Day 4
After a very restful
night’s sleep, Day 4 of our amazing adventure started off on a much better
note. Old Santa Fe Inn was a great little find; everything was very modern,
kept up in top shape and only 2 blocks away from “The Plaza”, Santa Fe’s
downtown area. We had a very delicious breakfast in their main dining room and
although tempted, I opted out having a ‘south western breakfast burrito’-
something about beans, salsa & sour cream in the morning didn't have my
taste buds screaming for one- so a typical boring breakfast of bacon, eggs and
toast it was.
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| Old Santa Fe Inn |
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| Old Santa Fe Inn |
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| Old Santa Fe Inn |
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| Old Santa Fe Inn |
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| Old Santa Fe Inn |
After reviewing all the
brochures the Inn had to offer on Santa Fe and the surrounding areas, we
decided to venture to “The Plaza” for a few hours and head on to our next
destination- 4 Corners, Colorado, Utah, Arizona & New Mexico.
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| Downtown Santa Fe |
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| Downtown Santa Fe |
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| Quote rings true! |
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| Downtown Santa Fe |
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| Downtown Santa Fe & Pete! |
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| Downtown Santa Fe! |
After packing up the SUV,
we made the walk over to Santa Fe’s ‘downtown’ area. Living in Boston and
visiting New York City many times, I just assume that a downtown area is that
of tall buildings, lots of people and noise and a little dirty. Apparently,
Santa Fe didn't get the message because their ‘downtown’ was absolutely beautiful- full of Pueblo Style 2-3 story buildings, a beautiful park area and
so many vibrant Native American, Mexican and Turquoise colors and culture. I
loved walking around and visiting all the shops, talking with the local people
and seeing if I could find any unique goodies to take home. Pete, however, was
not as amused as I was with walking and shopping (must be a girl thing), so
after a few hours of walking and exploring, we decided it was time to say our
‘good byes’ to Santa Fe and write down a list of places to see and visit for
another vacation.
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| Park out on The Plaza in Santa Fe |
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| Santa Fe River |
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| Santa Fe River |
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| Santa Fe River |
As we were following out
co-navigator- aka, the “little blue dot” on the iPhone,
we found ourselves
passing by Abiquiu Lake & Dam, a spot not too many works besides,
spectacular, stunning and the most beautiful views of tranquility I've even
seen could describe this area. Behind the blue lake were incredible mountain
views (of what mountains exactly, I wasn't sure…to be honest, I thought Santa Fe was in a flat dessert… mountains, who knew?) There were many signs posted
about camping, white water rafting and hiking, so that was another ‘to-do next
time’ on our list, I bet you could see thousands of stars when sleeping under
them in this area!
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| Stunning views at Abiquiu Lake area! |
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| Stunning views at Abiquiu Lake area! |
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| Stunning views at Abiquiu Lake area! |
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| Stunning views at Abiquiu Lake area! |
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| Just some Rattlesnakes... no big deal! |
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| Beautiful pictures of Abiquiu Lake! |
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| Beautiful pictures of Abiquiu Lake! |
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| Beautiful pictures of Abiquiu Lake! |
After our little pit stop
at Abiquiu Lake, it was back on the long stretch of perfectly paved road and so
many different sights to see along the way, including beautiful Red Rock
Mountains, clear blue skies and absolutely pristine land. Since there really weren't any places to stop to grab lunch, or any places that we saw along the
way, Convenience Store food and water bottles because our nutrition of choice,
(and this would continue for most of our driving trip…had we known this, would've stocked up on halfway decent food and water before our long trip… live
and learn).
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Back on the road again for another long distance
trip to our next destination!....The views area amazing!
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Back on the road again for another long distance
trip to our next destination!....The views area amazing!
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Back on the road again for another long distance
trip to our next destination!....The views area amazing!
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Back on the road again for another long distance
trip to our next destination!....The views area amazing!
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Around 5pm or so, we
finally came to an actual city/town, Farmington, New Mexico that had plenty of
hotels and places for dinner. Pete suggested that we just grab a room here for
the night and get dinner, but since the “little blue dot” indicated that we
were only an hour outside of 4 Corners, I suggested that we just keep going and
grab a place when we get there. Google insisted that there were hotels in the 4
Corners area so we kept on track and continued our route…although, I couldn't help notice that there were many signs indicated “4 Corners Hotels” were right
in Farmington...strange.
Once again, the sun was
starting to set as we drove down the desolate road with not lights to 4
Corners. Cell service was getting spotty but the “little blue dot” kept telling
us we were going in the right direction…although the hour drive seemed more
like 1 ½ - 2 hours. Pete kept asking me how far we were and if I was positive
there were hotels in the area… I assured him ‘yes’, but he seemed more agitated
each time he asked. At long last, we finally hit the Arizona/New Mexico border,
so we were only a few miles away from 4 Corners. As we kept driving, we started
notice there were no other off roads to any towns or any signs for hotels or 4
Corners. Inside I started to worry I may have f’d up, but I kept my cool as we
got closer, hoping there would be some sort of sign as to our destination.
Oh… there was a sign
alright.
Finally, in the pitch
black, no lights 2 way road we saw a sign saying ‘4 Corners Monument’ with a
giant left arrow. As we turned to follow the arrow to our destination, we were
greeted with a chain link fence and a sign posted that “4 Corners was
Closed”…until tomorrow morning.
Stunned & at this
point very tired, I scrambled to find, with very little to no signal, a hotel
room we could stay that was close. Well… the good news was there were a few
hotels available… bad news… they were in Cortez, Colorado or Farmington, New
Mexico…oops.
Right after I told Pete of
our situation, he gave me what I can only describe as the “Death Look”- the
look of no words that said; ‘I am going to leave you here in the middle of
nowhere and you can fend for yourself’ look.
After a few choice words
with each other, it was time to drive back the 50 miles to Farmington to get a
hotel and just sleep away this mess. (This of course was going to be a lot more
easily said than done). After stopping at a McDonalds for a quick bite (of
something) to eat, I started making a list of hotels to find and hopefully find
a room. Seeing as how we were in the middle of nowhere, how difficult could it
be to find a room? With our luck…difficult.
After stopping in the
Hampton Inn, we were informed that all the rooms were book. Strange. We then
tried the Holiday Inn, Courtyard by Marriott & Townplace Suites by Marriott…all
said they were booked. Okay, what the hell is going on here?! Finally we tried
the Red Lion Inn, what looked like a quaint place from the outside, a little
outdated but nice enough on the inside who told us they had a King Suite
available for $89…sold!! Apparently, there was some conference going in
town…naturally, and most rooms were completely booked.
At this point we were
beyond tired; however, we were aware that this place didn't seem so quaint
anymore…(we’d later find that this place made the Bates Motel look like a 5 Star
Resort). We parked in the back near our room, grabbed all of our luggage and
valuables, double locked the car doors and headed on in. The hallways were all
dimly lit, the furnishings and wallpaper seemed not only outdated but just
plain gross and as we walked to the elevator we walked past a person who was
clearly making a drug deal on his phone.
We made it up to the 3rd
floor and all I wanted was a shower and a bed. As soon as I opened the door, we
noticed a lot that wasn't right. All of the rooms lights were on, there was a
random cot in the sitting area, the toilet seat was up, towels on the floor,
water bottle cases and workout equipment boxes were sprawled across the room,
bed wasn't made and someone cashed a check for
a few thousand dollars (the ripped up check receipt was on the floor).
At this point, we knew we
made the huge mistake of staying here but in reality the only other choice we
had was sleeping in the car, which may have been the better option. We went
back downstairs to explain to the front desk to explain the situation. She apologized
multiple times and gave us another room and assured us this one was clean.
So, we made another
interesting trip back up to the 3rd floor where we past a unique character
with no shirt on purchasing a soda. He then walked back to his room and staring
banging on the door screaming to be let back in. Our second room was a minor
upgrade; the lights were off, there was no toilet paper in the toilet, and the
bed was half made. However, there was still an empty water bottle pack and some
more fitness equipment boxes, (what is up with the fitness boxes?!). After much
laughing, whining and calling three other local hotels, only to inform us they
were all booked, we tried to make the best of the situation and try to sleep,
get up in the morning and run like hell.
As we tried to get comfy
and get into bed, Pete noticed a few blonde hairs on his pillow and I noticed
what looked like a faint red stain on the end of my pillow. Enough was enough. We
both dressed fully clothed head to toe include hoodies, socks and pants, took
the top blanket off the bed, threw the other pillows to the floor and slept on
the mattress with only a little sheet for some sleeping relief. Within some
time, we managed to fall asleep…with one eye open… and get ourselves ready for
the adventure that waited the next day.
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