Salt Sparkles in the Sunlight (and other things I noticed)

I got the pleasure to drive by the Salt Flats near the Great Salt Lake. Some people might find that boring; you can see where many cars have run off the road and been pulled out of the salt - but I enjoyed it. In the late afternoon sun, the salt sparkles like frost on a cold morning.

People apparently pass the time by using rocks to write words in the salt - think of SOS in the sand - just typical graffiti, I think; I couldn't read more than what looked like hearts and initials. The prettiest displays were created out of beer bottles stuck neck down into the salt. I don't know if they spelled words, but in the evening light they caught fire.

(Sort of) Near Espanola, NM

In a little burg called Espanola in New Mexico, (north of Santa Fe) Animal Control officers had blocked off several streets off the highway. We listened on the scanner, but never heard what that was about. It could have been anything. A cougar, a herd of cattle, a rampaging rattlesnake... Well, okay, that last one was just silly. :)

It absolutely astounds me the number of people who text while driving. In LA, in pre-rush hour traffic (which just seems to mean slightly fewer cars going twice as fast) I saw teen drivers trying to merge onto the freeway and nearly getting run into the wall, all for texting. I can't imagine anything so important that can't wait until I get to my destination, or at least a stoplight...

The Exit Sign for Sunset Blvd - Los Angeles

Speaking of LA...  This was my first time down there, and it rained. I saw Sunset Blvd (from the freeway) and I think I saw the strip mall they filmed part of 'Next Friday' at. I saw a lot of places that looked familiar from movies. Enough to tell me that it really is a lot like what you see in the B footage from any number of shows filmed there. And confirms that every day I don't spend in LA is a day I'm ahead of the game. We were in Greater LA for all of 16 hours, yet it felt like about three days.

The nicest rest area I think I've ever visited is up on Hwy 89 - I think it is Eagle Lake. Super clean, nothing boarded or barricaded off, glass block windows, and wedge windows with screens, and all the stall doors locked. There were video screens with safe driving tips, recycling bins, great landscaping, clean, sturdy benches and even a hopscotch grid painted on the sidewalk. I would almost go there for a picnic. (Ah, waxing poetic over a rest area already!)

Let's see, what else? Last week my allergies turned into a chest cold. I found it interesting that the congestion was relieved in Arizona, Colorado, Nevada and Utah, but in California and New Mexico they came back. I almost dread going back over the hill into the Willamette Valley. When I came over the hill last week, it was like a... Well, let's just say my sinuses started to drain very heavily.


The Long Un-winded Road

 There are places in New Mexico where I can't even start to pronounce the names (Abiquiu anyone?) which were beautiful with stark landscapes punctuated by green river bottoms with the poplar (?) trees in their fine fall foliage.


Near Abiquiu, New Mexico

Lots of rundown houses that we joked could be our summer house with a little fixing up. But seriously, what can one do in that kind of country besides ranch? Just getting to a grocery store in some of these places would be an all day endeavor.


Finally, I must say my husband is a saint for dealing with my insecurities and my limited driving skills that on the one hand are improving, but on the other hand I go through periods where I seem to forget everything I ever learned about shifting...