Day 7: Steak or Burrito

I've had more red meat than I should probably eat in a lifetime. Last night when he hit New Mexico, Mexican food was all we could think about it, and boy was it good. Twenty-four hours later, we're sick of it. We had Mexican again for lunch. This time, crappy Mexican. And for dinner, our choices: Mexican or steak. Practically every restaurant in town has been Mexican, and every non-Mexican menu we've seen still has Mexican on it. So the first place we went for dinner - El Rancho Hotel - had a choice of steak or Mexican (everything else was questionable). My dad threw down a tip for our waters and we left. The second place - The Ranch Kitchen - had a choice of steak or Mexican or ribs. I ordered the ribs. They were out of the pig... So we both had steak. I can't even begin to count how much red meat I have eaten in this cow country. Ok, well I might as well try: chili, chicken-fried steak, a filet, a beef taco, carne asada, another steak. And what am I going to eat for breakfast in the morning? Probably steak (leftover) and eggs... My intestines need a break. Tomorrow, we're cooking pork chops for dinner.

Ok, now let me back up. To the beginning...

We had a rather slow start this morning. I made a pretty hearty breakfast on a two-burner stove. It took about 2 hours to cook it and eat it. And I boiled over some milk, and the pool left standing in the burner extinguished the gas flame. Fun. Then my dad wanted to make a "quick stop" at Camping World across the street. I should have known from many childhood RV trips that those stops are never quick. We pulled out of their parking lot about 12:30. But Rocinante did get some more doctoring, and she just may finally be remedied now, for good.

For lunch, we went to Old Town Albuquerque, which was the original 1706 town settlement. The old homes have now been turned into shops and restaurants. For lunch, we had a choice of Mexican or Mexican, so we had... well, you know the rest of that. Afterwards, we crossed the square to San Felipe De Neri Catholic Church just to look around. We finished off our visit to Old Town with a stop at the Rattlesnake Museum. (I'm not going to lie - this is really why we went to Old Town in the first place). The museum was housed in the back of a little junk store, but a real live snake catcher/keeper ran the place. We saw a photo of him holding the most ginormous live rattlesnake we've ever seen, and he had some kind of snake out in the shop to play with. After paying our $3, we carried our "Special Visitor Certificate of Bravery" to the back and viewed a pretty large snake collection, which included everything from rattlers to copperheads, and all other brands of poisonous, legless creatures. Also included were a few tarantulas, scorpions, a giant frog, some rather interesting looking turtles, a gila monster, and a few lizards. One of the most interesting in the snake zoo was the "Viritrox" Rattlesnake, a mix of a Prairie Rattlesnake and a Western Diamondback. As the placard explained, this doesn't happen often, especially with snakes of different sizes. This snake was caught from a landfill in Albuquerque. I have to confess, it was a bit eerie looking some of these things in the face. The gila monster was my favorite, though. And maybe the Indian Ornamental Tarantula. Out of the snakes, it would have to be the Northwestern Neotropical Rattlesnake (native to Southern Mexico and white with sand-colored flecks). Well... and I also really liked that giant frog.

On our way out of Albuquerque, we stopped at one of the canyons of the Petroglyph National Monument to see some of the 3,500 rock drawings there. However, once we got about 15 minutes into the 1.2 mile trail, SOMEBODY was ready to turn around. I'm not naming any names here... We did see something on 2 rocks, but I wouldn't guarantee that those weren't etched by some kids back in 1992. Guess we'll never know.

From there, we were back on 40, headed west. The drive was gorgeous. Palisades, mesas, all brilliant red in the setting sun. And some snow-capped mountains in the distance. And finally, the further west we got and the higher in elevation, snow on the ground around us. We pulled over and took some photos at the Continental Divide at an elevation of 7,275 feet. What a strange phenomenon, the Continental Divide - on one side the water flows east toward the Atlantic, on the other west toward the Pacific. But why there? Why right there?

Our final stop was Gallup, New Mexico, the last stop we could find with an RV park and far enough to drive for one day. We bought some souvenirs at Richardson's Cash Pawn and Trading Post, just as much a museum as it was a place to shop. I really do wish I would have gotten more pictures there - there was some amazing artisanal work in those glass cases. Oh and when I say "souvenirs," I mean some serious souvenirs. In other words, my mom should be watching out for the arrival of a wooden crate.

For dinner and a Route 66 stop, we tried El Rancho Hotel, whose claim to fame is that it was the home of the stars while they were filming in New Mexico and Arizona. The hotel definitely had a tremendous amount of character, but the restaurant left a little to be desired. So we drove... and drove... and drove... and finally found the other of maybe 4 "real" restaurants in town - The Ranch Kitchen. Really, I still can't get over how every town has all the same kind of food, no matter what kind of place they put it in. Don't people get tired of the same old thing? Haven't these people ever had Italian?! Oh, what I would do for some red sauce that didn't come from a pepper....