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New Mexico Road Trip
Apr. 20th, 2024 10:44 amFlickr Album
1221 miles in 120 hours
We flew in to Albuquerque late in the afternoon, so we didn't have much time here. We went to the central square, but the town was already rolling up the sidewalk for the most part. We made our way to Sawmill Market for dinner -- a green chile infused French Dip. Pretty good.
The next morning, we drove to Petroglyph National Monument. The hike we took literally abuts against suburbia, but soon gets you out into the wilderness surrounded by piles and hills of black volcanic rock, that (when scratched) shows up lighter. Some of the marks date thousands of years back, but most are from 1300-1700. Interesting, but (like other petroglyphs of our acquaintance) not *WOW* interesting. We also took a short scenic bypass through some areas that give a hint of what the area looked like long ago (before suburbia eats it). We stopped briefly in Corrales to tour the cemetery. Italian and other immigrants from the 19th century.
And then we left Albuquerque and took the longer scenic bypass (NM 14 - The Turquoise Trail) to Santa Fe. Pretty along the way. Tried to stop for lunch in Madrid, but lady bikers had swarmed the town and the cafe. I was nowhere near tough enough looking to get any service from the waitstaff.
In Santa Fe, we spent some time in the central square, and toured the New Mexico History Museum, which also abuts the Governor's Palace, which is also part of the museum. Lots of good artifacts and displays, including a section about Fred Harvey and the Harvey Houses and the railroad in New Mexico. Also a surprise little exhibit of the art of Peter Aschwanden, noted for his work in How to Keep Your Volkswagen Alive.
Dinner was at Restaurant Martin, and was the highlight of the trip, in terms of food. The beet salad (not apt to be a wowser) was a wowser. I particularly appreciated the symmetry of the orange citrus slice on the pink beet and the pink citrus slice on the orange beet. The beef filet and its accompaniments was also excellent.
Next morning we drove out of Santa Fe to Bandelier National Monument (passing near Los Alamos, with a few LANL facilities along the way, including an unexpected radio telescope/receiver that popped out of the landscape). Bandelier is set into a narrow canyon, and the cliff faces were the site of extensive cliff dwellings. Not as impressive as Mesa Verde, but still quite fascinating. We saw lots of deer in the park, including does helping to shelter their fawns as they dashed across the human path.
From there a long drive out to Taos, where we were disappointed to find that the Taos Pueblo is closed for some restoration work. At least we had the consolation of a nice burrito in Taos. From there, back to Santa Fe and then dinner at Geronimo, which topped a few lists of best restaurants in New Mexico. While I have no complaints, now that I am out of New Mexico, I am here to tell you that Restaurant Martin is better than Geronimo. I get the sense that Geronimo has become an institution over its 30 or so years of existence. I liked the addition of wasabi to the caesar salad dressing, and the gnocchi like rice dice 'croutons' were neat. I went for the special, which was short rib. Certainly the short rib was the star of the dish, but there was very little other than that star on the plate. What was there was good, especially the onion puree/reduction.
Next morning we headed south, stopping first in Roswell. We largely avoided the kitschy alien stuff, but you can't entirely. We dropped by the Roswell Museum and Art Center, which had great displays on Robert Goddard, who carried out some of his rocketry experiments in the area. This included his entire workshop's contents, relocated into the museum. The original museum building was built by the WPA, and there was some furniture and a few architectural elements in the new building. Leaving Roswell, we pressed on to Carlsbad, where I enjoyed the green chile infused lasagna at the Trinity Hotel, where we stayed. After dinner, we traveled the 30 miles to the Caverns and settled ourselves into the Bat Flight Amphitheater, which is perched above the natural entrance to the caverns. At dusk, bats became trickling out and leaving in larger groups. Not the huge boiling tornado of bats one might hope for, but still an interesting experience. One bat took a low altitude flight through the seated people for a bonus little thrill. Easy to see his furry little bod close up, but mostly the bats are just dark flappy shapes in the sky.
The next morning we came back to tour the Caverns themselves, taking the elevator down 750 feet to the main chamber. It's astonishing, something like 4 football fields in area. Photos don't quite do it justice, and it's certainly a different experience to be in it, rather than looking at images of it. It's a natural wonder of the world. Fantastic.
From there we drove back through Carlsbad to Artesia, where we hung a left to take road to Alamogordo, passing through some forest and a picturesque pass through the mountains. I realized after the fact that the blinding white patch we could see in the distance as we came down through the pass was White Sands National Park. First some side trips for a nice pollo adovado at Casa de Sueños outside Tularosa and a few tasty minutes spent at PistachioLand (and its world's largest pistachio). White Sands is also an amazing place, but having seen Carlsbad Caverns that morning, it was a distant second. The gypsum sands feel smooth and cool, and drift into dunes with little ridge patterns. From there on to our hotel in Las Cruces for some well earned beer after a long thirsty day.
Next morning, we swung by the world's largest chile pepper, before turning the car north back to Albuquerque. The exit at Hatch was closed, but we did get a good green chile burger at the Owl Bar & Cafe (that both of us kept calling the Owlbear Cafe) in San Antonio. Also in that area is the Bosque de Apaches Wildlife Refuge, a notable spot for birders, and even we managed to spot some geese and ducks as we drove by.
Then back to the airport and home.
1221 miles in 120 hours
We flew in to Albuquerque late in the afternoon, so we didn't have much time here. We went to the central square, but the town was already rolling up the sidewalk for the most part. We made our way to Sawmill Market for dinner -- a green chile infused French Dip. Pretty good.
The next morning, we drove to Petroglyph National Monument. The hike we took literally abuts against suburbia, but soon gets you out into the wilderness surrounded by piles and hills of black volcanic rock, that (when scratched) shows up lighter. Some of the marks date thousands of years back, but most are from 1300-1700. Interesting, but (like other petroglyphs of our acquaintance) not *WOW* interesting. We also took a short scenic bypass through some areas that give a hint of what the area looked like long ago (before suburbia eats it). We stopped briefly in Corrales to tour the cemetery. Italian and other immigrants from the 19th century.
And then we left Albuquerque and took the longer scenic bypass (NM 14 - The Turquoise Trail) to Santa Fe. Pretty along the way. Tried to stop for lunch in Madrid, but lady bikers had swarmed the town and the cafe. I was nowhere near tough enough looking to get any service from the waitstaff.
In Santa Fe, we spent some time in the central square, and toured the New Mexico History Museum, which also abuts the Governor's Palace, which is also part of the museum. Lots of good artifacts and displays, including a section about Fred Harvey and the Harvey Houses and the railroad in New Mexico. Also a surprise little exhibit of the art of Peter Aschwanden, noted for his work in How to Keep Your Volkswagen Alive.
Dinner was at Restaurant Martin, and was the highlight of the trip, in terms of food. The beet salad (not apt to be a wowser) was a wowser. I particularly appreciated the symmetry of the orange citrus slice on the pink beet and the pink citrus slice on the orange beet. The beef filet and its accompaniments was also excellent.
Next morning we drove out of Santa Fe to Bandelier National Monument (passing near Los Alamos, with a few LANL facilities along the way, including an unexpected radio telescope/receiver that popped out of the landscape). Bandelier is set into a narrow canyon, and the cliff faces were the site of extensive cliff dwellings. Not as impressive as Mesa Verde, but still quite fascinating. We saw lots of deer in the park, including does helping to shelter their fawns as they dashed across the human path.
From there a long drive out to Taos, where we were disappointed to find that the Taos Pueblo is closed for some restoration work. At least we had the consolation of a nice burrito in Taos. From there, back to Santa Fe and then dinner at Geronimo, which topped a few lists of best restaurants in New Mexico. While I have no complaints, now that I am out of New Mexico, I am here to tell you that Restaurant Martin is better than Geronimo. I get the sense that Geronimo has become an institution over its 30 or so years of existence. I liked the addition of wasabi to the caesar salad dressing, and the gnocchi like rice dice 'croutons' were neat. I went for the special, which was short rib. Certainly the short rib was the star of the dish, but there was very little other than that star on the plate. What was there was good, especially the onion puree/reduction.
Next morning we headed south, stopping first in Roswell. We largely avoided the kitschy alien stuff, but you can't entirely. We dropped by the Roswell Museum and Art Center, which had great displays on Robert Goddard, who carried out some of his rocketry experiments in the area. This included his entire workshop's contents, relocated into the museum. The original museum building was built by the WPA, and there was some furniture and a few architectural elements in the new building. Leaving Roswell, we pressed on to Carlsbad, where I enjoyed the green chile infused lasagna at the Trinity Hotel, where we stayed. After dinner, we traveled the 30 miles to the Caverns and settled ourselves into the Bat Flight Amphitheater, which is perched above the natural entrance to the caverns. At dusk, bats became trickling out and leaving in larger groups. Not the huge boiling tornado of bats one might hope for, but still an interesting experience. One bat took a low altitude flight through the seated people for a bonus little thrill. Easy to see his furry little bod close up, but mostly the bats are just dark flappy shapes in the sky.
The next morning we came back to tour the Caverns themselves, taking the elevator down 750 feet to the main chamber. It's astonishing, something like 4 football fields in area. Photos don't quite do it justice, and it's certainly a different experience to be in it, rather than looking at images of it. It's a natural wonder of the world. Fantastic.
From there we drove back through Carlsbad to Artesia, where we hung a left to take road to Alamogordo, passing through some forest and a picturesque pass through the mountains. I realized after the fact that the blinding white patch we could see in the distance as we came down through the pass was White Sands National Park. First some side trips for a nice pollo adovado at Casa de Sueños outside Tularosa and a few tasty minutes spent at PistachioLand (and its world's largest pistachio). White Sands is also an amazing place, but having seen Carlsbad Caverns that morning, it was a distant second. The gypsum sands feel smooth and cool, and drift into dunes with little ridge patterns. From there on to our hotel in Las Cruces for some well earned beer after a long thirsty day.
Next morning, we swung by the world's largest chile pepper, before turning the car north back to Albuquerque. The exit at Hatch was closed, but we did get a good green chile burger at the Owl Bar & Cafe (that both of us kept calling the Owlbear Cafe) in San Antonio. Also in that area is the Bosque de Apaches Wildlife Refuge, a notable spot for birders, and even we managed to spot some geese and ducks as we drove by.
Then back to the airport and home.
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