Day 24: Flagstaff to Albuquerque

I slept like a baby at the Grand Canyon Hostel in Flagstaff. I got a private room, which was anti-social of me, but I'm glad I did. I really only spent about 20 minutes in Flagstaff outside my time in the hostel which was too bad. It looked like a quirky place worth exploring.


The view down the street from the hostel. It snowed as I arrived into town as you can still see in the hills.


Before leaving I yelped a place in Winslow, AZ called The Turquoise Room which was fancy culinary oasis in the middle of nowhere. I had the carnitas with red and green chile sauce. I enjoyed it a lot. The internet is so useful!

It is located inside the La Posada Inn which was/is? owned by Fred Harvey and designed by the same woman that did most of the Grand Canyon lodges. Her deal was incorporating traditional native american architecture into the buildings for white people. Harvey is a big deal in the SW, he was the first person (back in the early 1900s) to offer swanky dining and lodging options for tourists traveling by train. The train still runs right up to inn, the back of which looks like it was originally the grand entrance from when people still traveled by train.


Once you cross the border from Arizona into New Mexico on I-40 you are immediately greeted by some fascinating looking pieces of geology. This one was a little further in but indicative of the landscape.


I detoured south from the main highway to go to El Morro National Monument. I got this photo from the road. Unfortunately by the time I got there the park entrance had closed. But from the signs I was informed that the rocks have thousands of years worth of graffiti from natives, spanish, and modern americans. There are also some stone house ruins located on top of the monument but I couldn't spot them. My original plan for the day included several other parks and tourist attractions but it keeps becoming clearer that I need 2-3X more time than I anticipated to do it all. So today turned out to be a mostly driving day. Arrived into Albuquerque (which I totally know how to spell) right on time except that I forgot about the time change. So really I was an hour late. Whoops.

Tomorrow: Taking a breather, maybe exploring old downtown Albuquerque.