Arizona and New Mexico

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The Arizona – New Mexico Experience, March 27-31, 2013

Wednesday, March 27^th the Safari Motor Home and crew continued their eastward direction of travel along Interstate Highway 40 arriving in Flagstaff, Arizona mid afternoon. We experienced another day of ever changing desert scenery. For lunch we stopped in the kitschy little town of Seligman, on Highway 66 and enjoyed a “To Slow To Go” Buffalo Burger at the Road Kill Café.

Road Kill Cafe, Seligman, Arizona

Thursday, March 28^th we spent in Flagstaff, doing a few errands and maintenance activities. The Prius needed a bit of attention so we found the local Toyota Dealer, getting her attended to and happy again. The evening was a delight. We went to steak restaurant at the campground called Black Bart’s Saloon. It was a lot of fun; they have a very talented wait-staff of a dozen or so students of local university and high school. All of them would individually or in small ensembles perform a variety of songs throughout the evening. Their energy was amazing: bring us our salad, then our waiter was up on the stage singing, then back to whisk away the salad plates and bring us our steak. The piano player that accompanied the performers was great. We sat, ate and enjoyed the entertainment for 2 + hours. We enjoyed a bottle of local wine call Kind Vine; it was bottled in a returnable wine bottle and glass cork. What a great concept. Drinking the whole bottle of wine on top of an earlier cocktail was probably not the best idea, good thing we had only to walk back to the MoHo.

our waiter at Black Bart's, Flagstaff, Arizona

Our Favorite campground in Albuquerque

Friday, March 29^th saw the Safari heading out of Arizona and into New Mexico. We spent another day enjoying the amazingly diverse landscape of the desert southwest.  Along the way we stopped for a stretch break and Corona was quite interested in the cows that were wandering around – must have been an open range. The cows were not so interested in us and quickly went down an embankment, taking away Corona’s playmates? A longer day of driving but we arrived in Albuquerque late afternoon, tired, but happy to be on schedule, actually a day ahead, realized we had planned 2 days in San Jose. An extra day in Albuquerque is always appreciated.

"Enola, Gay"

Saturday, March 30^th we awoke to a beautiful New Mexico morning. The sun was shining, blue sky with scattered clouds – chamber of commerce picture perfect. R SFARI went into the Camping World shop to have the charging system looked at 1^st thing in the morning. All appeared to be ok, so soon we were on our way to downtown Albuquerque. We visited the National Museum of Nuclear Science – we got a good perspective of the atomic age: from the early conception, the Manhattan Projects, the cold war and up to today’s nuclear technology. The afternoon was spent enjoying the warm sunshine back at camp. Guinness had a bit of run, chasing after the Easter Bunny (wild rabbit) that had the silly idea that the campgrounds were a safe place to be?  You can guess the outcome – rabbit 1, Guinness 0.

Norris Bradbury Museum, Los Alamos

Our favorite restaurant, El Pinto, Albuquerque

Easter Sunday March 31th saw us taking the Prius on a bit of a road trip, driving about 100 miles north to Los Alamos. This was the location of the actual Manhattan Project from 1943-45. The Bradbury Science Museum was another very interesting place to visit. It gave us a good overview of the creation and the continued importance of the Los Alamos National Laboratory. While we are quite opposed to war and all that it brings, this part of our history is important for us know and understand, hopefully so that we won’t repeat these kind activities.  Following this educational afternoon we returned to Albuquerque for dinner, and had a great Easter Dinner at our favorite El Pinto Restaurant, great margaritas, carne adovado, sopapias, and ambiance.  

Once again we realize how much we like New Mexico, definitely want to come back again, more time, more money…. Beautiful area, and so many interesting things to see and do