Today’s (Aug 29th) drive was only two hours and as we left Santa Rosa heading West on the I40, the countryside started to flatten out and wasn’t all that spectacular. The headwind had dropped so driving was more pleasant, temperature in the mid 20s.
To get to Santa Fe we had to leave the I40, turn right and head NW on the Highway 285. It’s not too far from the turn off to Santa Fe, about 70 km and for the first 25 or so kilometres the scenery didn’t change too much.
But then, as we were slowly climbing (Santa Fe is about 7000 feet above sea level) the mountains, valleys, and huge rocky precipices started forming and the views became more and more beautiful. The views were every which way you looked, left, right and in front. Unfortunately the girls left their cameras in the Sierra, so Grace’s camera was being handed around the car as the girls were saying “over here, over here, my window!”
These magnificent vistas are not part of the Rocky Mountains range as they start just North of Santa Fe (from the city you can see the Southern-most part of the Rockies where they start to build) and continue all the way into Canada. These are part of the Jemez Mountain Range that reaches from here (Los Alamos to be precice) to Cuba.
As we came closer to Santa Fe, Grace was trying to work out what she was seeing – low level brown structures, sort of hidden in the small hills and valleys, peculiarly shaped with round shaped edges with no right-angled corners . 
The closer we were to Santa Fe, the more frequently they were appearing and it was not until they were closer to the highway, we realised they were houses! Once they were near, the girls said the houses reminded them of the Flintone’s homes!
Heaps about Santa Fe next blog.
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