This is going to be hard to write this week without wearing out the words awesome, amazing, breath-taking, wonderful, etc.….  I am not just talking about Matt on the eve of his birthday – but where we have been of course – although he would be thrilled with the big up!

We came to this area 8 years ago and it made an incredible impression on us then and we were not disappointed on our return now.  In fact, we think as daft as it sounds we will probably come back again when this year is over – that is how beautiful it is.  (Shall we play superlative bingo throughout this blog – there is a beautiful to get you started!)

So, on Easter Sunday we had brunch in Albuquerque – which is impossible to visit or to type about and not sing that annoying Prefab Sprout song.  What is even more annoying is that between us we only know about three lines so have to constantly loop the title. Anyway, the brunch was nicer than the song and it broke our journey nicely before arriving in Santa Fe. 

Very excited to be in Santa Fe due to our love of Georgia O’Keefe and her works.  On Sunday, we were too late for the museum, so wandered downtown and got the feel of the place.  A lot of Indian arts and crafts – wind chimes and tut – but pleasant enough and due to the pueblo architecture, you would never have thought you were in a US city in 2017.  We had a beer on a terrace above the main plaza and it was very nice to relax and take it all in.

Next day we did go to the Georgia museum and it was brilliantly arranged so that you could clearly trace the different elements in her style and the huge impact that moving from the East coast to New Mexico had on her art.  The pictures of out here are amazing (ding) and the story of her life were illustrated well.   That she ended up as the old woman in the desert is completely understandable when you are here surrounded by what she saw.  Huge skies, balmy winds and the sharpest most beautiful colours in the rocks, trees and flowers.  Stunning (ding!).

Once we had come off our artistic vibe it was time to get back to our other love – US governance so we had a quick tour of the New Mexico capitol building and saw their House of Representatives and the Senate.  Absolutely no security whatsoever so if Guy Fawkes was around today – this would have been a pretty good target.

We had dinner in Santa Fe and again the food was much better than we have had. New Mexico and Arizona have a foodie reputation and it shows.  Still lots of Mexican influence – but European fusion too.

After our mini break in the big city (hardly large Santa Fe – but in a state of only 2m people it is big) we set off north to the border with Colorado.  Driving on our route we passed by where Georgia lived, the famous ‘Ghost Ranch’.  The scenery was stunning – red cliffs, canyons and amazing cloud formations.  There were cottonwood trees in the valley – exactly as she painted.  Superb!

Every day in Reg we sit up front and look at America the beautiful out of the windows – but sometimes it is even more amazing than we are expecting.  The drive from Santa Fe to our camp that night – Heron Lake State Park – was one such journey. We went from dusty canyons up on to a plateau, which was Alpine in feel.  We had snow-capped mountains, pine forests and streams after having been in a red dusty bowl.  The transition was quick and definitely a road to remember.  We call it landscape overload.  It is so beautiful you can hardly process it.

Heron Lake was completely deserted as a camp ground.  Clearly covered in snow in winter, the trails were marked for cross country skiing as well as hiking.  It was warm and sunny for us – and so lovely to be completely on our own.  We saw one other couple out walking but otherwise our companions were bunnies and deer who were numerous.  I saw bald headed eagles at the dam and we had the most spectacular sunsets.  Amazing place – one that we might come back to.  For those reading the blog it was almost like Land Between Lakes which we went to in November between Kentucky and Missouri.

We had another amazing drive from Heron Lake, into Colorado on our eventual way to a National Park – Mesa Verde. It is a pretty long old trek to Mesa Verde so we stopped a night in Durango, on a site underneath a mountain.  Even simple chores like taking the rubbish out are magical here as the stars are so bright in the dark skies – but very chilly!

Slight mishap on the way to Mesa Verde the next morning –  Reg decided to get a flat tyre. A sign of our new resilience to these types of dramas is that we just left the park and went to the town of Cortez and found a tyre shop then and there.  We used the time it took to do some errands in the town so that we did not lose the whole day. I think we are getting a bit more resilient in our sixth month of the trip!  We have now covered 10,000 miles by the way.

Mesa Verde is all about native American cave dwellings, but on so much of a larger scale than what we had seen in Gila National Forest.  These are huge constructions – Cliff Palace in one cave has 100 rooms.  All mind blowing and the setting is superb.  Reg had to earn his new tyre as he climbed up some really steep hills.  He does groan a bit we have to say!  Anyway, we made it – about 8,000 feet up.  The tours at Mesa Verde are booked ages in advance so we had to make do with a trail instead.  My sister H will like this one – we saw our first snake on a path and the leg of an elk – still with hoof and fur on but no longer attached to a carcass.  Charming!

So, we come to the best bit of the week which was Monument Valley.  It was completely magical all over again.  This time we came from the other direction having been in Mesa Verde, so arrived on the scenic road 163 (one for the anoraks out there) and as the sun set on the huge, red lumps of rock it was all too much.  I felt my eyes were going to be sick… it is so beautiful it is a little like eating too much or drinking too much – we just felt overloaded.  Not a bad thing, you just hope that the images get burnt on to your brain to recall them years later when you need them on a grey day in London!

Our site was run by David who had just started it – we were again his only customers for most of Friday – but he was lovely and made us very welcome.  The park is administered by the Navajo so it is not the same as a national park.  We had a jeep tour on Friday afternoon and we saw different parts of the valley than we had seen before. Arches blown in the sandstone by wind and rain, petroglyphs from earlier tribes and of course stunning views.  The Navajo are fairly commercial and it was frankly a fortune – $190 and our guide Bryon was probably the hardest person to talk to in the world.  No Park Service free talks at Monument Valley!

Next day we did our own thing – we walked around the West Mitten Butte before breakfast which was very tranquil and peaceful and then at lunchtime we made a picnic and set off on the Thompson Twins and cycled down the valley road. If anyone has been to Monument Valley they can imagine how bumpy and dusty this was.  No matter – despite the dust and being completely worn out with the gradients – it was a huge experience to be immersed in the landscape and to think that it was formed millions of years ago. 

Monument Valley is the thing that everyone should see in my humble opinion. No matter how they try to explain the geology of it – it is simply nuts!  Huge great lumps of red rock and then sandy desert all around.  It is breath taking.  We have vowed to come back again – as we still absolutely love it. 

Reluctantly we said goodbye to David and that beautiful scenery and headed west towards the top of the Grand Canyon at Page.  There is a huge dam here on the Colorado River and we need to be up here to visit Zion National Park this week.  We are staying at Lake Powell which is a recreation area beloved of campers and boaters.  To join in this afternoon, we hired a speedboat and went up Antelope Canyon and had another picnic whilst marvelling at the geology which we have not got any more understanding of than before!

We are at the end of this week – red, flabbergasted at what we have seen and very aware of how lucky we are to be on this trip.  This, as I say, may just be the best bit… but stay tuned to find out!