.... .... texas

Phew. I am TIRED.

I can't be sure how many days we spent in Arizona. We were in Pheonix for a bit, then Tucson over night--just long enough to check out the revolution book store/cafe, go to a yoga class, and crash at a couchsurfers' place, who we never actually met, since she was out late and we left early. Couchsurfing is amazing like that though--she left her key and told us where to look for it, we vaguely got to know her by looking at her art and sleeping in her sister's room, and then we left. From Pheonix we got a ride through craigslist to Albuquerque with a guy who was following a band around the country. It was our first of too many long drives without airconditioning...it gave something to yearn for of the buses.

We spent about a week in Albuquerque and Santa Fe, which was really nice. We got to see old friends, have some familiarity, and eat such longed for foods as a really good breakfast burrito and Indian food. Unfortunately we didn't get to hike in the mountains at all though because of the fires, which weren't actually in town, but the smoke could be seen at sunset all around the city. I had a lot of nice girl time, which I didn't even know I had been craving so much after 6 weeks with one very nice but very boyish boy :) There were even some surprises like a scuba diving trip to the Blue Hole, which in itself was a surprise trip, but I was also surprised to learn that I don't really like scuba diving...snorkel only please! I also got to have dinner with my sister and brothers (or rather my brother-in-law and his brother, which seems to cancel out into 2 brothers). And to top it all off, I got to spend the fourth of July with friends and attend the Santa Rueda salsa fesitval.

We then drove down to White Sands (having picked up Justin's car and our bikes ETC) in Albuquerque. We had some fun there, then headed to Las Cruces. Basically we were killing time until I could meet with a midwife friend of mine in El Paso. Then to El Paso and on to the lovely west Texas town of Marfa. Marfa is one of the weirdest and coolest places I've ever been in the US, and certainly very American. It's as if the whole town decided to stay exactly how it was in 1969, with the exception of the addition of a couple coffee places and a beer garden. We stayed in a $60 "Safari Tent" at a place called El Cosmico, the cheapest deal in town (actually it's camping for $20, but we got in too late at night for that). Marfa also has an opera house, a lot of bicycles, and a mix of Hispanic, hipster, occasional movie stars, and redneck culture. We had a great time riding our bikes around the very interesting desert town. Justin didn't want to leave, but we were too tired to camp and couldn't justifying spending another $60 to sleep outside. The next day we intended to drive all the way to San Antonio, but ended up loving another west Tex town called Alpine (just east of Marfa actually), and took the scenic route to boot, so only made it to Del Rio.... another crappy motel, and then finally to San Anton, just a couple days ago.

We are exhausted and have been spending a lot of time watching movies and letting his wonderful mom dote on us. Tomorrow we are heading up to Austin to look for our new place. We have no specific move in date, but we are hoping to move in within the next few weeks, as we are headed to Peru in August for the Patch Adams trip.... our final fling before throwing ourselves into our respective businesses: babies and bees, and never leaving home again :) Ohhh to have a kitchen and bookshelves and a nice bed!

.........speaking of which, good night!