October 7-8, 2017 Turquoise Trail/Sante Fe

Saturday, October 7

Beautiful sunrise this cold  (44 degrees), clear morning.  Photos complements of Greg while Beth stayed warm inside!

We hit the road early and stop at “World Famous” Clines Corner for coffee and coke.  Between Santa Rosa State Park and Albuquerque there isn’t much except for three of the “World Famous – we sell everything” type places and probably a hundred Billboards advertising them.

We reach Albuquerque in good time and find a cute little library, Ernie Pyle Library – the first in Albuquerque – not far from the airport.  We spend a quick hour there and then stop for gas and a few groceries before heading to the airport.  Gwynne’s flight is on time and all goes smoothly. WELCOME GWYNNE!

We first head up to Sandia Crest which is atop a mountain (Sandia peak) overlooking Albuquerque.  Part of the Cibola National Forest.  Nice views and fun catching up with Gwynne.   It is one mile above Albuquerque, 2 miles above sea level! There are a few colorful quaking aspen, and the next mountain over they call Steel Forest.

From here we head back down the mountain and stop at Tinkertown Museum – one of the 10 best small museums according to Trip Advisor…. Which goes to show that you can’t always depend on Trip Advisor. 

It is an interesting collection of carvings, antiques, newspaper clippings, a huge wooden boat, and lots more including Otto the Automatic One Man Band. 

From here we look for a place to eat and end at the Lazy Lizzard Grill, where we have so-so pizza and bbq, then head towards our boondocking spot.  We belong to Boondockers Welcome which is a group of RV’ers who offer overnight spots at their homes for traveling rv’ers.   We find the home of Patryka, although she has told us she might not be there and we never do meet, as she comes home late and we leave early. 

Chilly evening and we all go to sleep early and sleep fairly well despite a battery issue in the middle of the night (!) which is easily resolved.

Sunday, October 8, 2017

43 degrees this morning, as we head north on route 14, known as the Tourquoise Trail.  This wanders through rural New Mexico as a scenic alternative to the I25 highway.  

First stop is s beautiful adobe church, St. Francis of Assisi, built in 1839.  It  is locked up today and a sign says there is Mass on Saturday afternoon only.

We pass through Madrid, which is an artsy town with a few shops and café’s, but things are still closed, so we move on to a tiny town called Cerrillos.  This was a mining area – gold, lead and tourquoise.  The Tiffany tourquoise mine is still operational and there are others if one is willing to hike.  We park at Sante Fe Plaza and walk around a bit.  There is a community center where a church service going on and on one of the unpaved streets we find a Trading Post/Museum/Petting Zoo.

 The gentleman running it is brusque and says he doesn’t like to answer questions.  Greg pays for us to check out the museum which we thought might make him more hospitable, but no.  The museum is all kinds of artifacts, stones, bottles, tools and mining equipment and more.  Nearby is a sign that claims scenic overlook which is, in our opinion, taking quite a bit of license for the word scenic.

This leads us to the city of Sante Fe and we find a parking spot along the river, not too far from the Plaza area.

Almost all of the buildings are of adobe, shops, office buildings, government buildings, homes, etc.

First we visit the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assissi, which just finished a service.  It  was copied from Sainte Chappelle in Paris and has beautiful stained glass windows, though not nearly as large as the Paris church.

 

From here we walk a short distance to Loretto Chapel, which was begun by a group of nuns in 1873.  It has a beautiful spiral staircase which is supposedly miraculous in design, built by an itinerant carpenter who built it and then left before being paid.

We walk to the plaza, which is about a block long park with a fountain and ristras (red peppers) decorating the light posts throughout. 

Many folks enjoying the beautiful day.  There are many craftspeople selling items along one side of the plaza, with wares displayed on blankets on the wide sidewalk.  This used to be mainly American Indian wares but seems to have expanded to other items.  Lots of tourquoise  and other jewelry,  soaps, leather, paintings, etc.

In looking for an Ansel Adams display my brother mentioned seeing this Summer, we wondered by many shops and into Hotel La Fonda.  This was one of the original Harvey Hotels built along the railroad when rail travel was King.  Unfortunately their tours did not take place on Sundays and the art gallery with Ansel Adams was also closed.   Still it was a beautiful day.  We sat in the plaza and people-watched for a bit and it was a very busy place.

We left here in search of lunch at Posa’s Tamale Factory & Grill where we tried some quesadillo’s and tamales.  Lots of green chilis in their recipes, though we opted for something milder (more edible for us).  Tres Leche cake for desert.

About an hour’s drive took us northwest to Bandelier National Monument, named after an archiologist  who worked in this area, unearthing the ruins of puebloan people.  This afternoon we found a campsite at Juniper Campground and settled in for the night, planning to hike early tomorrow morning. Higher altitude and chilly weather.

There is a shuttle service into the main loop trail which is mandatory between 9AM and 3PM, but hey, we are Johnsons, so no problem.  Not very hungry after our late lunch, we opt for cheese and crackers and chips and salsa for dinner.  Greg built a nice campfire which felt good as the temperature dropped.