Sunday October 31, 2010

We started off our day with a gondola trip up Sandia Mountain which is on the eastern outskirts of Albuquerque. It was a beautiful sunny morning. It was about a 15 minute ride up to the top. This tram has the longest single span of any gondola in the world. The upper most span is 1.2 miles!



Here is the view looking at Albuquerque to the west. (click to enlarge)



We got on the road at around noon to head south to Las Cruces NM.


The Interstate follows the west side of the Rio Grande River. The river valley was lush with trees and cultivated land. Everything else is desert and mountain ranges. The highway was essentially dead straight for 90% of the trip and with a speed limit of 75 mph, we made good time. We stopped in the town of Truth or Consequences for fuel. An interesting spot in the middle of nowhere.


We arrived at our B&B called Dreamcatchers at around 5 pm. and were welcomed by the owners Anita and Ken. Ken is a U of W chemical engineer and an ex neighbour of Alec & Sharon Johnston when they lived in Fort Saskatchewan AB. The B&B is outside of town and sits on 10 acres complete with critters. Here is the view from the rear patio and our room.



There was a really good Thai restaurant a mile or so away. Who would have thought we would not be eating Mexican!

Tonight we are watching the football game and doing some laundry.

The vehicle mileage and picture count are both at 1500+.

Saturday October 30, 2010

We left Santa Fe at around 10:00 am and headed south on the Scenic Byway called the Turquoise Trail.


The little towns along this route have been movie sets for a number of movies. The first town we stopped at was Cerrillios which had a bar which I am sure rivals Butler's Sports Bar in NOTL. The only downside of this community is that the streets are all dirt. That's right, dirt, not gravel. Lots of stray dogs.


The next town along the way was Madrid which was a really funky / burned out hippie place. Most of the residents were just coming to and having their morning wake up coffee or bong. It featured the bar where the movie "Wild Hogs" was filmed.


We also saw a rather unique conversion of a railway boxcar into a house! Brings a new meaning to a trailer park.


When we arrived at Alburquerque, we headed to the Old Town area which featured a square surrounded by a number of shops in original buildings. Lots of interesting stuff if southwest is your decor.


We did a bit of looking through a number of galleries and shops and had lunch in a fantastic French bistro. From there, we did an outdoor tour of the sculptures surrounding the New Mexico Museum. There were many great displays and this is only one of many great sculptures.


From here we moved on to the Pueblo Nation Cultural Centre which had been recommended to us as a "must see". We were fortunate that we happened to arrive just as the weekly dance presentation was underway.



There were restrictions on photography (oops, I wasn't supposed to video the dance above) so we can't show much of what we saw but it was impressive, great pottery, textiles and depictions of the Pueblo Nation (there are 19 active Pueblos in the SW).


Our final stop for the day was the Nob Hill area through which the famous Route 66 traversed. There are a few remnants on the mid 20th century architecture still there plus a lot restaurants and entertainment for the local University of New Mexico crowd.



Yes, we stopped for a pint there....

Friday October 29, 2010

We are spending our second day in Santa Fe. We originally intended on going back to Bandelier National Park for the day but after finding that the hour or so trip there for a hike could be satisfied with some local hiking in Santa Fe, we found some local trails that had some good recommendations so we decided to go with a hike up Atalaya Mountain. The directions to the trail head were a bit sketchy which resulted in us hiking an extra 2 miles to get to the start but we did finally find it and the trail was well marked.


It was a fairly steep climb up the mountain and Chris was having some altitude/asthma issues for a while but we eventually got to the summit for some great views.


Panorama photo with Santa Fe in the middle .....


(click on panorama to enlarge)

The trip down was a lot easier. We did about 7 miles in total.

We went back to the hotel for a shower and then a trip to the historic town centre. We walked around and looked in a number of the shops, museums and galleries.


Our feet were a little tired so we stopped for an early supper. We met some local folks who recommended a nice Mexican bistro/brewery in the heart of the old town. It was just what we needed. The Mexican food was excellent with a good amount of heat!

A few views of the old town before we headed back to the hotel to rest our feet.


It was a full day with a relatively early to bed time ....

Thursday October 28, 2010

We departed Taos this morning and travelled the "High Road" which passes through Las Trimpas, Truchas, Cordova and the Sanutuario de Chimayo church.


A few views below.

(click on panorama to enlarge)


We decided to travel on to Bandelier National Park which is about an hour outside of Santa Fe.

The park is rich in the history of the Original Pueblo Nation People with a number of restored cliff dwellings, some accessible by ladders.


After exploring the historical stuff, we did a steep hike up the valley wall to get a good overview of the Pueblo site. Here is a panorama shot of the settlement from the top of our hike up the opposite side of the canyon.


We returned to Santa Fe in our Santa Fe and checked into our motel for a couple of day's stay.

Wednesday October 27, 2010

We departed Durango this morning and travelled some scenic biways to Taos New Mexico.


The drive through the southern part of Colorado was very beautiful. Lots of ranches and cattle in the rolling foothills with the snow topped peaks of the San Juan Mountains in the background.


We got to New Mexico shortly after noon.


The first town we encountered was Chama which is the terminus for another narrow gauge railway but it didn't appear to be running today.


After a brief drive around town we drove on eastward to our destination. We had to climb back through a pass (10,000 ft) in the Carson National Forest and again encountered a fair bit of snow on the ground although the highway was clear. Lots of great views from the highway.


After decending into the valley we approached the Rio Grande River. Just before we arrived, we noticed some of the strangest houses we had ever seen (at first we thought they had collapsed but no, these are very expensive evnironmentally friendly homes). They are part of the "Earthship Ecotecture" movement. A whole bunch of recycled goods are used to build them. A few too many drugs in the 60's if you ask me!


There is a pretty cool bridge over the Rio Grande - one of the highest spans in the USA.


Here is the Rio Grande River 650 ft below.


We got checked into our hotel in Taos in time to go exploring the downtown a bit. An interesting town. Here are some stats:

Population = 6,500
Galleries = 80
Museums = 7
Massage Theripists = 232
Restaurants = 156
Non-Profit Organizations = 275
Banks = 4

Here are a couple of downtown photos

Tuesday October 26, 2010

Today was our day to take our planned trip on the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railway. This is a 100 mile round trip between the two towns through the Animas River gorge. There is a 3,000 foot elevation change on the way to Silverton. This is an authentic steam train built in 1924 (Baldwin Locomotive Works) burning real coal with a real fireman stoking the boiler 5 times a minute on the steep up slopes.


The cars are unheated but enclosed (except for the outdoor observation car). We had to bundle up for the trip as the morning temperature in Durango was -7C (20F) and -16C (7F) in Silverton.


We left the station in Durango at 8:15 am and started the slow climb to Silverton where we arrived at 11:45 am. The scenery along the way was fantastic as long as you could stand to be in the outdoor observation car.


Silverton was a really cool town. Lots of restaurants, bars and shops all housed in turn of the last century buildings and most closed for the season between summer tourists and ski season. It appears the the only visitors now come off the daily train.


It was a fun "winter" day. Tomorrow we are off to New Mexico and hopefully a little warmer weather.