We managed to leave Amarillo by 8am. The first hour of the trip was pretty miserable for me because we kept passing stockyards and slaughterhouses. Some were raising range fed cattle, but others were disgusting, inhumane meat factories. Finally, we crossed the border into New Mexico, which had quite a few cattle ranches, but nothing as gross as what we saw in Texas. The ranchers have the right idea when it comes to raising cattle.
In New Mexico, I saw the desert for the first time. The landscape was beautiful, but also surreal at times. It was almost like being on another planet. At points, we could see snow-covered peaks that, judging by our atlas, had to be the Rockies far off in the distance. We saw some wildlife, including a herd of antelope and a couple of wild horses. We decided to stop in Albuquerque for lunch and (accidentally) found our way into the city’s historic district. It was a cute part of town that reminded me of a southwestern version of historic Savannah (the pretty part, not the ghetto part). We ate at a Mexican restaurant, which was deliciously spicy. I had a New Mexican Enchilada, which was a ground beef enchilada in a blue corn tortilla with red chile and a fried egg on top. We didn’t see much of the rest of the city, but were surprised by how big it was.
After lunch, we didn’t stop again until Arizona, where we discovered a creepy tourist shop called Stewart’s. The shop featured petrified wood, minerals, and fossils. There were mechanical sculptures of dinosaurs and other animals all around the outside of the building, which had to have been handcrafted. It also had a pen full of live ostriches, which visitors can feed and buy. The store itself was a manufactured building with uneven floors. Everything in it was dusty and the items for sale were just scattered around. It smelled and looked like an attic. The guy inside the shop (presumably Stewart) tried to sell us both an ostrich and an ostrich egg. He also tried to sell us everything else in the store, following us around and explaining what each item was. The way he spoke was especially creepy, but I can’t quite put my finger on why. Finally, we bought an onyx glass dinosaur and a small stone carving, worried about what might happen if we left without buying anything. Nevertheless, the two items will be nice decoration for the new apartment.
We wanted to visit the Petrified Forest National Park, but were deterred by the $10 entrance fee. We continued on to Flagstaff, checked into our hotel, and ventured into the historic district for a light dinner. The historic district was very hip and lively, likely owing to the presence of Northern Arizona University. I wish we had a bit more time to look around, but the Grand Canyon awaits. Tomorrow, we will be spending the day up there before leaving for LA on Thursday morning.
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