Today I made it to the desert, my favorite place in the world. Somehow I find it beautiful and restful. The colors are all soft pastels; purples,pinks, soft grays, greens set off by bright red clay and crisp blue sky. I can feel my shoulders just drop when I cross the mountains and see the desert spread out before me. The mesas and low mountains are lovely.
It was 275 miles from Amarillo to Albuquerque so I had to find a way to break up the trip. I had no idea what to do and then as I got to Tucumcari there it was - a Dinosaur Museum. I'm still a child at heart when it comes to dinosaurs. The museum is connected to a community college that teaches paleontology and has a yearly dig. The displays were a good mix of fossils, dioramas and a play area for children. It was laid out simply in a time line showing the evolution of each type of dinosaur.
Next I was off to the Petroglyph National Monument. This is just outside of Albuquerque. My Garmin and I had a little argument but I did finally get there, I never did get to the Visitor Center but I did get to the actual trail. It was a mile and a half walk that passed a lot of petroglyphs done on lava rocks. They were done by the local Native Americans between 400 and 700 years again. It was fun to search for the petroglyphs. There were some modern markings because people will be people. The markings aren't very contrasting in most cases so it was hard to see them.
As I was looking for my hotel for the night I came across a Toyota Sales and Service Center. Since my car was letting me know maintenance was required I pulled in and asked if they could fit me in. They were nice enough to accommodate me. They even washed my car. They couldn't get the bugs off the front.
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