My next stop is the historic mining town of Madrid, New Mexico and I'm quite surprised by the huge crowds in town, it's difficult to find a parking spot. It's Sunday and most of the shops are open and I hear music from the Mine Shaft area.
I don't see or hear anything that special about the band, but the outside restaurant and bar area are filled. The band is playing mostly hispanic dance music and there are a couple of interesting dancers.
I mostly wander around taking a few photos as the place has a good collection of weird stuff.
https://www.legendsofamerica.com/nm-madrid/
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| A place to pose for pictures |
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| The Mineshaft Tavern entrance |
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| Old car on display |
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| New old Coal Town Museum and gift shop |
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| The Mad Reffer dispensary |
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| An outside dining area in front of the old steam engine |
As I order food at the Mineshaft tavern, a woman sits down next to me and starts a conversation. I ask her what is happening in the town, what's with the huge crowd today ?
She's a local and tells me that the long time former owner of the Mineshaft has sold the business and the new owner is doing more promotion, improving the mine museum, has opened a dispensary, is expanding the restaurant area and is very proactive. She thinks it's all good, but I'm wondering if all the locals are so happy with this, as the drawing card here has aways been the hippie vibe, which sort of clashes with a money making business venture.
The woman also told me that overnight parking is allowed at a open lot going out of town just before the highway. I drove there and found a large open field with a couple of beat up RV’s and cars there that didn’t look very road worthy. It was very dark and somewhat spooky but no problems.
I’ll be leaving in the morning for Albuquerque, New Mexico.
August 25 - I leave Madrid taking route 15 up a winding uphill road through beautiful open country, but mostly fenced with private property signs and many expensive looking houses. It's beautiful country, rolling hills covered with Pinion Pine and Juniper Trees with distant mountain views.
I make a rest stop along the highway I-25 where I take a photo of a Soaptree Yucca in full bloom and then stop a mile down the road for another photo of huge cloud formation in the distance.
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| Soaptree Yucca |
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| Crazy cloud formation |
The road eventually goes steeply downhill to the old town of Tijeras, NM where I exit to explore. There are a few old adobe structures in bad condition, but the majority of the current town seems all upscale development tracts. I take one photo of an old adobe house, there were others but no place to put over.
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| Looks really old |
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| Nearby was an old windmill that looks operational |
I am approaching Albuquerque when I turn onto a road, original route 66, heading uphill into a forested area. In a few miles I come upon a hiking trailhead and pull in. This is the Tijeras National Forest and it's a trailhead for the Tunnel Canyon Trail. It looks interesting, so off I go. It’s mostly uphill, but not especially steep and it is also a popular biking trail. It eventually reaches a high elevation with a clear view across the valley to the distant mountains. I don't do the entire trail and never did see the tunnel but it was a nice healthy diversion which I needed to clear the cobwebs.
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| That's the view |
My next target is finding a laundry, so I turn around, heading back towards Albuquerque, I stop to do a search and find a very nice, clean Laundromat within a few miles to my surprise. It’s now about 3 PM and I stop at a McDonald’s to work on photos and the blog for an hour.
I then drive to the Nob Hill section in Albuquerque, one of my favorite areas where I make a short visit to a favorite place, Tractor Brewing. Afterwards, I walk around the area, stop for dinner nearby and enjoy the sights.
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| I've always wanted to look here, but its always been closed |
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| Breathe, whatever that means ? |
My overnight stop looks like Cracker Barrel tonight. It’s a bit of a crazy drive to get there through a rough looking part of the city. I especially note lots and lots of Massage Parlors all along the road in poor looking buildings, I’m thinking that these can’t all be legit ? I do a search on line to find that the number of parlors in Albuquerque is extremely high and somewhat out of control.
August 26 - I have breakfast at Cracker Barrel, it’s the right thing to do since they allow you to stay overnight, but I’m getting a little tired of the same ole country drawl music with every meal, time to give it a break maybe ?
I then find my way across town to the National Hispanic Cultural Center which has an impressive group of buildings and activities and an art museum. The current exhibition is of a group of New Mexico artists who were among the earliest generation of Chicana and Chicano activists in the state. They were students at New Mexico Highlands University in Las Vegas, NM in the early 1970’s when Chicano scholar Pedro Rodriguez was the director of Chicano Studies. Much of this art was politically motivated at the time and is still valid today. There were some very interesting art works displayed.
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| This mural covers the entire ceiling of the room with a skylight |
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| The campus is very nice |
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| How this came to be |
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| A sliver of Cadillac as art |
Next stop is in downtown Albuquerque for some real street art on the side of a building.
I then drive to the Rio Grande Nature Center State Park and walk a loop trail partway through the Bosque (forest) to the Rio Grande River. Unfortunately, The Rio Grande river is mostly dry with only a very small stream still flowing. The Bosque is also looking poor, it doesn’t look like they have had much rain here. The Cottonwood Trees that once covered this area are mostly gone now due to the lack of water. In earlier times, the river would periodically flood and the trees would prosper. This no longer occurs with enough regularity to sustain the trees.
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| Mostly dry river bed from this vantage point |
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| A small flow remains |
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| Dry cracked river bed but life still finds a way |
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| Near the visitors center a pond attracts birds, fish and wild life |
I spend the night at Cracker Barrel again, but will skip the usual breakfast in the morning. It’s real close to I-25 which will enable an early start towards Truth or Consequences, New Mexico.
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