Awe-Inspiring Drive from Albuquerque to Holbrook: Discover the Wonders Along the Way

Embarking on the Journey

Today we set off on our journey feeling refreshed after 2 nights in Albuquerque. Did you miss our daily blog? Whilst there, we were speaking a guy who was driving and hiking around the US and was on his was back to his home in Tennessee. He'd arrived at the hotel at 1.30am after driving 1000 miles that day! We though our 450 mile day was a lot.

We definitely noticed a change in landscape to dry and arid. No river beds had water which is surreal when you see the signs warning about ice. All we have had is glorious weather so far, in the 90's so hard to imagine bad weather in these parts.

Nature and History Collide: The Petrified Forest

One highlight of this drive is the famed Petrified Forest National Park and the Painted Desert. We took a detour so we could drive through these stopping at various points. It was an amazing area seeing the different coloured rocks and the remains of the ancient forest. Google tells me some of which dates back to the Late Triassic period, over 200 million years ago! We took a couple of short walks in the National Park as well as driving through and it is definitely worth the detour.

Churches and Historic Stops

As we travelled today we saw lots of historic sights. Interestingly, some of the Peublo's have really strict rules over what can be photographed due to the links with their beliefs so our pictures are limited. We saw a really impressive church which had been carved into the side of the mountain and then contrasting to this the top of a cliff which had been naturally eroded to look like the top of the church.

Uranium, Trains, and U-Turns

In Grants we stopped to have a look around but decided to give the mining museum a miss as it it was from the cold war when and the mining was for Uranium. I'm sure completely safe but we didn't want to leave there glowing.

In this area we saw loads of trains. Mainly for transporting goods but we also saw our first passenger train. Some of the trains are ridiculously long and hearing the whistle is a nice soundtrack to the journey.

We are now getting used to the love of U-turns on American roads and have even joined in. The fact that some traffic lights have a separate sign to allow U-turns is fantastic.

The Wigwam Hotel Experience

We stayed in the Wigwam hotel last night, definitely an experience we were looking forward to and have enjoyed but it does take the award for noisiest air conditioning of the holiday so far. Sounded like a plane was taking off every 30 minutes in our room. However, worth it considering these temperatures.

In conclusion, the journey from Albuquerque to Holbrook promises thrill and excitement. From the Petrified Forest to the historical churches and the unique sights you’ll encounter, each mile reveals something awe-inspiring I