Day 42

I’m eating too much. Alas, the perils of vacation travel. I may have to  walk home to Atlanta to offset the caloric surplus I’ve splurged in.

The highlight of today was a Jeep tour into the highlands west of Santa Fe. The scenery was, as expected, gorgeous. Got a really cool pic taken of Dawn and I standing at the entrance to Diablo Canyon. To one side of us (in the picture) is a vertical rock face that towers 250 to 300 feet up from the canyon floor. While we were there, a small group (8 to 10) of mountain climbers were practicing their skills. Seeing them from below gives me a new appreciation of the fearlessness required to climb mountains. Yikes. 

After our stop at the canyon, we continued on to the Rio Grande river - the same Rio Grande that separates parts of the US from Mexico. According to our guides, the headwater of the RG is just a couple of hours north in Colorado. Our driver and guide, Andrew, was nice - a bit chatty but very knowledgeable. 

After our excursion into the countryside Dawn and I did some more walking around Santa Fe. We checked out a couple galleries and a hat shop that specializes in custom-made hats. All the pieces we saw - sculptures, paintings and hats - were beautiful and (crazy?) expensive. We didn’t buy anything. At least not yet. 

Tomorrow, after another big breakfast [groan], we head to Taos for a couple of days. 

I think Damian would have really liked the Jeep tour.  I so badly wish he were here with us, but I admit that I am enjoying myself. And I mostly don’t feel guilty about that. Mostly. 

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