Sabbatical Part 2

I’m taking another road trip – this time along Route 66 and then up Highway 1 along the California, Oregon and Washington coasts.  First I needed to get my car to Albuquerque to start the journey westward (I decided not to do the whole route that starts in Chicago).  Initially I intended to have the car shipped, but then decided to drive instead to ensure it arrived when I needed it as I’d planned out the stops and booked hotels.

It was a great drive from Seattle over the Cascade mountains, down through Oregon and into Idaho before stopping for the first night in Boise where I stayed at the very pleasant Modern Hotel and Bar.  I enjoyed Boise – very livable city but who knew that Idaho was made famous by a candy bar!

It was then on through Idaho and into Utah where I stopped in Salt Lake City to visit the Mormon Tabernacle Temple.  I was surprised at how poor the drivers are in Salt Lake City – I was on edge the whole time, so it was a relief to head out to the mountains where I stayed the night in Midway in a replica Swiss resort.

The following day was a long drive to Albuquerque as I needed to get there in time to pick up Alice as she flew in that evening. We stayed down town near the old town in the Hotel Andaluz, which was the first hotel Conrad Hilton built and has been renovated but kept very authentic to the New Mexico architecture.

We had a great time in Albuquerque.  We visited old town and the San Felipe de Neri Church which was founded in 1705. On the walk back we stopped at the open air market where Alice made the first of many purchases.

 

They have some interesting rules in Albuquerque.  I’m pretty sure I was good at following these, but I’m not so sure about Alice – particularly the last one.

 

Of course we had some great New Mexican food and took in a number of the landmarks along historic Route 66.

These included the Kimo theater, the old Dog House (which was always busy), and Garcia Café.

 

 

We just had to eat breakfast in the Route 66 Diner which was very authentic and filled with memorabilia.

 

We enjoyed visiting the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center and watched some native American dancers perform and Alice bought some small local art and other items from the gift store.

 

The Jag had collected a lot of Idaho and Utah bugs on the road so the last stop of the day was to a car wash 🙂