Santa Fe is cool and a bunch of cool landscapes in the middle of nowhere

First I want to apologize to the residents of Albuquerque, NM and Winslow, AZ for blasting songs about your towns ("Albuquerque" by Weird Al, and "Take It Easy" by "The Eagles") loudly out my windows while driving on the highway past your towns. I couldn't resist the temptation to do so. I guess I'm "too white and nerdy." Crickets.

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No pictures today, the hotels Wifi is bad and the I can't get the photos off my phone when using it as a hotspot.

I went over to downtown Santa Fe around 8:30am. Unfortunately, most things in the town didn't open until 10am. So I stopped in a cafe and got breakfast, oatmeal and a Mexican mocha. Afterwards, I spent about an hour walking around the town taking in the adobe architecture that Santa Fe is known for. Once 10am hit, I walked over to the New Mexico History Museum, which went over the history of the state from when it solely belonged to the Native Americans, to modern times, with an additional exhibit on the Manhattan Project. I would highly recommend going to Santa Fe if you are ever in the area, it is a very walkable, tourist friendly city with a bunch of outdoor activities in the mountains surrounding the city. I would, however recommend staying in Albuquerque instead. Its only about 45 minutes away, and the hotels are half the price.

After leaving Santa Fe, I made may way down to Albuquerque for lunch at Chick-Fil-A and then made my west towards Flagstaff. While driving down I-40, the landscape changed from mountains with the small shrubs that dominated the day before to mesas with the small shrubs, and then eventually bare red mesas. At one point, I attempted to get on Route 66, but got lost and returned to I-40 after about five minutes. It turns out that, for the most part, Route 66 parallels I-40 anyway, so I would see the same landscapes regardless.

After crossing into Arizona, the mesas disappeared and were replaced with some rolling hills and the occasional small canyon. Still about 95 miles from Flagstaff, a snowcapped mountain appeared the the distance. This turned out to be Humphrey's peak, which is over 12,000 ft tall and a only few miles north and west of Flagstaff. It's amazing that its so clear out here that you can see something almost 100 miles away. I never found a place to get a good picture of it, maybe on the way back from the Grand Canyon tomorrow

I briefly stopped Flagstaff for gas, and then continued west for another 45 minutes to Williams, Arizona, which is about 30 minutes closer to the Grand Canyon than Flagstaff. Remember earlier how I mentioned I couldn't Route 66 earlier, well I found it, and not only that, but one of the premier "Route 66 Towns" as well. The streets were lined with Route 66 shops, classic diners and restaurants. I spent about an hour doing laundry at the local laundromat and then got dinner at the Pine Country Restaurant, having fried cod and chips, as well as some tasty coleslaw that had a hint of horseraddish in it. I am staying at Super 8 tonight, which is about as generic of a hotel as you can get. That fine as the hotels in Williams are a bit pricy since it is the closest I-40 gets to the Grand Canyon, in addition to being a classic Route 66 town.

Tomorrow is the Grand Canyon. It's unlikely I'll make it there before sunrise at 6:40, but I would at least like to be on my way there by then.