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I-25, El Camino Real, US-66, Rosario, Budaghers, New Mexico, USA, fotoeins.com

US Southwest road trip: numbers & memories (2018)

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Above/featured: NM I-25 southbound, between Rosario and Budaghers – 5 Oct 2018.

In October 2018, we embarked on a visit and modest driving trip through parts of New Mexico and Arizona. We began in Santa Fe and Albuquerque, drove west towards Flagstaff and the Grand Canyon, south to Tucson, and finally, northeast on the return to Santa Fe. With our first-time attendance at the Balloon Fiesta and first-time visit to the Grand Canyon accomplished, we’d like to examine further the Grand Staircase geographical formation beyond the Utah-Arizona border region and the historical remnants from old highway US route 66.

Numbers:

  • 15 driving days, 5th to 19th October inclusive (arrival 4th, departure 20th).
  • 3138 miles (5049 kilometres) driving distance recorded by odometer.
  • 3 sights of Little Colorado River1 in Arizona: Cameron, Point Imperial, Springerville.
  • 211 miles (340 kilometres) straight-line distance separate Pt. Imperial & Springerville.
  • 5202 total images: 3019 (58%) with a Canon 6D, and 2183 (42%) with a Fujifilm X70.
  • 10-k image counter reset (“flip”) on the X70: at the junction of US routes 89 and 89A.

22 places:

  1. Santa Fe, NM
  2. Albuquerque
  3. Tucumcari
  4. Abiquiú
  5. Taos & Taos Pueblo
  6. Embudo
  7. Continental Divide
  8. Gallup, NM
  9. Petrified Forest, AZ
  10. Holbrook
  11. Winslow
  12. Flagstaff
  13. Cameron
  14. Marble Canyon
  15. North Rim (Grand Canyon)
  16. Little Colorado River Navajo Tribal Park
  17. Grand Canyon Village (South Rim)
  18. Phoenix
  19. Tucson
  20. Salt River Canyon
  21. Springerville, AZ
  22. Pie Town, NM

5 memorable experiences:

  • 100s of hot air balloons launching in morning light in Albuquerque, NM.
  • Georgia O’Keeffe Home-Studio in Abiquiú, NM.
  • Echo- and Vermilion-Cliffs, along US-89/89A between Cameron & Marble Canyon, AZ.
  • First-time at and -view of the Grand Canyon, from North Rim, AZ.
  • Chat with Kathy Knapp in her pie kitchen at Pie-O-Neer in Pie Town, NM.

5 memorable places to eat:

  • Mary & Tito’s Café in Albuquerque, NM: carne adovada sopapilla draped with green chili.
  • Taco Fundación in Santa Fe, NM: lengua taco, beef cheek taco, deep fried avocado taco.
  • Santa Fe Bite in Santa Fe, NM: home of the “green chile cheeseburger”.
  • Satchmo’s in Flagstaff, AZ: shrimp po’boy sandwich, spicy tots, red beans and rice.
  • Pie-O-Neer Café in Pie Town, NM: delicious pie, made with a lot of love.
Drive map, Google Maps, Arizona, New Mexico, fotoeins.com

Mapped distance 2821 mi (4539 km), recorded odometer distance 3138 mi (5049 km). Difference of 317 mi (510 km) from intracity drives and stops in Santa Fe, Albuquerque, Flagstaff, and Tucson.

Continental Divide, New Mexico, I-40, Interstate 40, Entrada sandstone cliffs, Iyanbito member, middle Jurassic, United States, USA, fotoeins.com

Red Entrada sandstone cliffs northwest of Continental Divide, NM – 12 Oct 2018

1 “Paayu” in Hopi, “Tółchíʼíkooh” in Navajo, “Colorado Chiquito” in Spanish.

I made both images with a Fujifilm X70 fixed-lens prime; alle Fotoaufnahmen sind mit Wasserzeichen versehen worden. This post appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com as https://wp.me/p1BIdT-czc.

19 Responses to “US Southwest road trip: numbers & memories (2018)”

  1. Tom

    Nice introduction about this recent road trip. I am currently making similar plans, but slightly different. We’ve done Grand Canyon and other Utah national parks, but we want to see the Petrified Forest in Arizona, Santa Fe, Albuquerque, Taos, and then north to Colorado (they have 3 national parks and numerous National Monuments) and finish in Denver.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    • fotoeins

      Hi and thanks, Tom. I like your plans because they’re ambitious. I’m sure you’re already aware, but I’m still gonna say it: give yourself and your family plenty of time. You’re spending a lot of time driving between destinations, and you should allow yourself more time in a given location in case you really enjoy the visit. I thought we might do a quick dash in the Petrified Forest, but our fantastic visit lasted hours. Thanks for your comment and for stopping by!

      Like

  2. Fuji X70: from Vienna to New Mexico

    […] proved true. My usage of the X70 versus C6D was 77%-23% in Austria in May 2018, and 42%-58% in the American Southwest in October 2018 with a big chunk of C6D shots with long-zoom glass of many animals at the Desert Museum in […]

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  3. That Left Turn in Albuquerque

    […] John Deeth wrote about this in August 2011 and thanks to the interwebs, that’s how we came to visit and photograph this ordinary looking intersection in Albuquerque during our journey through the American Southwest. […]

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  5. Cozy cafés, Southwest sabores

    […] Our time in the American Southwest was much more than the extensive drives, more than the 3100 miles accumulated on the road. We were eager to sample the food, and specifically, the sustained burst of heat from red and green chiles famously represented in New Mexico. The following are some of our favourite flavours with visuals providing reasons why we were not disappointed and why we have to go back. […]

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  11. The Grand Canyon: over the edge for 100 years

    […] We spent three days in October 2018 exploring parts of the Grand Canyon National Park. After our drive from Flagstaff to Cliff Dwellers (via Cameron), we pushed forward to the North Rim and the winding scenic drive took us to Point Imperial and Cape Royal in time for the final illumination of the day. With a night spent at the beautifully serene Cliff Dwellers, we retraced our drive back to Cameron before turning west to Desert View and parts of the eastern end of the South Rim. With our new ‘base’ established in Flagstaff, we drove via Valle and Tusayan to the main entrance of the Grand Canyon National Park, and we spent the day in the western and central parts of the South Rim. The 1126 km (700 mi)# we covered over three days was 22 percent of the entire 5049 km (3138 mi) we accumulated through parts of New Mexico and Arizona. […]

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