The Gamut of Weather

When I left Orlando this morning, the temperature was around seventy degrees -- before 7:00 a.m. My flight departed exactly on time and I had a nice seatmate, made even nicer by the empty seat separating us. (Truly, no matter how nice the person next to you on the plane is, an extra foot or so between you is always a good thing.) So we chatted on and off and, as always, I heard stories of an interesting life. That leg of my journey was long -- just over four hours -- and even with chit-chat, crossword puzzles, and crochet, after the first two hours I didn't know what to do with myself. I never can sleep on a plane, but what sometimes happens is that I start to doze off just before we begin to make our descent. It makes no sense but happens almost every time I fly. Today was no exeption. Overall, though, Orlando to Denver was fine -- or I should say that Orlando to nearly-to-Denver was fine.

It seems Denver may have been having a blizzard. Everything was covered with snow -- our crawl to the gate was excruciating -- and, as a result, everything was delayed. At first it looked like my next flight would be only an hour or so late. Because flights that had been delayed earlier were stacked on the runway, and our plane needed a "de-icing", we were nearly three hours late leaving Denver. Oh, did I menton it was zero degrees and we had to walk onto the tarmac to board? Snow, wind, cold, and late was not how I envisioned the beginning of my amazing journey. We did finally make it, though, and Albuquerque was beautiful and sunny when we landed, and the temperatue was around fifty degrees, not bad in the sunshine.

I got my rental car -- I could have had a Nissan sedan or a Fiat mini-SUV-type vehicle; which do you think I chose? -- and headed off to Santa Fe. Highway 25 is pretty desolate and that was fine. I wanted to get checked in to my hotel before dark so I wasn't paying too much attention to what was around. There will be time for that later. Still, it was hard not to notice the horizon. Maybe it was just the way the light was hitting, but it was hard to tell where the mountain peaks stopped and the clouds started; they flowed that seamlessly into one another. As I ascended the mesa, I noticed the temperature dropping. By the time I got to Santa Fe, it was twenty-six degrees. (At one point it had dropped to twenty-two, but it came back up two balmy degrees.) After checking in, my first stop was the main drag for a sweater. After that, dinner. And after that, cheap gloves at the Five and Dime. It might warm up, but it might not. At least I'll be warm. Now I'm sitting in my cozy casita, fireplace burning, thinking about how I will spend tomorrow.