730. Frank

730. Frank
Definition: (adj) open, honest, and direct in speech or writing
Location Placed: Albuquerque Airport, Albuquerque, New Mexico
Date Placed: 10/5/15 at 2:33pm





All good things must come to an end. Until next time southwest US. Until next time! I really enjoyed all of the wonderful things we managed to do and see. I definitely recommend folks who haven't been out that way, to take a trip. The United States is huge and there are so many neat and wonderful things to do throughout the country!

729. Fortuitous

729. Fortuitous
Definition: (adj) happening by lucky chance
Location Placed: Albuquerque Airport Rental Terminal, Albuquerque, New Mexico
Date Placed: 10/5/15 at 12:53pm





Sadly the time on our trip had to come to an end. We dropped our handy rental car back at the return location and got ourselves together before we took the tram to the airport. I'm always impressed by the southwestern airports and how clean and bright they are!

728. Analytical

728. Analytical
Definition: (adj) relating to logical reasoning
Location Placed: Governor's Palace, Santa Fe, New Mexico
Date Placed: 10/5/15 at 11:22am
Status: FOUND!!





Sadly one of the last little stops but it was so late that I couldn't actually go in an explore. I definitely want to get back here again to visit. But thankfully the crane was found and I was able to get a little bit more information from the finder about this site!

An email from the finder, Jean. "Found crane 728 at the Palace of the Governors in Santa Fe, NM.  This building is the oldest continually occupied public building in America, being established in 1610.
Our camera is charging, so will take a photo tomorrow when we place it somewhere.  I hope it will be at the Bandelier National Monument, but if it rains, we may go on to Georgia O'Keefe's Ghost Ranch.  At any rate, will make sure #728 "Analytical" is placed somewhere safe and dry where some other lucky soul can find it and hopefully notify you and pass it on.



This crane was found and replaced at the Thousand Oaks Library in Thousand Oaks, CA.

So if you've found this crane, let me know!!

727. Subtle

727. Subtle
Definition: (adj) delicately complex and understated
Location Placed: Starbucks, Santa Fe, New Mexico
Date Placed: 10/5/15 at 11:14am





The weather was just lovely and the square was bustling with people, business folks out for a stroll, tourists out to enjoy the nice weather and sights. I can see why people come for a visit and decide to stay. I wish I had gotten more time to explore the area and pop into some of the local shops. Just means I'll have to make my way back west to New Mexico again in the future!

726. Preternatural

726. Preternatural
Definition: (adj) exceptional, extrodinary
Location Placed: New Mexico Museum of Art, Santa Fe, New Mexico
Date Placed: 10/5/15 at 11:04am





I was so bummed that I didn't have enough time to go through this museum. It seemed like it would be such a neat museum. Sadly time didn't permit me to go in, but I always appreciate a good art museum. Santa Fe is such a neat and artsy town, I can only imagine how many amazing pieces there are. If you've ever been there, please tell me about your experience!

725. Almighty

725. Almighty
Definition: (adj) having complete power
Location Placed: Georgia O'Keefe Museum, Santa Fe, New Mexico
Date Placed: 10/5/15 at 10:55am





We opted to go to the Georgia O'Keefe Museum in the morning before we headed back out to Albuquerque. As a well known artist for a certain genre, I was really interested in seeing the different types of pieces that Georgia O'Keefe painted. There was quite a variety of pieces, although most were not really my cup of tea. It was a smaller sized museum, so we went through it a bit quicker than we thought, and so we decided to do a little walking around the town rather than wait a bit longer at the airport.

724. Selective

724. Selective
Definition: (adj) tending to choose carefully
Location Placed: Loretto Inn, Santa Fe, New Mexico
Date Placed: 10/5/15 at 10:03am





Santa Fe is such a cool, artsy town. There were a number of artists set up in the garden area of the chapel. We had a little poke around a couple of the stalls. I got a lovely copy of a watercolor picture to remind me of my southwestern road trip. Definitely a nice town to pop into!

723. Appropriate

723. Appropriate
Definition: (adj) suitable or proper in the circumstances
Location Placed: Liquid Options, Santa Fe, New Mexico
Date Placed: 10/5/15 at 10:00am





It's always a sad time when you're coming to the end of a vacation, especially one as awesome as this. Loretto Chapel had been our last MUST SEE planned thing of the trip, so we wanted to do a little walking around before we figured out our last activity stop before we headed to the airport. We came across Liquid Options, which was somehow attached the to exit of the Loretto Chapel. We didn't go in but for a peek. It seemed like a cute little beverage place though!

722. Reserved

722. Reserved
Definition: (adj) kept specially for a particular purpose or person
Location Placed: Loretto Chapel, Santa Fe, New Mexico
Date Placed: 10/5/15 at 9:53am





We specifically came to Santa Fe to check out the Loretto Chapel. It is a lovely older chapel with a pretty amazing spiral staircase. It is apparently an architectural mystery as it does not have supports in the middle or on the sides. While it is braced now, it wasn't for the longest time, yet was still able to hold people and function as a staircase. It doesn't hurt that the chapel is quite pretty in its own right. Definitely worth a stop in if you're looking for a pretty and historic site in Santa Fe.

721. Strengthen

721. Strengthen
Definition: (v) make or become stronger
Location Placed: Whoos Donuts, Santa Fe, New Mexico
Date Placed: 10/5/15 at 9:25am





This has to be, hands down, the best donut place I've ever been to. They had a wide variety of donuts, including several I had never heard of before. The staff were extremely pleasant and gave solid recommendations. Additionally, they had some sort of deal on Monday's, which made a sweet breakfast even sweeter. If I ever find myself in Santa Fe again, or you do, I strongly suggest you check them out. Additionally, I think Whoos needs to do a bit of expanding and make their way to the East Coast!

720. Leadership

720. Leadership
Definition: (n) the action of leading a group of people or an organization
Location Placed: Santa Fe Lodge, Santa Fe, New Mexico
Date Placed: 10/5/15 at 8:54am





As we were flying out of Albuquerque but hotel prices were crazy because of the festival, we decided to spend a night and a few hours up in Santa Fe as it was only an hour away. Our hotel was right across the street from a very large armed forces cemetery. The whole lodge itself had a VERY southwestern decor, so we certainly wouldn't have forgotten where in the country we were. We settled in and headed out to dinner to a local place which proved to have some pretty solid food.

719. Invaluable

719. Invaluable
Definition: (adj) extremely useful
Location Placed: Starbucks by St. Claire, Albuquerque, New Mexico
Date Placed: 10/4/15 at 1:44pm





I was so excited to see the Starbucks mug for New Mexico. It was such a lovely scene and a great little souvenir for the trip. We got to see the hot air balloons so it was an added bonus reminder! As I don't think I'll be headed anywhere (at least to another state) I've not already been for several months, I'll have to enjoy this mug even more. 

718. Compatible

718. Compatible
Definition: (adj) able to exist or occur together without issue
Location Placed: Genuine Southwest, Albuquerque, New Mexico
Date Placed: 10/4/15 at 1:20pm





We popped into Genuine Southwest right around the corner from the museum to see if they had any cute knick-knack items. It definitely was a cute little store with some neat items in it. There was a really neat mosaic arch entering the cute little shopping area. It was really quite gorgeous, which makes sense given its location near the museum.

717. Athletic

717. Athletic
Definition: (adj) physically strong, fit, and active
Location Placed: Albuquerque Museum, Albuquerque, New Mexico
Date Placed: 10/4/15 at 12:29am





The Albuquerque Museum was such a nice little museum. I really enjoyed visiting. They had a lot of wonderful exhibits about the local history. Having never been to Albuquerque before, and not even New Mexico, I thought it was a really informative museum. It even had a pretty awesome map in the middle of it. I definitely would recommend going to visit if you happen to be in the city.

716. Vixen

716. Vixen
Definition: (n) an attractive individual
Location Placed: Albuquerque Hot Air Balloon Festival Field, Albuquerque, New Mexico
Date Placed: 10/4/15 at 8:58am





Far and away, this was the highlight of the trip. Essentially we had planned our trip around the festival as it happened the week after my business trip responsibilities ended. What a treat it was! We had no idea just what we were in for but it was so much more amazing than we could have expected. You are actually came to go right up to the balloons and talk with the ballonists. If not for the zebras, which are ballooning referees, you could potentially get knocked out by a balloon taking off! While we didn't actually get to ride in one, it was just a wonderous experience to get to be so close to them and see so many of them inflate and lift off. Then, as you can see from the picture, the balloons in the sky. I 100% recommend anyone who can go, does. You will not regret it.

715. Determined

715. Determined
Definition: (adj) processing or displaying resolve
Location Placed: Painted Desert Inn, Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona
Date Placed: 10/3/15 at 11:25am





The painted desert was pretty neat looking. However, my favorite portion of this trip was the Blue Mesa. It looked downright other-worldly. The layers of rock colors of this southwestern badlands were due in part because of the environment of the location many years in the past. Did you know that Arizona (or at least that part of it) used to be environmentally similar to what the Amazon is like today? It's hard to imagine when you see how flat it is. The Blue Mesa are a number of hills that show the differences of the layers of soil during a number of historic times. This lead to a really neat stratification of rock. It's hard to describe but extremely awesome.

714. Prosperous

714. Prosperous
Definition: (adj) bringing wealth and success
Location Placed: Painted Desert Visitor's Center, Petrified Forest National Park, (near) Holbrook, Arizona
Date Placed: 10/3/15 at 10:49am
Status: FOUND!





We decided to stop here on a whim as we had a bit of time to kill and it was along the way. We didn't really know too much about it, but this stop easily falls in my top 3 favorite places of the trip. The views were outstanding. There were a number of places to see petroglyphs on the nearby rocks along with signs indicating what they likely meant.

This crane was found by a woman moving states at the time she found the crane. She didn't indicate that I could use her email that she sent along to me, but I wanted to take a moment to wish her well in her move!

713. Nourishing

713. Nourishing
Definition: (adj) containing substances necessary for growth, health, and good condition
Location Placed: The Wigwam Motel, Holbrook, Arizona
Date Placed: 10/2/15 at 7:13pm





We made sure to stop at the Wigwam motel for the night while on our trip. How many other places can you stay in a historic wigwam? Not many I'd venture to guess. It was definitely quite the experience. The motel is located very close to the railway that goes across the state. I had only heard about the long trains with dozens of cars, but had never seen them. I definitely heard them throughout the night, and saw them the next day. One train, I counted, had over 100 cars attached to it! It definitely felt very middle America to me.

712. Hospitable

712. Hospitable
Definition: (adj) friendly and welcoming to strangers and guests
Location Placed: El Rancho Restaurant and Hotel, Holbrook, Arizona
Date Placed: 10/2/15 at 6:52pm






There weren't too many eateries in Holbrook, but this one definitely seemed the most frequented of our trip. There was a birthday party taking place, and quite a number of people were meeting up with friends for a Mexican Friday night meal. While it wasn't the best Mexican food on our trip, we certainly were entertained by the people watching and the conversations we overheard.

711. Classy

711. Classy
Definition: (adj) stylish and sophisticated
Location Placed: Montezuma Castle National Monument, Camp Verde, Arizona
Date Placed: 10/2/15 at 2:00pm





Our next stop was the Montezuma Castle National Monument. I had heard about that several years back on my first trip to the Grand Canyon. It seemed right up my alley, but I never managed to go. So when we had the opportunity, I definitely wanted to take it. Although we couldn't traipse around this one as it was high and literally built into the side of a rock formation, it was still a pretty neat site. It gave us a bit more history of the Native American's who made this land their home.

710. Rosy

710. Rosy
Definition: (adj) promising or suggesting good fortune or happiness; hopeful
Location Placed: Starbucks, Camp Verde, Arizona
Date Placed: 10/2/15 at 1:35pm





Definitely not one to turn down a placement, I might have specifically tried to seek out this Starbucks. I actually had been in the area once before a number of years ago going to the Out of Africa animal park. We actually passed by it on the way to the Starbucks. The thing I remember most about that animal park was the safari ride where the giraffe ate a carrot or orange pepper out of out tour guides teeth. Well, that and the big cats acting quite playful when diving into large pools after toys and meat!

709. Pamper

709. Pamper
Definition: (v) indulge with every attention, comfort, and kindness; spoil
Location Placed: Art Glitter, Camp Verde, Arizona
Date Placed: 10/2/15 at 12:15pm





 Apparently it's not a true trip until you've witnessed something you've never seen before. One of those things was definitely a store devoted to just glitter. I've definitely never seen so many types and varieties of glitter. If you're a glitter fan, this is definitely the store for you. My travel companion made a purchase for the annual Christmas card. While I definitely just buy store bought, those cards will be wonderfully glittered!

708. Finest

708. Finest
Definition: (adj) the highest of quality
Location Placed: Tuzigoot National Monument, Clarkdale, Arizona
Date Placed: 10/2/15 at 11:18am





We decided to visit  a couple of local national monuments, including Tuzigoot. Native American's lived in the area for many hundreds of years before moving out of the area. They left behind many of their artifacts as well as their impressive stone structures. The site we visited still had a pretty substantial amount of the dwelling left to the point where we could go up on to the roof of it and see the large swath of land they called their home. It was quite impressive, and I am able to understand why they chose that location.

707. Brilliant

707. Brilliant
Definition: (adj) very bright and radiant
Location Placed: Arabella Hotel, Sedona, Arizona
Date Placed: 10/2/15 at 9:56 am





The Arabella Hotel is located centrally in Sedona. We were able to see all the wonderful red rocks at sunset from the restaurant we walked to. Sedona is such a lovely town and known for its rd rock formations. Had the winds been more favorable, we would've taken a hot air balloon ride above them. It wasn't meant to be, but we still got to poke around the lovely town and have a leisurely breakfast.

706. Experienced

706. Experienced
Definition: (adj) having knowledge or skill in a particular field, especially a profession or job, gained over a period of time
Location Placed: Flagstaff Airport, Flagstaff, Arizona
Date Placed: 10/1/15 at 4:00pm





After a slight mishap, our road trip took us unexpectedly to the Flagstaff Airport. I think it is the smallest airport I've ever been to. We were basically able to get into everywhere except the extremely tiny terminal. I hadn't even realized that Flagstaff had an airport. Tiny and adorable!