only 800 miles to california!

tucumcari, NM

yep, that's right!  we're getting so close!  i love looking at where we are on the map, we've come so far.

i'm writing right now while eating the strangest breakfast- cereal, granola, flaxseed, dried cranberries, dried peaches, walnuts, apples, mango baby food mixed throughout, and a drizzle of maple syrup on top!  lol.  we kinda forgot to go to the store, so i just mixed up everything we have ;).  patrick is barely eating it, liam ate it really slowly, and i'm eating it just fine.  i think it's kinda good!

last night we spent in albuquerque, NM.  new mexico is sooo pretty!  the landscape is beginning to look more like santa barbara- bigger mountains and desert plants.  i love it.

it feels so old and abandoned here.  so much empty space and unincorporated towns, remains of old houses and random cars just parked and left in an open field.  it gives me a lonely and mysterious feeling.

our first stop in NM was in tucumcari.  liam needed a little walk so we thought we'd take him to a park.  tucumcari has a really interesting history.  the native american story is that a village chief wanted to marry off his daughter cari to a warrior.  two warriors wanted her hand, but cari wanted only one of them- tucum.  the chief had the men fight to the death for cari, and as the second warrior stabbed tucum, cari jumped out from hiding and watching and took the knife and killed the other warrior and then herself.  the chief came to see everyone dead, and realized the power of unrequited love.  he shouted 'tucum!' 'cari!' and then stabbed himself.  woah, right?!

we stopped by the tucumcari metropolitan park, and it was kinda scary.  no one in sight, and bullets on the ground and an old house with bullet holes.  it was also like 36 degrees and super windy.. so we walked for about 15 minutes then decided let's get out of here!  haha, liam was a little disappointed, but we're taking him on a sweet hike today to the petroglypths ancient volcano park here in albuquerque.

on the way to albuquerque we made a stop to get some gas at this sweet old gas station.  it almost seems like time has stopped along certain spots on I-40 through new mexico.

while at this old gas station we got to see a bit of the nation's first super highway- connecting chicago to los angeles- route 66.  it was built in 1926 and was super popular among tourists and travelers.

route 66

pat and i read up on the history of route 66, and it made me really sad!  once the interstate highway system  was built in america, many old roads were just abandoned, and towns and businesses that once thrived along the roads were pretty much left to die.  the new highway system bypasses small towns, and i suppose are safer than the old roads- so that's a good thing.  people can still travel most of route 66 today, and there is a big movement recently to revive and restore this precious moment in our history!  so that makes me feel good :).  it's funny how we humans personify inanimate things, haha i got a little choked up while reading the wikipedia article about route 66.  i'm really glad i got to see some of it.

last night i cuddled with liam a lot.  haha.  he's the best little baby in the world.

 i really wanted to stop in santa fe today, but patrick is thinking it will be too expensive and it's out of our way.  i can see that, and it's not like there aren't other marvelous places to stop along our route!  we're thinking about spending 2 nights in the grand canyon area tomorrow instead.  i know i'll be back to visit santa fe someday... :)

well check out time in our econolodge looms, so i must pack up!

hope you're doing well, and i am so grateful that i can share my adventures with you!