Boomer/hippies2012 Roadtrip on Route 66: DAY 7---God is an amazing artist!!

Had a good night at the Monterey Non Smoking Motel and took off for points west. We stopped for breakfast at the 66 diner that seemed to be authentic Mexican or American Indian with many Indians dining there. WE HAVE GOT TO STOP EATING LIKE THIS!!! Sonny caved and tried the huevos rancheros with green chili and did like them. They served Sopapillas for breakfast! Yummy! We have only eaten at one chain restaurant, Montana Mikes because it was our only choice. We met a guy that was from Ohio and he told us about an old bridge that used to carry ALL 66 traffic in the day. It was on our route so we stopped there first. The road ended there so we got on I40 for a short while.

Saw some more gorgeous scenery. At Mesita we got off the interstate and followed the road around the mesa, called "dead man's curve". They blasted THRU the mesa for I40.

We started seeing many lava fields and ruins of many old adobe houses, many red rock formations and the sky was so beautiful with blue sky and fluffy white clouds.

We had talked to Emily and Joe about a few places to go south of Grants but I was following the guide instead of a state map so I missed the exit for the Acoma Pueblo but went to El Morro. On the way we passed a golden eagle with 2 smaller juvenile eagles, one of each side of her, sitting on a rock right on the side of the road. I missed the picture!!! I can't believe I didn't have Sonny turn around!

We decided to stop at the Bandero Volcano and Ice Cave. This is a 3400 year old site that is privately owned. We walked up to the rim of the volcano and looked down into it. Funny me expected to be looking down into a small opening on top of a mountain. NO!!

THIS is the crater of the volcano

Then we took the other trail to the ice cave which stays under 31 degrees all the time. The ice is 20 feet deep and the green color comes from lichen I think. It really was an interesting place

We continued on to El Morro National Monument. Breathtaking!! This is a path of old that has carvings in the sandstone that date back to 1600's and petroglyphs probably older than that.

Hard to see but petroglyphs from who knows how long ago and people's names from the 1600's (the Spainairds) and settlers, etc from the 1800's

This was a pool of fresh water that was a livesaver for many travelers on long journeys.

The air was too thin at 7200 feet for us, we were short of breath so decide not to continue to the top of the mesa to see the old Indian Pueblo ruins

We walked through the Juniper forests and thought of our little Juniper who we will be seeing in 9 more days.

After leaving there, we decided we didn't have time to backtrack to the Pueblo so continued on to Gallup, NM to stay the night at the EL Rancho Hotel and Motel. This is a historic hotel that all the movie stars used to stay in when they were filming westerns. We are in the Katherine Hepburn room. It is more expensive than the others we've stayed at but I wanted to stay there. It was $92 plus tax with our AARP discount, normally $97. Nothing really to do in Gallup but shop at the Trading Posts.