Last two days have been in New Mexico and it is establishing itself as one of my favourite states. Amazing scenery and colours, and as a result, loads of little artist communities, as well as the native american heritage which is still very prevalent. Having said that, we started yesterday in Grants, which is a complete dump. Lots of derelict buildings, drunks lying on the streets, but then the most amazing little museum with a recreated mine. Great, and they foolishly left us unattended.
After checking out Alberquerque, another neat New Mexican town in the style of Santa Fe, we spent most of the day in and around the Sandia Mountains. We hiked up to 10,668 feet for some amazing views at the Sandia Crest. And after returning to the car at 10,663 feet, it was a lovely drive back down the mountain.
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| 10668 ft |
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| snowball |
Having had a few beers last night at a marvellous microbrewery pub just outside Santa Fe, we made the last minute decision this morning to take a significant side trip away from route 66 to visit Taos, somewhere Dad's always wanted to visit. Apparently Julia Roberts lives there. A big fan of her work, judging by how much he went on about it. So today we've seen a traditional indian pueblo, which has been continuously populated for over 1000 years. Is that impressive? I'm pretty sure that's less than Hemingford Grey, and I didn't see them boasting about it in their Parish Plan. But nonetheless, it was a wonderful little village to stroll around and lovely shopping. I'm particularly excited about the tomahawk I bought as a gift for Lea. And we continued further into the mountains for some great mexican food. And Dad thinks he saw Julia Robert's house. And we also saw the most photographed church in the US, which normally wouldn't be that exciting, except that when a coachload of tourists filed out and lined up to take pics, this scruffy dude rolled up dropped his transport off, and walked in.
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| Brilliant |
So a good day all round. Tonight we make it to another of our booked accommodation stops, the Blue Swallow Motel in Tucamari.
Love the mining pics.
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