I can't believe we have been on our "adventure" 100 days! And what an adventure it has been...amazing!
We started off today driving the Turquoise Trail to Santa Fe, named for ancient turquoise mines in the area. Missionaries, Confederate soldiers, and outlaws once roamed the area, and Native people were mining for turquoise long before Europeans arrived. This was also the trail that, in 1863, Kit Carson marched the Navajos on their "Long Walk" to incarceration at Fort Sumner.
It was a dilemma whether to drive the Turquoise Trail to Santa Fe or I-25, since we always spend too much time and have too much fun when we stop to site-see and, after all, our destination was Santa Fe. Well, we did it again! The Turquoise Trail was everything we were told it would be...a beautiful drive with several fun towns to stop at, which we did...after we were pulled for speeding by a Bernalillo County Deputy Sheriff! Anyway, after Glenn fumbled around looking for the right car registration (apparently when I give him the most current one to put in the jeep he hasn't been throwing away the old ones!) we told him we were just enjoying the drive too much and the next thing we knew he gave Glenn his licence and registration back and they were exchanging "war stories" about working in law enforcement! He was super nice...so nice that when I asked him if I could take his picture for our blog he said "yes"! We left about 20-30 minutes later with him telling us to have a good trip and "slow down"! Are we lucky, or what?
By then it is lunch time so we stopped in Madrid and had lunch and browsed the shops. Madrid, in its heyday, was a booming mining town supplying coal for the Santa Fe Railroad and the U.S. Government. When coal use declined, the town became a "ghost town". Then, in the 1970's, artists and craftspeople arrived and converted old company stores and houses into shops and galleries. Also, the filming of the movie "Wild Hogs" in the area was a big "boost" to the town financially. Anyway, it was a fun stop...we had to make ourselves leave and stay focused on our destination...Santa Fe.
A few miles down the road...just one more stop! Cerrillos, another "ghost town" that was once seriously considered for the capitol of New Mexico. Today it is picturesque reminder of the Old West!
What can I say about Santa Fe...yes, we did eventually get there! We love it! We didn't even come close to seeing all we wanted to see or browse the numerous shops and galleries the way we wanted to! We did get to the Palace of the Governors (the nation's oldest continuously occupied public building and where Lew Wallace, governor of New Mexico Territory from 1878 to 1881 wrote Ben Hur), St. Francis Cathedral, San Miguel Church (the oldest Church Structure in the U.S.), the Oldest House (reputed to be the oldest structure in the U.S.), the New Mexico Capitol (we couldn't believe we could just walk around on our own...in SC everyone has to go through security and a scanner...even in county buildings!), and Loretto Chapel (the site of the legendary miraculous staircase). Santa Fe is definitely a town where one needs to plan to stay for at least several days...and really longer! Do we want to return? Absolutely!
What a really great and fun day!!!
Click on the two links below to see todays pictures and captions!
https://picasaweb.google.com/104959812223133937279/September122011AlbuquerqueNM?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCMfatPKI2aDgfw&feat=directlink
https://picasaweb.google.com/104959812223133937279/September122011AlbuquerqueNMGlenn?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCOy8i66Qv-XNUg&feat=directlink
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