i made it..

i'm here in los angeles...tired but all in one piece. off to work this morning, i'll finish the blog tonight or tomorrow night or the next night, depending how much they decide to wear me out at work. hanging with flav and his ho's, should be fun...

motel blues...

i don't really have any but i like that song by Alex Chilton...
So i kick back and watch the emmy's. I drink wine and eat bad chinese. one more day to los angeles...

days inn

so we arrive at the Flagstaff Days Inn around 6:00pm, which is now actually 5pm. The good thing about traveling west is that you gain time, but the bad part is the sun is in your eyes a lot...The dogs release some energy on the disgusting bedspread. It smells in here. I miss my casita. i decide i must marry rich.

dinosaur

There are a lot of billboards announcing navajo reservations and jewelry and petrified wood and many of the signs add pictures of dinosaur icons. What's the connection? I saw many of these life size dinosaurs along my arizona travels...not sure what this is about but i suppose it makes for an interesting photograph. it was hard to grab it at 75mph but i got this one

arizona...

finally, california feels within reach. The skies turn dark and there's some rain from time to time. i have about two hours to go till i reach flagstaff...

subway

We get back in the car and i search out some lunch. Around here, there aren't many rest stops and you take what you can get. I find Subway and pull over. I wasn't expecting a blog worthy moment but one revealed itself....
The lone client in the store, I ordered a 6" tuna on whole wheat and my sandwich maker took great pains in preparing my sandwich. I'm not sure if he had ocd or just enjoyed his craft but it took the longest time i've ever experienced to actually make the sandwich. He scooped out the tuna then spread it with a knife 6 times to the right, 6 times to the left. (i counted) Then he put two pieces of cheese on the sandwich but as they are cut diagonally, he matched them up perfectly so they appeared as one slice. When he got to the vegetables, he'd hold 6 or 7 strips of peppers in his left hand and carefully place each one atop the cheese with his right, ever so slowly. And so on with the onions, cucumbers, etc... All the pickles had to touch each other and covered the length of the sandwich, leaving about an inch on either side. As i was thinking 'what the hell dude...' it was like a perfect movie cue, my eyes were averted to his apron where i read the inscribed explanation, "Sandwich Artist."
So this was an artist i was dealing with. A new approach to subway, i'll take it. I couldn't help thinking he could get away with this in the desert town but take the boy to the city and he'd never make it.
I appreciated his efforts though and i have to say it was one of the best subway sandwiches i ever had...

red rocks

sid lost another tennis ball here, i don't know what i was thinking.

rest stop

I saw a sign for the Red Rock Park and it looked too good not to stop. It's amazing how few people i ever find on a hiking trail, not that i mind. We didn't see one person along our hike but were entertained all the while...here are some pics.

still in the car...

The drive through the rest of New Mexico was uneventful. It reminded me of Oklahoma- flat and boring but this time a little more green, and the occasional plateau to make things interesting. Gorilla slept a lot today

adios casita...

I have to say goodbye to the casita and it makes me sad. Today I'm heading to my last stop over, Flagstaff, Arizona. Even though i wasn't ready to leave for another half hour, the dogs jumped in the car as i was packing it, just in case i'd leave without them. I couldn't get them to come out. Logan, the resident dog saw us off...

desert

another hike

We start our last day in Santa Fe with another hike. You can't visit Santa Fe and not spend a lot of time outdoors, it's too beautiful. We didn't see any animals again but enjoyed the hike just the same...

DAY FIVE...

For those following this journey, you'll remember that Gorilla threw up in the car after I gave him a bone to chew on...so this is what i woke up to on Day five...more throw up, but this was all Sid. I think it's a dish towel. Sid eats a lot of non-edible items, such as underwear, plastic, socks, tank tops, aluminum foil and the like...I'm not sure of his family background but there may be some inbreeding in there. He's not that smart.
So, i'm not sure if he just did this for the blog time or just for the novelty of it, but there it is...usually it comes out the other end so i actually look at this event as a step forward.

chef's bar

As the dogs relax back at the casita, i go out for drinks and food. My friend and executive chef of Woodfire Grill in Atlanta, Michael Tuohy told me to visit his cousin's restaurant in downtown Santa Fe called Coyote Cafe. His cousin and restaurant owner, Mark Miller was more than welcoming to me...He sat me at the Chef's Bar and told the waiter, the maitre 'd and the executive chef to take good care of me tonight. The chef asked me how hungry i was and what i didn't like and then said 'mind if i play with this?...I'm gonna start you off with a cold plate and we'll go from there." So no joke, this is all the food the chef served me last night...(and i ate it all)

shrimp tostada
beef carpaccio
goat cheese crouton
steak tartare
shrimp on corn cake
scallop wrapped in serrano ham
crab pancake
pork tenderloin
quail
ny strip steak
asparagus

and per Michael's suggestion, mango margaritas to wash it all down...
What can i say, he was a cute chef and i felt like i'd insult him if i didn't eat all that he was preparing for me. i did feel overwhelmed and quite sick by the end of the night but that's beside the point...well worth it!

downtown

I love Santa Fe but i don't think i could live here because the shopping is so bad...not a one cute store or cool clothing store...(think clothing store inside spirituality store) So, good for hiking and relaxing, but not so much if you want to be materialistic.

cactus quills

When we got back to our casita, i notice sid has some quills hanging out of his cheek. strange, but my first thought was 'cool.' i get my camera and snap away. they came out easily...

desert pics

My friend Kathryn, who is my hiking buddy in Georgia would love this hike. And i miss her vast knowledge of trees, plants and flowers and insects and mathematical facts about pine cones and compound leaves...she's one of those geniuses that delivers facts with ease. I know she may think i'm absorbing her barrage of ecological info on our hikes, but i'm always just constantly asking myself, 'how the hell does she know so much?'

los animales...

The first sign we see is a pictured list of all the animals that we may encounter on our hike...horned lizard, gray fox, spadefoot toad, bobcat, porcupine, black bear, badger and prairie dog to name a few. i doubt we'll see any, but again, we just hope for the best. We are hiking in an Arroyo. I've heard the word before but now learn that an Arroyo is a channel formed by rushing water by a storm or by melting water in the spring. Even when an Arroyo looks dry, there can be underground water close to the surface.

morning hike

We start our first morning in Santa Fe with a hike on the Atalaya Trail. The sky becomes bright blue and the boys love the new hiking terrain...it feels similar to california, just more cactus...gorilla has just one good eye left so we just have to hope for the best...

a chance encounter?

I have to give Gorilla credit. He met Jim first. Atop his lap like he was bred to do, Gorilla jumped up on Jim and quickly offered his love and his butt to scratch. The man obliged and I introduced myself and sat down across from them.
Jim is a retired rancher. He came here with his dog to sit and look at the mountains. They are called the Sangre de Christo mountains, which means Blood of Christ, and they run all the way to Colorado. He told me they have a very calming effect on you if you just sit and look at them. We did.
After learning what i did for a living and where i was headed, he told me that if i like Santa Fe, Santa Fe would find a place for me here. It has a way of taking care of its people who appreciate it. He said L.A. wasn't the final place for me and that i would need to come back to a place much like this someday. Was i not just thinking the same thought?
He also said he doesn't normally walk to this park at night but on this particular night he felt drawn to this place. We were the only two people in it. For John Oselette and all the boys rolling their eyes right now, stop reading. Your skepticism is what makes women the superior species. Maybe in your next life they'll be some hope for you...In any event, it was obvious to me that this wasn't a chance encounter, rather a man i was supposed to meet on my journey westward. someone to calm my weary head of fears and worry less about the future. Maybe Santa Fe was for me, maybe it wasn't. Maybe it's colorado or georgia or oregon... i don't know where the next home or job will be but i knew if i kept myself open to new experiences, the adventure would continue...