Petroglyph National Monument

I'm glad I got up early to see the petroglyphs. They were very interesting and I had a lovely mile hike to see several hundred ancient drawings. Some had been vandalized, shot at, scrapped off, added to, but the nicest ones were left unmolested.

From there, I headed to Santa Fe, to see an exhibit of land-inspired art at the Museum of Contemporary Native Art. Unfortunately, as cute and authentic as down town Santa Fe was, there was not parking lot, or double set of parking meters to be found in a mile radius. I drove around the place for an hour and a half, getting more and more frustrated as I found myself having to turn around in tiny parking lots and navigating single lane, two-way streets lined with parked cars. It was only 83 degrees outside, but the trailer was sitting stubbornly at 95 degrees, a temperature my cats would not be able to handle for very long if I had to walk more than a mile both ways. The parking-trek also ate all the time to actually see anything before the museum closed.

I finally gave up and am heading back to the 40 freeway. I would like to continue on Route 66, but I realize I now have to make better time than I have been. Onto the freeways then. I expect I will mostly be boondocking in casinos and Walmarts, not bothering to set up camp unless absolutely necessary. There are more road trips in Alice's future. This little two and a half month trip was just a test run.