48 States

Before today's blog gets to its normal story mode may I say congratulations to Drew who has now made it to all 48 of the contiguous United States. 


I was pleased to see that Drew was much more excited about this achievement than I thought he might be. He was even willing to have the photo taken evidencing his achievement. Something that is so unusual he really must have been happy!!

So for the record at 10.45 on Friday the 21st of August Drew entered Colorado, meaning he has now visited each of the 48 states of the USA.

The title of this post had to be the song 48 states by the Smalltown Poets, see lyrics as we now have both made the 48. Drew on the other hand preferred the Animaniacs tune about the state capitals, but we have Hawaii and Alaska to do before we can claim that :-) 

The Route

Today's route was designed around two objectives: 1 - To go to Colorado, the last of the 28 states for Drew. 2 - To drive through startling countryside and into the hills of northern New Mexico and Southern Colorado. I'm glad to say we managed both. Our route today was:





i.e. Following the US84 from Santa Fe to Pagosa Springs and then the US160, otherwise known as the San Juan Skyway to Cortez. Unlike a lot of this holiday, this route was new to me, as well as Drew.

Breakfast

As I couldn't find a Comfort Inn in Santa Fe, this is the last one of the holiday. I've been impressed by the standard of the accommodation and the breakfasts. I'd certainly use them again if I am in these parts.


Today being Friday it was scrambled eggs for breakfast for me, Drew managed an extra sausage to make up for my lack. I did however have my first waffle of the holiday. Most of the Comfort Inns have a waffle machine, but I'd not used one until today. The waffle was well cooked, even and (well what can I say) rather like a waffle. I enjoyed it, but cakes, even non-sweet ones, at breakfast, aren't something I can easily get used too. 

She'll be coming around the mountains

Actually it was us coming around the mountains. We left Santa Fe on a lovely mountain road which led to US84, this route had views that were enough to astound. I'll point you to Flickr to see the range of them. They really make you feel like you are in the Westerns and that bandits could come over the hill and attack at any moment. 

The rugged landscape with the small bushes were complemented every now and again with some rich fertile areas between the mountains. These areas were almost Alpine in scope, I could imagine Heidi coming down the pasture, very different from the bandit territory of a few moments before.

Another feature of this part of the journey is the New Mexico approach to bridges. They decorate them with native motifs and are very pretty indeed.

Following the first set of mountain ranges we came to Carson State Forest and the landscape changed again, still with rugged hills/mountains but now mainly populated, except at the peak, by trees.

We travelled through towns with Spanish names including Espanola and Cebolla, after two hours of driving through this territory we stopped to get a drink. We pulled into a petrol station/shop/bar place in the tiny hamlet of Tierra Almarilla. After buying the drinks we asked if the restrooms (toilet to people from the UK) were available, to be told: "No sorry the flush is broken and the plumber has gone hunting for three weeks, so we are having to use 'out the back'" We didn't take the lady up on the 'out the back' offer, so got back on the road.

48 States

As noted above at 10.45 the US84 brought us to the State line of Colorado. We stopped to take photos of Drew's arrival in the state and these are at the start of this post.

San Juan Skyway

In the way of US roads the US84 came to an end, this was in a town called Pagosa Springs, it clearly had hot springs, sulphur I would guess from the occasional smell that wafted into the car. At Pagosa Springs we turned on to the US160 which is part of the San Juan Skyway and continued through the San Juan Forest, with more trees and mountains.

We saw very few food places along the route, apart from Pagosa Springs where the springs smell would have put me off lunch (something I am sure very few of you can imagine!!). So we stopped in the town of Bayfield where the only place we could see to eat was a local Subway. 

Drew had the Black Forest Ham on White Bread and managed all the questions Subway staff ask with great aplomb. I remember when we first visited a Subway, it was in El Paso in 2002, and neither of us could work out how things worked without aid from the server. We are obviously getting better.

It being Friday I opted for the 'all day breakfast' range, having egg and cheese (provolone) on a flatbread with tomatoes, gherkins (they are not called that here, but I could point) and peppers. 

From Bayfield we continued for another hour until coming to the UNESCO World Heritage site of Mesa Verde National Park, the park, as well as the amazing range of hills is also home to ancient remains of the civilisation that existed around here 9,500 years ago.

Then it was on to the town of Cortez and to the Holiday Inn Express where we arrived just before 3.00. We again have an excellent room and here the doors are decorated with ancient cave painting images, which is a nice touch given its location.

At 7.30 we went out for Dinner. I had been looking for a restaurant that I had first eaten in when we came to Cortez in 1994 on our first visit to the USA with my brother, sister and brother in law. The restaurant was called El Burro, and though it has now adopted the owners name into the title, so it is El Burro Pancho, and moved 1/4 of a mile up the Main Street in Cortez (very recently), it still offers as excellent Mexican food as it did all those years ago.

We began with chips and salsa and the salsa was strongly chilli flavoured, just as I like it. We had another bowl of chips while we were deciding on our order. 

As an appetiser Drew opted for quesadilla, a firm favourite of his. I went for the Hongos al Ajo - Mushrooms with Garlic, these were amazing - I've eaten garlic mushrooms in almost every country in which I have travelled, each of them can be different, but here they were superb. The mushrooms had clearly been soaked in garlic butter before cooking, so the flavour of the garlic was in every bite of the mushroom - excellent.

For mains Drew went for one of the restaurant's specials: Pancho's Enchiladas which were two enchiladas one with chicken and the other with minced beef served with beans and rice. Drew said this is the nicest food he has had to date.

I opted, as it is Friday, for a prawn dish, Camorones Chipotle, the chipotle sauce included mushrooms, bell peppers and onions, this was served with beans and rice, there were corn tortillas on the side. I was amazed that a flavour as strong as chipotle did not overpower the taste of the king prawns, but it did not they were a perfect complement for each other. The warmth of the chipotle gradually built up into a lovely heat at the back of the throat, wonderful.

We opted not to have dessert, but with the bill came a fried tortilla topped with honey, cream and chocolate. Drew really loved this, and was glad he had not tasted it before his dinner as he might have just eat lots and lots of this as it was delicious.

El Burro Pancho was definitely a great place, and all of this for less than $50, amazing.

We drove back to the hotel and were in bed by 10.00 pm.