Day 13: Santa Fe and a Taste of Taos

Since we were a little backed up on posts, here are two to enjoy! We were too busy last night enjoying the beauty of Taos to bother with technology!

In the morning, we said goodbye to Caitlin and Albuquerque and headed north to Santa Fe. The drive was only about an hour (an hour long drive seems like nothing to us now) and when we got into the city, we parked near the Plaza to walk around. The Plaza in Santa Fe is a large city square surrounded by shops, restaurants, historic buildings, and art galleries. We stopped in a local oil and vinegar store and chatted with the owner, who had just moved to the area from Seattle. We met some local artists with prints and jewelry for sale on the streets, and of course handed out some post cards.

After lunch, we went to this part of town called the Railyard, which is (not surprisingly) near Santa Fe’s old railway station. This collection of shops and restaurants just opened in 2008, so everything was pretty new. We read that all the new buildings were made with environmentally friendly materials and used sustainable energy (whatever that means these days), so Ashley gave the Railyard an A+. Not much was open and not many people were around (it would have been a little weird had there been hoards of people shopping and dining out on a Monday at 2:30pm…), so we decided to check out Canyon Road, an area of town known for its art galleries.

Canyon Road was incredible. We couldn’t even count how many art galleries there were on this flower-lined winding street. Every single building was a different gallery, studio, or sculpture garden. There was Native American art, contemporary art, photography, mixed media, and metal crafting. We must have gone in at least 20 galleries, but we weren’t even able to finish half of the street. Some advice if you ever visit Santa Fe: allow at least a whole day to explore this part of town. It is well worth it. We had a great time exploring the galleries and picking out what pieces we would buy for our (nonexistent) homes with our (very nonexistent) money. It was a fun game to compare our tastes in art though – some pieces we both fell in love with and others we had very different opinions about. The painting class we took in the spring definitely gave us an appreciation for some of the more modern, abstract pieces.

Around 4pm, we somehow tore ourselves away from the Santa Fe art scene and started our journey to Taos. The hour-and-a-half drive probably the most breathtaking drive we’ve ever been on. The mountains towered above the side of the road, taller than any buildings we’ve seen, and the canyon gorges cut so deeply into the brown clay earth that we swear if you jumped in, you’d hit lava. We passed tiny towns and fruit and vegetable stands on the side of the road, and stopped to take pictures along the way. We were completely struck by the geography and talked about all the different ways these landforms could have been created, why the mountains were flat plateaus, etc. Where we drove through felt like an entirely different world – like a deserted paradise. It took an incredible amount of self-control for Meredyth to keep her eyes on the road and not out the window during the drive. Just when we thought the New Mexico couldn’t get any more awesome after leaving Santa Fe, this drive confirmed that we hadn’t seen ANTYHING yet…

When we drove up to the house where we’d be staying the next two nights, we died on the spot and LITERALLY went to heaven. If this place isn’t part of the afterlife, we’re not interested. India’s house is incredible. The view of the mountains, canyons, and Taos itself is incredible. There is a gorgeous front, back, and side yard complete with an apple tree, hot tub, and gorgeous flowers. The house itself is full of beautiful art, antiques, books, pictures, pillows, pottery, and fireplaces… one stunning room leads to another, and everything about the house is charmingly picturesque. We sat on the pack porch and watched the sun set, ordered a pizza, and relaxed all evening. Meredyth counted her lucky stars (literally!) from the hot tub while Ashley curled up in the Master bedroom’s bed so fluffy and cushy you might just be able to disappear in it under the covers. We completely understand if those of you reading this are ravaged with envy (we’d be jealous too) but there’s just no way we could sell this place short. We can’t wait to see what Taos has in store for us tomorrow!

- Miles to go: 1,250

- Total Post Cards Given Out: ??

- Post Cards Received: 2 (we got another from our yoga teacher in Ohio!)

- States Traveled: VA, MD, WV, PA, OH, KY, TN, MS, LA, TX, NM

Day 12: On the Road Again...

We got up at the crack of dawn (actually a few hours before dawn in Texas) to hit the road to New Mexico. We are staying with our friend Caitlin who was in our public policy program (yes, a different Caitlin, there were three in our program) in Albuquerque then heading to Santa Fe and then Taos.

Observations from the drive:

- For all of you spending sleepless nights wondering if log cabin tattoo parlors exist, rest assured: THEY DO!

- There was this toll road outside of Austin but you only had to pay a toll if you got off… so we never had to pay. Weird, huh?

- On the toll note, we have (knock on wood) not had to pay any tolls this trip! It is amazing that going this far we haven’t hit tolls, yet when Ashley drove to Chicago this summer there were zillions of tolls. And there are a ton driving up to Boston. It seems that as a whole (at least from our experience) there are more tolls in the North than across the South and West. Is this because the snow is harder on the roads and thus they require more maintenance? Or something to do with the tax system in general? We don’t know. If anyone has insight, please share.

- Ash passed a car for the first time (the kind of passing on a one way road and you have to go into the other lane). Yes, the first time. EVER. At 23 years old. Meredyth finds this fact ABSURD.

- The sun didn’t rise until almost 7:30 am! While Meredyth was sleeping, Ashley thought about this a lot and then we discussed the ramifications for this and how there are places in other states north of Texas that are East but on Mountain time. We were wondering the benefits and drawbacks of some states having all one time zone (like Texas) and others being split.

- The drive before the sun rose was VERY dark with almost NO stoplights. The only light was an illuminated cross and Texas star on the side of someone’s house with a spotlight on it.

- There were weird rigs on the side of the road pumping something, although we weren’t sure what. Oil perhaps? Not sure. What we are sure of is that it smelled terrible.

- We also passed a ton of windmills that were awesome! Ashley loves windmills.

- We stopped by Texas Tech for lunch and we were both overwhelmed with how fortunate we were to have such a beautiful campus at UVA.

- At a pit stop at Stripes (a gas station/convenience store) there was a fruit salad bar. And the fruit even looked fresh! More gas stations should have this.

Once we got to Albuquerque, we immediately noticed a change in the air – there was no humidity! Coming from Texas where we were essentially breathing water vapor, this was a delightful experience. But, along with the dry air came some headaches, chapped lips, and dry noses. The altitude has also been a bit difficult to adjust to (we think this has been causing Ashley’s recent headaches) but we LOVE the 70-degree weather. Caitlin showed us around the main downtown area of Albuquerque where there was a row of shops and restaurants. We ate dinner at a well-known New Mexico restaurant called Flying Star (where we had some divine bread pudding). We’ve noticed that green chilies are in almost everything – soups, salads, breads, quesadillas, burritos, salsas – everything. They are a bit spicy for our tastes, but are yummy nonetheless. Our first day in New Mexico was definitely a good one – on to Santa Few tomorrow!

- Miles to go: 1,313

- Total Post Cards Given Out: ??

- Post Cards Received: Still just 1

- States Traveled: VA, MD, WV, PA, OH, KY, TN, MS, LA, TX, NM

Day 11: Austin

Basically, we’re obsessed with Austin. Who knew Texas could be so hipster? We started off our morning by brunching at Bouldin Café, a vegetarian restaurant right off of South Congress street. It was the definition of a hippie hangout: it was decorated kind of like a giant quirky garage sale, silverware/water/condiments were all self serve, the only milk choice with your coffee was soy, they had a book collection (for Texas prisoners), and The Onion was available for every table. We planned the rest of our day over blueberry cornbread, tofu hash, and a veggie omelet. You’d have never thought we could possibly be in Texas…



We then ventured towards South Congress to window shop and check out all the cool stores we had seen the night before. The street is filled with vintage clothing shops, antique stores, art galleries, jewelry shops, markets, and restaurants. Ashley bought a pair of smoking hot red high heels from this vintage clothing store (for $16… score!), and Meredyth oogled over vintage bottles and old postcards at Uncommon Objects, a huge emporium full of cool old junk. Another highlight was spending some time at Justin’s boots, where we each found our own pair of dream cowboy boots (which would have only set us back about $400 a pair… yikes!). We chatted with a store clerk, who told us about the cool places to check out over the course of the day, and informed us that a girl from New York had come in once and bought the boots Meredyth wanted, and that they had started dating after that, but that it ultimately didn’t work out between them. We wonder if that was supposed to be a pick up line.



We were propositioned with some football tickets by some Wyoming fans, but ultimately decided to decline the offer. We did, however, meander down to the UT Austin campus to see the tailgating and see some of the school buildings. UT has a beautiful campus – very different from UVA – there is a huge fountain in front of their main administrative building, and the roofs have those curved orange tiles kind of like the architecture of Stanford. The football stadium is right next to campus (um, you can’t miss it… it holds over 100,000 crazy screaming lunatic longhorns fans at a time), and man do Texas fans know how to tailgate. Almost every tailgate had several TVs showing other games on for the day, and some even had their own BBQ meat roasters. EVERYONE was in orange (we were a bit out of place in our wrong colored outfits), and even the girls who wanted to dress up were in burnt orange Longhorn dresses.

One of the coolest things about Austin was its abundance of food carts. Food carts, while just emerging as a trendy and affordable option for a quick bite to eat in places like DC or San Francisco, are EVERYWHERE in Austin. Donut food carts, crepe food carts, cupcake food carts, waffle food carts, burger food carts, pie food carts, Mediterranean food carts, po boy food carts – even sushi food carts! You are just plain DUMB if you can’t find a food cart to grab something to eat in Austin within 5 minutes of anywhere you might be in the city. Below are some of the best food carts we saw:

We decided to head back to South Congress street (can you tell we liked it?) for dinner and had a delicious meal at South Congress Café. Then it was attempt #2 at seeing the great bat flight from under the bridge. While it got dark, we waited on the grass with all the other spectators, and as soon as dusk ended, the bats started flying. Literally thousands (over a million?) of these bats were flying in hoards from under this bridge out into the night where they’ll hunt and eat bugs, only to return to the bridge in the morning before the sun comes up again. It was a really cool experience to watch them. After ducking into this down-home-country dive bar line dancing establishment called The Broken Spoke for a few minutes (just because we were told it warranted a visit, just to see the authentic Texan crowd and witness some two-stepping), we headed back to the hotel to catch some shuteye before a 4:45 am departure time the next morning, knowing we had a long drive ahead.

We loved Austin for its puzzling duplicity – it has an earthy, hipster, liberal feel while simultaneously remaining true to its southern roots. You’ll see people walking around in cowboy boots holding their organic chai lattes. You’ll see a bar with a mechanical bull right next to a fair trade market. You’ll overhear someone in a thick southern accent declare, “ya’ll better recycle those soda cans!” On the surface, Austin is a mysterious hybrid of young and old, liberal and conservative, progressive and traditional, north and south. But it’s not so much a city that can’t figure itself out as it is a place that embraces its multiple personalities with irreverent pride. There’s no doubt about it: we’ll be back someday. Who knows, maybe Meredyth will even end up living there!

Miles to go: 2,008

Total Post Cards Given Out: Lots

Post Cards Received: Still just 1

States Traveled: VA, MD, WV, PA, OH, KY, TN, MS, LA, TX

Day 10: Louisiana to Texas... and... WE GOT A POST CARD!

One of the day’s highlights (particularly since it was a driving day) was that Meredyth’s mom called us this morning with the exciting news that we received our first post card from someone in Ohio. It wished us luck on our trip, said it was great to have us in the store, and gave us an inspirational quote. Hopefully this is the first of many postcards to come… It did make us question if by just asking people to write anything that meant that we’re going to get a lot of post cards that are along the lines of “Great to meet you, have a great trip” So we are trying to decide if we should give more direction. There are pros and cons to both, so who knows what we’ll decide to do.

Our day started with waking up early and having to say goodbye to everyone. Terri, Richard, Maggie, and Lili (and their dogs Chewy and Rue) were incredible hosts and tour guides and made visiting New Orleans an incredible experience, as usual. They spoiled us with amazing food, company, and fun things to do. We couldn’t have asked for anything more, and feel so lucky to have been able to visit them twice this year!! Ashley just hopes they visit her in California!

Before we got on the road we had to stop at a mechanic station that Richard recommended because when we got to New Orleans, there was something dripping under our feet. Ashley’s grandpa generously got the car completely tuned up before we embarked on our trip, so we knew it wasn’t serious, but we decided it was good to get it check out, particularly somewhere that Richard trusted. They unclogged the air conditioning as well as made sure that our tire pressure, oil, etc was still in good shape. The only problem still remaining is with the cigarette lighter….the whole thing just keeps sort of coming out. This wouldn’t normally be a huge deal except that it currently is powering the GPS, allowing us to use our ipods, charging our phones, etc. You may be wondering how one cigarette lighter is able to do all of this. The answer is that Ashley bought a wonderful device to split the cigarette lighter into three and while it is fabulous, we think the weight of it may have been what is making the whole lighter socket come out. So yea… we’ll have to fix that one of these days…

Next up was the drive from New Orleans to Austin. A lot of the adventure really begins now because the rest of the trip is all places we have never been before because neither of us have visited the Southwest and have heard wonderful things about all of the rest of our stops. Since drives don’t lend themselves to as many stories, we mainly have observations.

Observations:

- Taco bell sells margaritas, but they contain no fruit juice and no alcohol. Does that mean 7-11 sells “margaritas” too?! Tell it like it is, Taco Bell.

- Texas has different speed limits depending on whether it is day or night.

- Both Texas and Louisiana have signs for roads that have a map of the state with the road number printed in it. They’re pretty cool.

- We plan to learn all of the words to Magic by BOB by the end of the trip.

- In Texas, there are many cows. And often white birds around each cow. Are they eating their poop? Or bugs from the cows? Ashley believes there must be some sort of either communalism relationship (where one of the species benefits) or mutualism relationship (where they both benefit). Yes, Ashley loves her environmental science ecology.

- We saw a billboard for the Bluebell Ice Cream headquarters, which advertised the opportunity to take a tour and visit their factory store. Meredyth almost crashed the car because she gets their newsletter and is in love with their ice cream (definitely an ice cream theme on this trip).

- As we drive around Texas, you can definitely tell there are many places that were part of old western towns that give the roads tons of character. Meredyth definitely feels as though she is falling in love with parts of Texas. We have declared that Texas has the cutest “side of the highway.”

- The song “Dynamite” may be one of the easiest songs to learn given that it is basically a repetition of 2 lines. Too bad all you reading this blog can’t view some of these dance parties we are having in the car…but many of you who have experienced DPs with either of us can only imagine…

- Texas loves their state flag and it is everywhere.

- Texas also has many signs for things with arrows but no explanation. For example: “Historical Marker -->” but no explanation of what this historical marker is….or how far… or any details about it whatsoever….

- We passed a billboard that advertised the number “1-800-R-U-Hairy?” Naturally, we called it.

- Not sure if you have heard about the Austin bats, but there is this thing in Austin where all these bats fly from this bridge – Ashley has learned about it in several classes and seen videos of it and is really excited to see this. Meredyth didn’t know about it but is likewise excited. What we find extremely amusing about the whole thing is that there is a bat hotline to call to get information on the bats’ activities for the night (like what time to get to the bridge to watch them fly, where to get the best view, etc). We think these bats might be Austin’s biggest celebrities…

- Houston has a lot of traffic – for the first time so far on this trip (and hopefully the last), we ran into a traffic jam while driving through Houston. It added about an hour and a half onto our already 8.5 hr drive. Huge bummer.

- Sometimes the GPS doesn’t know right from left (sounds like Ashley…).

- Austin’s traffic lights are sideways! Instead of the 3 light tri hanging down from wires, they are attached horizontally above the roads. We have yet to figure out why exactly this is the case…

So after we arrived in Austin, we checked into our hotel (um, let’s just say you get what you pay for… $45 per night...but we knew minimal time would be spent hanging out there anyway, although regardless Red Roof should have a bathroom door that is the right size to close and the shower should drain, in our opinion). First on the list was to try to go see the bats right away. We got to the South Congress bridge and were able to see some of the bats still flying, but we had apparently missed the bulk of the experience. It was still pretty cool to see all the people crowded around to witness the spectacle. We decided we’d have to come back to the bridge the next night to see the whole thing from the beginning.

We were STARVING so after asking some local people’s opinions (people we randomly flagged down on the street) about where to eat we settled on this cool place called Woodland on South Congress street. South Congress (which knew we would have to explore further after being told how fabulous it is by several Austin lovers that we respect) is this street in Austin with tons of quaint restaurants, eclectic stores, boutiques, markets, and food shops. After dinner, we had cupcakes from a food truck called Hey Cupcake and headed down to 6^th street. We had heard 6^th street was known for its bars, many of which have outdoor rooftop patios. 6^th street was awesome! Parts of it reminded us of Nashville (honky tonk piano bars, lots of live music and neon signs) and other parts reminded us of DC or even Charlottesville (college town bars with cheap drinks… and when we say cheap we mean practically free). We went into several places, but our favorite was called Maggie Mae’s (thanks for the suggestion, Kristen!), which had the coolest rooftop bar we’d ever seen. There was live music, a huge projection screen, a beautiful view overlooking the city, and great dancing. We decided if we lived in Austin, we’d definitely be regulars.

After a night on the town, we headed back to our hotel, which was SO FRUSTRATING and took FOREVER because a not-so-fun fact about Austin highways is that they are impossible to turn around on. If you miss your turn into somewhere on the side of the highway (like we did) you literally have to drive another 10 minutes before you have to exit, get on a side street, turn around, go the other direction on the highway, and then exit again to turn around to go the other direction again (or at least that is the only way we could figure out how to fix our mistake). Austin may not be the best city for the impatient...but is good practice for Ashley. We finally eventually made it back and pretty much passed out immediately.

Miles to go: 2,008

Total Post Cards Given Out: So yea… we've lost count. We've given out a lot. We’ll let you all know when we’ve given out 110 (when we run out!).

Post Cards Received: 1!!!!!!!

States Traveled: VA, MD, WV, PA, OH, KY, TN, MS, LA, TX

Day 9 – WHO DAT WHO DAT WHO DAT SAY DEY GONNA BEAT DEM SAINTS?!

Today was a day of football, music, humidity, and spirit. One of the best things about New Orleans is the pride and enthusiasm of its people, and the fact that they never do anything halfway. Naturally, they weren’t just going to have any old pre-game show… they were going to host the first ever NFL kick off parade (New Orleans loves their parades, and basically any opportunity to give out beads!) Schools, shops, and offices closed early as the whole city celebrated their beloved champion Saints. We were thrilled to take part in the celebration.

We rested in the morning because we knew we had a long day ahead of us – Meredyth got up to get her hair cut (which now looks FABULOUS). Richard came home early from work and we picked up Maggie early from school (Maggie and Lili’s school was probably the only one that didn’t get out early in honor of the game). Also, we found it interesting that the one thing students at the girls’ school can wear in place of their uniforms is Saints gear. Pretty awesome. Then we made our way downtown and went to Lucy’s, Richard’s favorite bar/lunch spot to get a bite to eat then walked down to Jackson square to stand in line to get into the concert. Seeing this concert definitely required dedication and patience, but it was worth every second. While we were in line we got interviewed by the local news and told them about our road trip, though we’re not sure if we made the cut to get on TV (later we decided that we should have lied that we had road-tripped to New Orleans JUST for the game, that was a major faux-pas). We also got fleur-de-leis painted on our faces, complete with glitter.

Although it was hot and humid, the vibe and experience was incredible. Around 4pm we were herded into Jackson square, and we quickly claimed a spot as close to the stage as possible. We heard people who were closer to the stage being told by TV producers about how to act when they were filming (for example, if you’re going to clap, clap with your hands above your head because it looks better on TV). That part was really interesting…neither of us had ever been to a televised event like that and we didn’t realize there were instructions given to the audience!

Around 5pm the Dave Matthews Band finally came on. This was particularly exciting because although Dave Matthews is from Charlottesville, Ashley has never seen him in concert (fun fact: he was Meredyth’s first concert). It was also really funny because this lady who was standing next to us was talking to people about how she heard Dave was from NOLA and went to school there and everything. We didn’t correct her but it kind of made us laugh. Dave was great as always. Then there was a parade break and we saw all kinds of floats with people aboard throwing lot of beads at the crowd. Ashley was one of the first people to catch some! After a while though, we definitely decided that flying beads are dangerous. Maggie was telling us that Terri got hit in the mouth once and cut her gum open… gotta watch out!

After some more parade, we got to hear some Taylor Swift. There was, we all agreed, an absurd amount of hair flipping on Taylor’s part, but overall she did a great job. T-Swift will ALWAYS be a guilty pleasure of ours, and we rocked out appropriately to “You Belong With Me” (which Richard astutely pointed out might be the creepiest/most obsessive song ever) and her new song “Mine”.

After the concert, we watched kickoff at Lucy’s, and when the Saints scored their first touchdown, the crowd went INSANE! It was awesome. Richard and Maggie went back home and Meredyth and Ashley stayed at Lucy’s – it was quite the atmosphere to watch the game. After a while we realized how hungry we were (a feeling perhaps intensified by the margaritas…) and found this pizza place that one of the bartenders recommended. We got some pizza and made friends with a couple guys at the bar who raved about how much they adore New Orleans. There are many places in the country where people are obsessed with where they live (born, raised, and with no plans to ever leave) and New Orleans is definitely one of those places. All in all, it was an absolutely incredible game day experience that we’re pretty sure will never be beat. Period.

Days 7 & 8: The Big Easy

First, happy Jewish New Year to all our Jewish friends reading this blog. In other news…

After another six-hour drive complete with the cheapest gas we’ve seen so far ($2.37/gal – score!), a stop at Subway where the lady refused to make Meredyth a new sandwich after the entire mustard bottle literally exploded on her sub, and the very flat and very empty expanse of grasslands that is Mississippi, we arrived in New Orleans! Though both Ashley and Meredyth had been to New Orleans before (Ashley at various family functions, and both of them at Jazzfest this past year), they were SO excited to be back and to stay with Ashley’s aunt and uncle Terri and Richard (and their two lovely daughters Maggie and Lili). That night, we went to an AMAZING dinner at this place called Jacques-Imo’s where we ate like queens. We tried alligator cheesecake, fried green tomatoes with crawfish, seafood smothered eggplant, southern grilled Mahi Mahi, and delicious cornbread. Then we were treated to Pinkberry (Ashley’s first time!) and came home with our tummies full and a renewed love for New Orleans.

The next morning Terri treated us to pedicures and lunch out at this amazing local cheese shop. We then ventured down to the French Quarter because when we were both here for Jazzfest in May, we hadn’t really had the time to sightsee around the area. We strolled through all of the main roads and alleyways, ducking into local art galleries, chatting with shop owners, and window-shopping. Some of the highlights included a used cookbook shop (Meredyth’s favorite stop) and the Blue Dog by Rodrigue gallery (Ashley’s favorite stop).

Then, after an unexpected call from Ashley’s uncle Richard, we were picked up in the French Quarter and taken to Mardi Gras World, which is this huge warehouse where they make all of the floats for Mardi Gras. So here’s the awesome part: we went there to pick up our FREE tickets to the Taylor Swift and Dave Matthews concert happening on Thursday before the NFL season opener when the Saints will face the Vikings! Richard was able to get us wristbands from a friend of his at work so he, Maggie, and us are going to get to see two amazing acts TOMORROW in JACKSON SQUARE before the BIGGEST NFL REMATCH of the WHOLE SEASON! We have been living the dream here in New Orleans. Richard, you are a Saint (literally!!). We can’t WAIT for tomorrow!

Later on, we went out for Mexican food and ice cream, and came home to rest up for our epic day tomorrow. We know we are living the sweet life when the biggest dilemma we have is deciding whether to wear a Saints jersey or T-shirt on game day. Either way, we can’t wait to chant the Saint’s new mantra: “Who Dat Say They Gonna Beat Them Saints?” We are highly looking forward to losing our voices while cheering on the Saints in a local bar. We even drive by Drew Brees’ house tonight to roll down the window and give a cheerful shout: WHO DAT!

Needless to say, tomorrow will be prime postcard-giving-out time.

Observations:

1. Mississippi has $250 fine for littering. Why the fine is $1250 less than the fine in Tennessee we don’t know. Naturally, Ashley was all fired up.

2. New Orleans is HOT. We mean… like… REALLY hot.

3. Maggie showed us a new trick to do before we go out – if you suck all of the air out of a plastic water bottle and stick your lips on the head of the water bottle for about ten minutes, they will emerge resembling Angelina Jolie’s plump puckers. Who needs collagen injections when you can use water bottles?

4. New Orleans is a lucky charm. Not only have we been treated like royalty here, but several things have just plain worked out. For example:

- The people who were issuing the wristbands to get into the Taylor and DMB concert tomorrow were supposed to ask for our IDs (which were supposed to match the names on the ticket printouts… which were Richard’s colleague’s name and his friend’s name) and Ashley’s skilled “I left it in the car…” was able to convince them to give us tickets regardless.

- Terri’s best friend India has a house in Taos, New Mexico, and was generous enough to offer us a place to stay for a few nights when we are in New Mexico. It just happens to work out that she has space in her house for us, and we are SO excited to see Taos and SO grateful to have lodging!

- As a result of our opportunity to stay in Taos for two days, we decided to push back our reservations at this hotel near the Grand Canyon that we plan to stay us while we hike. Meredyth called the hotel to change the reservation to a day later, and was informed that all they had left for the additional night we needed to stay there was a deluxe suite which was a lot more expensive. Meredyth was somehow able to secure the extra night at the hotel for the original rate, so we get to stay in the deluxe suite the second night we’re there for no extra cost.

- After what can only be described as a hair travesty, Meredyth has recently had the unfortunate fate of having to wear her newly short hair in a braid and bobby pins every day because it seriously looks BAD (one side is longer than the other, there is no layering whatsoever… her head basically looks like a square). BUT because New Orleans seems to be the land where good things happen to us, Terri was able to get Meredyth an appointment with the owner of her favorite Salon in New Orleans for tomorrow morning to hopefully fix the damage done. She is totally pumped. After all, it is important to look your best to witness the Saints ABSOLUTELY ANIHILATE the Vikings!

We hope you have all had a day filled with good adventures and wonderful luck too!

Miles to go: 2,517

Total Post Cards Given Out: 53

Post Cards Received: 0 (hopefully we will start receiving soon)

States Traveled: VA, MD, WV, PA, OH, KY, TN, MS, LA