right thing to do. By the way, everyone at the Canyon was foreign, seeing as it was election day and most Americans were either voting or poised by the nearest television.
After about 4 hours and a beautiful sunset at the Canyon we decided to head in to Flagstaff for some dinner and a place to stay. We had a really yumtastic dinner at a place called Pasto http://www.pastorestaurant.com/ where the entire waitstaff was delighting in the fact that Obama was ahead in the polls. We thought that being in Arizona on election day meant everyone would be sad that McCain lost. Quite the opposite friends. Flagstaff is quite the hippie town. I mean white kids with dreadlocks and you know how that smells. They were literally dancing in the streets in Flagstaff. After dinner we decided to stay at a little hotel in Flagstaff called Hotel Monte Vista. We started off in the Humphrey Bogart room, featured here: http://www.hotelmontevista.com/ however, we requested a different room on the other side of the hotel because the train went by every 30 minutes and it was LOUD. So we ended up in the Carol Lombard Room...which apparently is haunted by two dead hookers acording to the hotel's website. Glad I didn't read that before we stayed there. We got all settled in and were ready to get a drink and watch Obama's acceptance speech. We happened to be in luck because it was karaoke night at the Monte Vista bar and apparently was the most happenin' spot in town. We ordered a few beers and took a deep breath. Karaoke started and the place began to get really crowded, buzzing with the election results. It was neat to be in a place with such positive energy. It smelled bad, but whatever, it was a good night. Johnette and I got into a political conversation with a Navajo Indian man who worked at the University, which was quite intriguing. He said he grew up on the reservation located on the Four Corners area of Arizona, and he then quietly admitted that he wanted McCain to win the election. He said it quietly because everyone else was still talking about Obama. We quizzed him on his upbringing, his political beliefs, and experience on the reservation. It was quite a different perspective than I expected to hear. Then he started getting a little weird and talking about end times, so we decided to finish our drinks and call it an evening. What a day. Next stop, Sedona, then on to Huntington.
We woke up after a deep night's sleep, and were on the road by 9 am. On the way to Sedona we stopped at the Coconino National Forest http://www.fs.fed.us/r3/coconino/, which was a beautiful spot up in the chilly mountains on the way to the warm sunny desert of Sedona. After a few stops and photos the mountains began to become bare and turn red...and then we were in Sedona. What a beautiful, clean, friendly little town. Johnette was on the hunt for some finely crafted Navajo turquoise and I wanted to take Newman for a tour of the town so we did just that. We went our separate ways and Newman and I made friends with a cute little elderly British couple who insisted that Newman had a "biscuit." Or as we Americans call it, an Otis Spunkmeyer cookie. They said they missed their dog back at home across the pond and when I asked them what kind of dog it was, the lady sheepishly replied, "Oh it's a mongrol." Oh those Brits and their proper words for things like treat and mutt. Hehe.
After a nice sandwich lunch on a park bench in Sedona it was back in the car and on the road to my new home! We took a look at the map and decided to forgo the Navi and take the scenic, what we thought was shorter route. Well, it was definitely scenic! We ended up driving through the mountains and up through a quaint little town called Jerome, Az. http://www.azjerome.com/pages/jerome/shopping.htm If we had an extra day we would have stopped and stayed. It was the kind of town that probably has a million ghosts haunting it. Still neat to pass through though, would never have known of ole' Jerome if we hadn't taken the long way home. It was a curvy drive home through the mountains and Johnette had to drive because she's better at mountain driving than I am. I got queasy from all the switchback roads so I'm glad she was at the wheel.
So onward we went, through yet another set of mountains that will remain nameless because at that point we were tired and ready to get home. Another 5 hours or so through some desert and we made it! It was about 8 pm California time and we stopped to pick up food on the way home. My first meal as a Californian? El Pollo Loco. You're damn right it was. And it was good. I think I'm gonna like it here...
View pictures from our trip here:

Westward Expansion