Info about our October/November 2008 car trip to Santa Fe.
We hit the road in the Mystique
for a driving trip to Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Santa Fe is not a place we ever thought about going to. We went
because our neice Dina was getting married. We figured that since we had not
planned any vacation for 2008 this could double as a vacation and family event.
We debated between doing 2 long days in the car or 3 shorter days. After
the drive to Houston in
September. Three days won out. Sort of, we planned on leaving our house on a Tuesday
and arrive in Santa Fe on Thursday when the rest of Cheryl's family were due
to arrive. We would stay until Monday and make the long drive
to Laughlin, Nevada.
Neither one of us had been to Laughlin and thought it might be fun to check it out. Las Vegas
is close but we did not want to deal with all the Las Vegas noise and hastle. It also gave us a chance to check out the
new XM radio we picked up. We found
out on the trip to Houston that you
do not get many radio stations while crossing Arizona and New Mexico. Our XM radio
will let you move it from car to car as well as the house.
Day 1
We left for Santa Fe late Tuesday morning. Trying to split the
drive into 3 days of more or less equal time. It worked out that Barstow was
the planned first nights stop. We stopped in Barstow for lunch on the trip out
to Houston and knew it would be an easy drive. We also wanted to make sure to
have time to have dinner at Big Boy.
We used to have a few in the San Jose area, but not anymore. All said and done, we did
about 375 miles the first day. It also gave us a chance to get used to using the XM radio.
Day 2
Wednesday morning did not start out so hot. The antenna connector on the XM radio broke the
second time we ever tried to plug it in. We stopped at one of the travel centers to top off the gas tank prior to
leaving and picked up another antenna. That is when we found out the connector was broken in the radio cradle and not
just the antenna wire.
So on top of the drive to Flagstaff, Arizona
we had the additional mission of finding a new car cradle for
a Delphi Skyfi 3 XM radio.
We checked the various different travel centers but had no luck. Once we got settled into the hotel in Flagstaff, Tony
headed off to find either a Circuit City, Best Buy or Radio Shack at the mall but struck out. The 353 miles were a nice drive with a stop off in Kingman, AZ for lunch and a
really nice visitor center.
Day 3
Thursday morning started out with a bit of a surprise. A thin coating of
ice covered the car. Nothing that we could not deal with, just something we do not see much of
in San Jose. We got on the road a little later then we planned since we wanted to try one more
place in search of our not to be found Skyfi 3 car kit. We did stop at a neat
souvenir stand and ended up rolling into Santa Fe about 7:00 pm after 384 or so miles. On the way we checked out the
Albuquerque area and an area that ended up being Rio Rancho in search of the elusive Skifi 3 car kit. We liked both
those areas. Not sue why, they were just appealing. Maybe it was the variety but we also made the same comment on the
way home.
Day 4 & 5
Friday was Halloween and we spent the day doing a little sight seeing and visiting with Cheryl's family and
checking a few other places for the Skyfi 3 car cradle. It seems the only place you
can find Delphi Skyfi stuff is online. Friday night was a small party at the same hotel where the wedding reception was going
to be on Saturday. Some of the guests were also staying at this hotel. We stayed at another hotel nearby. Saturday was also spent doing
a little looking around and the wedding was Saturday night. The wedding was in a real nice old
church and the reception was next to the church. Both were very nice.
Day 6
Sunday morning rolled in and our plan prior to leaving San Jose was to spend
this day sight seeing on our own. Cheryl's family were all heading home today and were not
going to be around much. Since we had our fill of Santa Fe, we had a change of plans and
decided to leave late in the morning and head back to Flagstaff. This was a big change from
leaving Santa Fe early Monday and driving 560+ miles to Laughlin Nevada. So just prior to lunch we
hit the road back to Flagstaff. We did drive around Albuquerque a little then headed off for a stop
at the same souvenir store from day 3 to pick up something we were wishing we had gotten the first time. We stayed in a different hotel this
time and found a great little local Mexican food place for dinner. Tony started to feel a little
sick during the day
Day 7
We took our time getting out of the hotel since we had less then 200 miles to get
to Laughlin Neveda.
We arrived early Monday afternoon and got settled in at the same time one hell of a head cold was
settling into Tony's head. We did a little gambling and had some dinner. Tony crashed and
Cheryl spent some time exploring the casino. One bit of excitement came later that night
when Cheryl went to use the restroom. Water was pouring out of the exhaust vent. We called
housekeeping who checked the room above us and discovered they were emptying the bathtub.
The drain was leaking and they were going to have to take our room out of service and tear the
bathroom ceiling apart to fix it. They offered to move us to another room but since we did not
want to have to move our stuff and the folks in the room above us were done with the tub/shower we
elected to stay put. We liked Laughlin and might be willing to go back again.
Day 8
Laughlin to home is about 545 miles so we thought we would get an early start. We had
a light snack for breakfast and hit the road early figuring we would have breakfast and get gas while
on the road. Looking back this was a mistake. It took longer to get to eat then we expected and we did not eat
until we got back to Barstow. Next time, we will eat a real breakfast in Laughlin. Other then Tony feeling
like crap most of the day, the drive home was easy.
Some trip photo's
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| Ice covered car in Flagstaff |
Come and get me you varmints |
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| Seen along I-40 |
Seen along I-40 |
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| At our favorite souvenir stand |
A piece of petrified wood |
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| More along I-40 |
More along I-40 |
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| The night before the wedding party was Halloween |
Richard in his best makeshift Halloween clothes |
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| Tony and Richard |
Jad and Cheryl |
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| Add in Ruth for good measure |
Cheryl, Richard and Bettye just before the wedding |
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| Inside the church |
The reception was next door |
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| Tony suffered a wardrobe malfunction |
Heading home, things look familiar |
