Canyon Road

What an amazing place. Centuries ago, Canyon Rd was used by Indians from Rio Grande pueblos as a main route. Following them conquistadors, warriers, mexicans, confederates, used the trail. Now the road has some of the most beautiful architecture which reflects its long history. Gorgeous adobe buildings now house nearly a hundred galleries where a really eclectic group of artists display their works.

At the end of the road s a gorgeous Tea Room with a choice of over 100 teas.

Could have bought so many beautiful things, if I only had the $ and the space for them.

Great day!

36th Wedding anniversary!

Woah! Who have believed all those years ago that we would be spending our 36th in such a great place. We stayed in a beautiful B & B - The Water Inn. I hadn't wanted to leave our lovely camp site in Sante Fe but the contrast was great.
Spent our days visiting gorgeous galleries, sampling the rather good margaritas at Maria's, watching the mariachi bands lead the newly weds around the square. Sampling the great tortillas, loving the flamenco guitars and of course the opera. Roger bought me a beautiful bracelet and as he gave it me one of the guys behind said "That's a great band, where did you get it from. Roger explained where he got it from and said that it was our wedding anniversary. As we got up to leave the waitress brought us more margaratas!!! We finished these quickly before the rest of the restaurant could "help us celebrate some more!"
Lovely time though.

TheSanta Fe Opera House was just fantastic, we arrived early and had a "tail gate" dinner. The performance was just stunning. At first I thought the set looked a bit boring BUT when Natalie Dessay exploded onto the stage with her bright red hair and cerise dress, it was all on. Music, drama, and a great theatrical experience.


Tailgateing at the opera

Taos, New Mexico

What a contrast to Alaska. We found a great camping spot, right next to the river (but unfortunately also next to the noisy road!). Loved all the art galleries and the gorgeous adobe houses.

Visited Kit Carson's house (bottom right hand corner, click on picture to enlarge) which was really interesting. Incredible to think that the American settlement was such recent history..........how tough life must have been. I am constantly amazed by the contrast between "Hollywood America" and the "real America" which is such a rich and complex tapestry of peoples and cultures.

Bought a fab mask from the arts market. Made from gourdes and painted with leather dyes, just gorgeous. Seem to be developing a bit of a mask thing. Visiting the the Cathedral dedicated to St Francis of Assisi took us bakc
to our great visit there a couple of years ago.


Loved the beautiful flowers displayed in lovely old carts, barrels etc. Mmmmm life is good

Amazing wildlife along the way.

Homer to Anchorage

Wow!!! We had a great trip up to Anchorage, stopping off at Whittier which as you can see, was fantastic. The only way in is through to the town is through the longest tunnel in USA. Lovely evening!

Homer, Alaska

We stayed in an incredible house with a balcony where we sat watching whales, eagels and fishing boats floating by. The views were amazing.

Amazing things I didn’t really know about Alaska

• Bears LOVE dandelions
• In summer in Homer it stays light for 20hrs per day – I’m sure it gets lighter and brighter at 2 AM!
• There are more churches than pubs in Alaska
• Even when you are in the mountains you are often at sea level – shocking after living in Gunnison
• It is cold and rainy
• It is cold and sunny
• Its cold
• You see bears when you least expect them!
• Alaskans in Homer love the fact that in winter it is light for only 2hrs a day
• Lupins and roses bloom everywhere
• There is always a magnificent eagle circling above you
• There are no roads in or out of Alaska’s capital Juneau.
• Moose really do have very long faces
• There are more churches than pubs in Alaska

Road to Anchorage

Managed to get on a rusty, dusty old bus with a cranky driver. We had booked this really quirky hotel called the Qupqugiaq Inn. This was our first mistake as we couldn't pronounce the name and no one had heard of it.

According to the website.....There is no place quite like Qupqugiaq Inn Much more than just an affordable hotel -- our guests enjoy a truly special experience with interiors that boast: Organic, unusual architecture Flowing, assymetric curves Handmade tiles and steamed oak Handcrafted furniture International themes in each room.


When we finally got there it did look interesting............but........we found we had a bunk room with eight beds and shared bathroom. When we explained that we really didn't need that number of beds, we got a room with 1 double and two bunks.... a little more expensive. Finally we got a double room with bathroom, which hadn't been cleaned! NO we couldn't leave the bags there until it was cleaned as the cleaner was VERY particular.

MMM money passed hands and we finally had a clean if expensive room overlooking garbage bins and a car lot........Life is good!!!

Only stayed overnight and then headed off to Homer................managed to take in the Captain Cook monument.......that chappie certainly got about didn't he?

Final shot is of Anchorage's volcano which started steaming, just as we set off to the airport! So they had an earthquake two days before we arrived and volcanic activity as we left ....must mean something!

We waved our ship the Veendam goodbye and booked into the oldest hotel in town - not glamourous but v interesting with early photos of the building of the railway and the days when Alaska was part of Russia. After exploring the town by foot in the rain we decided that we needed a car and so set out to Exit Glacier. Amazing we booked into a ranger guided tour.

Next day it was cold and wet but those glaciers are just fantastic. We were due to be picked up by bus to take us on a tour up to Anchorage which included a visit to a conservation area - where we could see Moose, Carribou, bears etc.

At 9.00 pm we got a phone call to say that they had cancelled our bus. We are still trying to get our money back!!!