flagstaff for life

i have to say that one of the most unexpected surprises of the southwest has been flagstaff arizona. it is probably the most comfortable i have ever been in a town, there's a great mix of people and ages, a ton of outdoorsy types all around, a plethora of out of doors activities just a hop skip and a jump away, and it is NOT overrun by hippies. which has been the breaking point for most other towns in america i would have otherwise liked. when the hippie quotient get's too high in an area, it really taints an otherwise great area, making everyhing smell faintly of patchouly and taste of bleary eyed smug. this is not to say that there are no hippies in flagstaff, or that i want a world without any hippies, in fact i believe in moderation hippies can really add a distinct flavor to an area, but that flagstaff has the right amount, tempered and balanced by rough looking mountain men, a vibrant punk contingent, regular old college students, and an intriguing mix of national and international travelers on the way to or from the grand canyon, or in more rare cases such as two fine scotsmen i met on the street two nights ago for a bit of golfing. all in all a fine place to wind down and get ready for the last leg of the journy, a run west to las vegas nevada (not to be confused with las vegas new mexico, which is a story for later), a burn across death valley and into sacramento, and straight north to oregon. three days if all goes right. but as i have not had the oppertunity to update all our faithful friends on the happenings of the past few days i'll move on to the past.

if my memory serves i left off our intrepid tale around the border of new mexico, due to reasons of abject exhaustion and a very faulty internet connection. i will say right up front that i know for months before we actually left all i kept saying was that i wanted to see the southwest, and while it was nothing like i expected, the southwest has been by far the most welcoming and enjoyable leg of our journy (ignoring a few bumps and potholes in the road). our first night in new mexico was spent in a absolutely wonderful dive motel in the small town of santa rosa, just off i-40, famous for this peculiar natural wonder known as the blue hole, made aware to us by the insane texan mentioned in my last blog. now we had no real idea what to expect of either santa rosa or the blue hole, and in the glare of the morning light we found neither to be what we expected in the least. the town of santa rosa, even though it is advertised on billboards as far away as amirillo texas is tiny, and apperently shuts down in teh winter. it was near impossible to find a place to get breakfast, or a living soul to ask advice of. after a few minutes driving and increasing nerves wedid however find a sign for the blue hole, which we faithfully followed, and discovered this rather small looking swimming hole, which at first glance seemed none too exciting, until you stared deep into te (sorry i spilled a wee bit of coffee on my keyboard and my ' ' key is broken for te time being) sparkling blue waters of te blue ole and realized tat it is 81 freaking feet deep, and tat is in fact really deep. and pretty. refer to annas blog for pictures. so we left santa rosa still ungry, but opefull for te future. (i'm really annoyed by tis key situation rigt now). so back on te road we got, driving west ten nort to te small town of las vegas new mexico (w'ic' we did not in fact confuse wit' las vegas nevada at any point in time, as some of t'e maunz's believed). las vegas was a fantastic small town wit' c'arecter, beauty, and most importantly open restaurants. one of w'ic' was Estella's Cafe (notice it was soooo good i actually capitalized t'e name). so far on t'is trip we 'ave 'ad only t'ree great meals, t'e first was in memp'is, t'e second was at estella's (anna 'ad 'euvos ranc'eros and i 'ad t'e sampler of all t'ier dis'es, all of w'ic' were amazing) and t'e t'ird we 'ave not come to yet in t'e telling of t'is tale, but i will give you a 'int, it was in flagstaff. we walked around las vegas for a couple 'ours, enjoying t'e peaceful ambiance, friendly natives, and quirky s'ops. and a lot of coffee. we've been drinking a lot of coffee over t'e past week. i did spend a good lengt' of time trying on cowboy boots in las vegas, but i finally 'ad to admit to myself t'at i'm just not t'e kind of guy t'at can pull off cowboy boots. so eventually we moved on from wonderful las vegas to santa fe. w'ic' 'as been built up by a lot of people, and w'ic' was not a bad place necessarily, but in w'ic' neit'er anna or i 'ad a very good time.

to start wit' we stayed in a 'ostel in santa fe, w'ic' in itself is not'ing out of t'e ordinary, we've stayed in 'ostels almost 'alf t'e time on t'e road, but t'is 'ostel was t'e worst. t'e rooms weren't bad, but it was definately t'e closest to a commune t'at we've come too. we were c'ecked in by a very softspoken long 'aired kind of unsettling dude in 'is late 50's, and after paying (cas' being t'e only accepted form of payment {wic' was a first on t'is trip, especially annoying for a lodging}) were promptly informed t'at not only did we ave to put down 20$ more t'an t'e advertised price (as it later turned at as a security deposit {also a first, and so far last, excluding a 5$ key deposit at anot'er 'ostel} w'ic' we did later get back) but t'at part of te price of t'e stay was morning c'ores. w'ic' niet'er of us would ave minded if it 'ad been mentioned up front, before t'ey 'ad our at t'is point 60$ (w'ic' i may add is t'e same it would 'ave been to stay in a fine middle of t'e road motel wit' or own bat'room t'at didn't mandate communal labor, and didn't exude flower c'ild vibes, complete wit' surplus flower c'ildren w'o apperently still 'ave not gotten t'e message t'at t'e 60's are over, and appear to be waiting arond until someone starts organizing 'istorical re-enactments of woodstock). anyway, t'e people were wierd, t'ey got under my skin, and it may be t'e sole reason i ended up disliking santa fe. we ate t'at nig't in t'e food court of a w'ole foods, a sure sign t'at travel fatigue 'ad definately set in.

we awoke in t'e morning, did our c'ore for t'e commune (emptying all t'e tras'cans in te 'allways, luckily after a slow nigt't) and got t'e 'ell out of t'ere before someone offered us some kool-aid. we 'eaded into dowtown santa fe, w'ic' was beautiful, and grabbed a cup of coffee at t'e first place we saw. w'ic' turned out to be run by a native/mexican american w'o we proceeded to talk to for t'e next 'our (everyone s'ould get onto youtube and look for t'e raven rap) and was by all acconts t'e 'ig'lig't of sata fe. we also walked arond dowtown for a long time, enjoying t'e sig'ts and sounds and taking in a museum of modern native american art (not w'at you would expect at all) and moved on to albuquerque, w'ere we 'ad lunc'. a fine lunc' in 'istoric downtown. a lot of adobe and cobblestone streets, and i boug't myself a new 'at (w'ic' you can see in anna's pictures at some point i 'ave no doubt. from t'ere we 'eaded sout', on w'ic' note i leave you all, for now i must'ead west to las vegas.

tune in next time for trut' or cosequences, silver city, t'e gila national forest, and t'e grand canyone. da da dummmmmmmmm...............................