"On The Road Again"...Our trip to Santa Fe, New Mexico

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I just thought I would post a few pictures of our Santa Fe, New Mexico trip that we took last week. Our trip was bittersweet because we were supposed to meet our friends Max and Toni there,(they live in Arizona), but Max was recently diagnosed with lung cancer and he had to start treatments. We were so sorry that they couldn't make it, but they insisted we go ahead and make the trip. So you can see why we would be missing them. Each year for the past several years we have met up with them in the fall and we have had such a good time. Last year we went to Gatlinburg, Tennesee and North Carolina with them and it was so much fun. We are praying for them, that the treatments will help and we certainly pray for God's strength and His peace during this time.

The pictures are just some random shots along the way and while we were in New Mexico. We stayed right by the Plaza and we enjoyed walking around it and shopping, and we even took our lunch one day and ate it in the park in the center of the square while we watched the many people strolling through the Plaza. The weather was great most of the time with temps in the 70's but it did cool down a lot in the evenings, and it also rained a couple of times. The skies were so blue and the clouds were so white and fluffy most of the time! I didn't capture the beauty of that bright blue sky in my pictures, but it was one of the things that I really enjoyed. The altitude was over 7,000 feet, so maybe that had something to do with it??? I don't know, but it was amazing.

I went out to a golf course with John while he was practicing and I sat there enjoying the view, and thinking about all of the Indian and Mexican people that we had seen and I was thinking about their culture and of all of the beautiful artwork and crafts they display. There are several museums in the area where we were staying and oh so much beautiful jewelry that they make. (I really had to practice self control, because I love jewelry). I did buy a little raku pot, and a basket, and a pair of earrings for my daughter, and a shawl for myself. And a few other little things. But everything was very expensive! There were a lot of homeless people and several of them approached John for money. He gave them some in the name of Jesus. I love that man of mine! Everything we have belongs to God anyway, and if He prompts us to give,...who are we to say no?

God certainly did make a variety of landscapes in this world and even just in the United States! With us living here in the flatlands of Kansas, we sure enjoyed the mountain scenery. We went to Los Alamos where they made the atom bomb and it sits up on a plateau so there was a lovely view up that way. We ate lunch there in a
50's diner. We were going to go to a monument up there and tour some caves, but it started raining. But even still we did enjoy the ride, and we got to see where John's uncle had worked when he was a security guard back in the 50's and 60's.

On the way back home we stopped in a town called Shamrock, Texas, and we took a picture of an old gas station there that was the model for the station in the movie "Cars"! It was charming. There are lots of old, quaint,buildings along the route that we took, because it was the old Route 66. My husband is into all of the nostalgia from the 50's and he loves to listen to the oldies music,..I guess it all takes him back to the happy times from his youth. So I guess you could say,..."he got his kicks on route 66". {{smile}} The route was also what they used when they filmed the movie, "Wild Hogs". I can see why they filmed it there, because of the wide open spaces! We did see a lot of people on motorcycles enjoying the nice weather out there.

I took a lot of the pictures from the car while we were on the road, so they aren't of the best quality, but you can see a little of what we saw the week we were there. Thanks for letting me share. Have a great week ahead!