The South-West, here I come

Monday morning, September 29th I fly to New Mexico to see an old friend and to go to the hot air balloon festival.

Patsy, her daughter, and her grand daughter pick me up and we drive 160 miles to Farmington in the north-western corner of the state.  We drive through beautiful desert country...red bluffs, mesas with big open skies full of storm clouds, blue sky, and rainbows.

I meet her family for the first time and so this adventure begins with family and good food.

And a river walk in town.....

Tomorrow we head out on the road toward Colorado and then east to see what we can see.  

Interlude

A visit from Deirdre

Colon's graduation in San Luis Obispo

Suzanne's birthday and Seattle

The locks

The troll under the bridge

Sailing on San Francisco Bay

Memories

Our plane is taking off and Suzanne is reading a magazine.  I look over her shoulder at an article by Jane Smiley entitled 'Life Is a Lake of Memories To Swim In" and I must add that my lake has just gotten larger.  I look out the window.....

Last afternoon in the downtown plazas and.....

First, I don't know why that last picture did not publish.   At least it didn't on my device.  We went to a museo of a local artist  in the San Blas neighborhood.

In the afternoon we went down to the main plaza for the last time.

And then walked around other nearby plazas.

At four o'clock our taxi picked us up to take us to the airport.  I can't believe this trip is coming to an end.  Although we have about 15 hours of flight time to get back to Seattle, because of layover times in Lima, Dallas, and Phoenix it will be 34 hours of travel.  We are now leaving Phoenix on our last leg of our trip and are anxious to get to Suzanne's and crawl into a bed.  I will rest tomorrow and start the drive back to my house early Saturday morning.  I will stay with friends in Grants Pass Saturday night and finish my trip on Sunday, June 1st.  What a ride it has been!!!!!  ......making more memories that will last a lifetime.

Our last day and one half in Cuzco

The morning at the market. A row of women with their treadle machines.

Eating at a little place upstairs....perfect for people watching

And alpaca for dinner. It was DELICIOUS!!!

The next day we packed and left our bags at the hostel and walked the San Blas neighborhood.

Electricity, anybody?

It can be fixed if you are patient

San Blas square 

And a local artist's work

All aboard for Cuzco

We took the Perurail Exhibition Train back to Cuzco.

A luxury ride....tablecloths, meal service. Pisco Sours, entertainment

Along the way

I wasn't feeling so good, but that is a story in itself!  It was a beautiful 10 hour trip never the less.

Wide sidewalks, anyone? And you wouldn't want to step in a hole in the sidewalk!

And back at the same little hostel in the San Blas area in Cuzco.