Day 6 Albuquerque, NM to Gallup, New Mexico

This morning we realize that green chilies are a great evil and decide to try a breakfast without. We drive along Central Avenue (Route 66) in old town Albuquerque and run across a bakery just down the street from the university. The name is "Chocolate Café & Bakery". Sounds like my kinda place. We look at the menu and see lots of green chili options but we are determined to say no for at least one meal. I am not as strong at denying myself so I don't even tempt myself with the option and order the chocolate pancakes. When the sign says they serve "Breakfast, Lunch and Chocolate" they are not kidding. The pancakes are made with cocoa powder and chips AND they serve it with chocolate syrup… and not some Hershey's chocolate… this stuff is homemade. This is likely the richest thing I have ever eaten. I share Bill's Omelet with swiss cheese and spinach and so I don't think I will die just yet… lol… I can definitely see how death by chocolate is an option though… (Bill's comments - the chocolate pancakes were very good and really rich to the point where Leslie did not want to stop at Dunkin Doughnuts when we passed them down the street).

Petroglyph National Monument is a site. You can do a few hikes around the area (and when I mean hikes I mean climbing rocks and hoping there are no rattlers around.) We got some great exercise and some very cool pictures. They believe the first petroglyphs in this area were made as early as 1000 BC.

Well we somehow ripped part of the GPS cord and have to find an electronics store to get it replaced. Remarkably we have been around half of downtown Alb… and haven't found a single Best Buy or Circuit City. We are driving around a bit and finally find a mall area. We find the Best Buy and what is next door? Chik'fil'a. We go there for lunch… I am pleased. (Bill's comments - I am not sure that really describes it - - I do believe that she squealed she was so excited). We finally head out of town towards Gallup. We have decided to take the scenic route off Route 66 and down through the mesas. It's been cloudy off and on which has been nice to cool off. We have had scattered thunder and lightning but it hasn't hurt our trip. I do miss the good thunder storms.

We decide to do the bypass and come across one of the "attractions" we had discussed seeing the Fire & Ice: Ice Caves and Volcano tour. We find this way back in BFE. Basically on this backward piece of land there was a volcano that erupted 10,000 years ago. The land is still covered with dried Lava (not sure if there is a technical term for it) and a cave down in the ground that is full of ice. You basically get a map of the area with numbers on it and the numbers coincide with little logs set along the path. You read the pamphlet to tell you what you are seeing. It was absolutely fascinating. The first stop on the way to the Volcano (there are 2 paths… 1 for the volcano and 1 for the cave) is a tree that has been struck by lightning. Apparently because of the makeup of the lava and the ground around the area trees in the area are more susceptible to being struck. Now I am from Florida… namely Tampa Bay which from what I understand is a lightning strike capital of the US and I have never seen so many trees in such a small area that have been struck. The lightning strikes are so obvious running the full length of the trees. I took tons of pictures and will add them to my flickr page. We continue along the path and it gets pretty steep. I start breathing really hard and feeling like I am having an asthma attack so I stop and just stand there breathing as deep as I can. I begin to realize I am getting altitude sickness (again.) I slow down and take the mountain at a slower rate and get to the top. At the top is a look down into the cone of the volcano. As we read the little pamphlet it explains that we are at 8059 feet. So this is the second time in a week I have been well over a mile over sea level. As we descend I can actually begin to feel the drop in pressure. It was quite an experience. So we walk down to the path for the Ice Cave and head down the path. We round a corner and there is this staircase descending into darkness. We start to walk down (me clutching the railing) and as I look down into the cave I begin to realize just how claustrophobic I can get. LOL I think the prior altitude sickness did not help matters. There are 3 platforms on the path down. I stop at the first and sit on a small bench. Bill descends into the cave and takes pictures to bring back to me. I am kicking myself now for not going in but at the time I was not quite right in my head. Hehe not to say I am normally…

After the ice caves we continue on to Gallup, NM. As I read my Route 66 book I remember seeing a segment on my Route 66 DVD series about the El Rancho Hotel & Motel. This is the site where a ton of old 40s, 50s and 60s movies were filmed and where several of the top actors and actresses of the day stayed during the filming of many other westerns and other movies. When you enter the lobby there are literally hundreds of pictures of actors and actresses signed to the El Rancho Hotel. Each of the rooms in the Hotel portion of the property are named for these people. Some of the names are John Wayne, Robert Mitchum, Jane Fonda, Ronald Reagan, Allan Ladd, etc. So Bill and I agree we must stay here for the evening. The ambiance is rustic lodge and the restaurant has inviting scents of Mexican mixed with BBQ. Our room is the Rite Hayworth room. I will post pictures on the flickr page tomorrow. Tonight I am exhausted from my trip up the volcano. Hope everyone if enjoying… Thank you all for the comments. I will respond as I am able. Night!