Tuesday, April 7 — from Durango, Colorado, to Santa Fe, New Mexico

We said goodbye to Durango this morning and headed southeast toward Santa Fe, New Mexico.

On the road east of Durango, headed toward Pagosa Springs, once again we saw white-capped mountains off in the distance. We all had a good laugh when we noticed that not one of us said, “Oooooh!”  Snow-capped mountains? Oh, we’ve seen them before, from a distance and also very close up. Today we didn’t even say, “Oh, look, mountains again.” We are taking them for granted now, part of the anticipated landscape.

We are having a very good time with languages. Marie Therese and Anne Marie are trying to use their English, and they are also teaching me a little bit of French. (I am a very bad student and cannot remember anything unless I see it written down.) When we hit a wall with either English or French, we sometimes switch into Spanish, with mixed results.

As we were driving along through the San Juan National Forest this morning, someone was practicing her English and said, “I like the pines.”  But she pronounced “pines” phonetically, so that it sounded exactly like a particularly interesting part of the male anatomy. When I explained that, we all burst out laughing, and it kept getting better and better…. or worse and worse!  “Did you like Colorado?” “Oh, yes, especially your beautiful pines. You have the biggest pines I have ever seen.”  OMG, I laughed until I cried. 

We stopped in Pagosa Springs to check out their thermal springs.

The water coming out of this rock is HOT!  Not warm...  HOT!

At the visitors' center here, we had a delightful conversation with a middle-aged brother and sister who were both originally from North Carolina. Like so many travelers we meet, they were intrigued by our travelers from France.

We turned south at Pagosa Springs on Highway 84, heading toward Santa Fe.

We stopped at a "Historical Marker" sign which explained that we were right on the continental divide.

All the rivers to the right of this road flow West to the Pacific Ocean. The rivers to the left flow East to the Atlantic. 

As soon as we crossed into New Mexico, we looked for a place to have our picnic lunch. We found it alongside a visitors' welcome center in the town of Chama.

It was cold and EXTREMELY windy!

 Nevertheless, we enjoyed our French bread and Polish sausage and cheese and lettuce sandwiches. 

As we drove on, following the Chama River going South, we once again found breathtaking beauty on either side.

Marie Therese and Anne Marie noticed a sign for a lake, so we turned onto a side road to check it out.

This is Lake Abiquiu, a man-made reservoir formed by a dam on the Chama River.

We loved it — the water, the wind, the air. Ahhh.

We got into Santa Fe a little early, so we stopped at a burger joint and had tacos al pastor.  They were good! That was a first for Marie Therese and Anne Marie. 

We settled into a fabulous 3-bedroom Air BnB. You'll see photos of this place tomorrow. 

Then we went into the historic district of Santa Fe to find dinner at a restaurant called The Pink Adobe. Excellent, but expensive! 

We three shared one steak dinner and two salads and two glasses of wine. Ahhh. Tomorrow we'll spend the day exploring the city of Santa Fe.

Marie: Les 2 Francaises viennent de lire le blog: elles sont exploser de rire!

Nous confirmons que notre gite de 6 pieces est confortable et de belle facture chic alors nous y restons 3 nuits.