Let's Head West Part Two: Albequerque

From there, we made the very boring drive from Amarillo to Phoenix, passing by the desert areas of the state. We did, however, gave ourselves the break from monotony to stop in Albequerque.

Albequerque is a really cool city. I had no idea how cool until we got there. For one, they have a beautiful range of mountains as their skyline. Secondly, almost all of the houses are built adobe style and have smooth clay edges compared to houses everywhere else. I think its neat that they were able to keep that aesthetic throughout the entire city.

Anywho, we decided we wanted to see the mountains up close and personal so we went on what's called the Sandia Peak Tramway. The tramway is one of the steepest in North America and rises up to 10,380 feet! So we got on and the views were incredible! It was amazing to rise through the national forest and see such natural wonders. I was slightly terrified because you are so close to the rocks and you rise so high into the air! But we loved it! Ryan took all the pictures because I was too afraid id drop the camera. i didnt want to get close to the edge, but Ryan made me do it anyways, haha. For me, it felt like being in Colorado again, I forgot how much I missed the mountains. You can see some pics of that adventure here!

Afterward, on the way to Phoenix, the onlly thing of note was getting stuck in two-lane traffic with huge semis in front and behind us. Eek! Here is a photo of the road, I-40.

Of note, we did eat dinner in downtown Flagstaff, Ariz. and noticed Flagstaff is the coolest weather-wise part of the state. The air felt fresh and crisp as I tracked down another local place on Yelp to eat at.

The name of the restaurant was Beaver Street Brewery and I loved the atmosphere, very family friendly but quiet and warm with the interior kind of like a mountain ski lodge and dim lighting. I loved just sitting there and basking in the warmth. The food, unfortunately, left something to be desired and Ryan and I didn't finish our meals. Oh well, it was a nice rest before Phoenix anyway.

Ryan drove the remainder of the way over the extremely curvy downhill I-17 into Phoenix. I was a little nervous about it but Ryan loved it! And then we were finally in Phoenix, more about those adventures in the next post. Until then!

Nick