Travels with Twinkles

June 6-10, 2023:

Magdalena - Socorro - Albuquerque, NM

I"m on route 25 heading towards Socorro when I take a detour heading north on route 60 to Magdalena, NM. I’t a nice ride across scenic cattle ranch country with mountain in the distance. Magdalena is another glory days mining town with a quaint downtown area. The railroad tracks were removed years ago, but the old rail station remains, turned into a library and small museum. Not much to see or do here these days.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magdalena,_New_Mexico

The name on the store caught my attention

The Saloon and restaurant looks nice but all the locals were going across the street

A few miles away however (difficult to find directions) is the old town of Kelly which was the mining district. You can drive there fairly easily to an old church building that's about all that remains of the town. You can park at the church parking lot and then It’s a 1/4 -1/2 mile walk to the old mining area, I wouldn’t recommend driving further without a serious 4WD vehicle. I’m kind of surprised this mine area is not gated closed, it is a somewhat dangerous area to roam around in and there are virtually no warning signs. The large steel mine headstock remains and under you will find an open mine shaft, the protective wire fencing ineffective. Almost all of the other original mining equipment has been removed except for the mounting timbers and foundations. All the good stuff has been picked, you are not going to find any treasures these days without digging, but it’s still fun to explore and fantasize over what was once there.

One old wall still standing

Amazing that this has been left

The condition is not that bad

A large bird, Hawk perhaps, has a nest at the top

That shaft appears appears to drop straight down

Next, driving back to Socorro and going directly to the old central square area, my favorite part of town because of these great historic signs. Several of the businesses remain closed, it doesn’t look as good as I remember, but the restored Capital Bar is open although it appears to have changed somewhat, due to new ownership. Another favorite building, the historic old Opera House remains unchanged, it’s a remarkable building but why the horrible republican campaign headquarters on the buildings front.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socorro,_New_Mexico

The old Opera House with I believe 3 foot thick walls

Nice Owl Cigar sign

A big steer looking at you

Mural depicting Spanish creating the Indians

The mural and sign in front of City Hall

The church has existed for 400 years here, however this is
not the original building

I ride through a couple of the old hispanic villages in the valley area, lots of old adobe houses, some maintained well, other not so much and many small farms. It is lush and green due to many irrigation canals that were built decades ago.

The Spanish culture cares personally for their grave sites, they maintain and decorate
them to extremes. This is a very sad one, with a broken heart stone listing two young
sisters who died, I suspect in a car accident

I continue north on Route 25 to the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge visitors center with excellent information, this is a huge wildlife and wilderness preserve. I end up hiking the 3 mile Mesa View loop Trail that was very scenic, but quite an uphill climb from the visitors center. I was a bit worried about the weather halfway through as massive dark clouds were approaching, but rain never did materialize.

That's the trail straight ahead

The view from the Mesa looking down

A few miles away, also part of the Wildlife Refuge, is the San Lorenzo Canyon area managed by the BLM with sculpted sandstone rock hoodoos, arches and cliffs. The mostly unpaved road is rough in places but eventually ends up in a wide smooth wash for several miles. The wash has a firm surface which was actually smoother than driving on the road. This wash could be a problem however if you get caught in a sudden hard rain, especially a flash flood type of rain. The rock formations and vegetation deep in the canyon are really special and worth the risk.

The Cholla have amazing red blooms

Driving on the smooth wash was interesting

One of the Hoodoos

There was live music on Wednesday evening at the Capital Bar on the square in downtown Socorro with a solo musician, Gilbert Puride who was very good. I think I like this bar although they seem to be trashing it up more with dumb beer sign wall hangings and such. I noticed that there are two other brew pubs opening on the square to give them some competition, regular bars are now out of style, everyone wants a craft brew pub.

I leave the following morning for Albuquerque, NM with a 50 mile detour out of the way to see the Gran Quiver pueblo ruins. This involves exiting Rt 25 at Las Nutrias, then taking Rt. 60 east to Mountainair, then south on Rt 55 to the Gran Gran Quiver ruins. The ruins are huge and many of the walls remain stable athough I am sure some patching and repair has taken place. It is quite amazing how these primitive people collected these rocks and shaped and fitted them together with such precision. It is even more amazing how a Spanish priest just showed up one day and convinced these people to believe in his power and submit to his ways. Once again, history repeats itself, look how a politician with a good line of bullshit can have a major political following in the United States in our sophisticated age ?

https://www.legendsofamerica.com/gran-quivira-new-mexico/

A ceremonial Kiva in the foreground

These foundations were all rooms

An artist rendering of what the site would have looked like

Notice the height and thickness of the walls

There would have been roof rafters in the square holes

Not that different than a modern city

How the medicine man reacted to the people deciding to go along with the priest

Returning to Mountainair, I stop at a folksy diner in town for a late lunch, it's sort of a throwback to the 1950’s, but the town of Mountainair has a cute artsy main street. I was there a couple of years ago visiting the other two ruins that are part of the Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument headquartered in Mountainair.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mountainair,_New_Mexico

Great old Service Station

Across the road is this historic cafe

Mountainair is a railroad town

A very attractive main street

I then drive on Rt 55 north to Tijeras, NM which passes through several quaint old Spanish villages along the way.

This old church was most interesting, check out the hay piles

The old building had beautiful murals on both sides

The road travels through the Cibola National Forest and then steeply downhill to the town of Tijeras where I get on old route 66 which leads directly into Albuquerque’s Central Avenue. Central Avenue is old route 66 and was beautiful back in the post WWII glory days when it was lined with beautiful Hotels and Motels, prominent department stores, Theaters, etc. Today a good portion of Central Avenue is run down, dirty, distressed and lined with homeless people. I continue on Central Avenue to the Nob Hill section which is much improved where I park on a side street. I walk a few blocks and remember much in this area from a previous trip, mostly the murals, street art and graffiti, it hasn’t changed that much I then see the Tractor Bar and go in for some refreshment, as luck would have it there is an interesting crowd and a sole musician playing. The Tractor Bar seems to be a chain business, not a favorite of mine, but they have a cool vibe, I even bought a tee shirt.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albuquerque,_New_Mexico

A great route 66 mural

Mural depicting old rail station that was torn down

A right to vote mural

This one has always been a favorite

A very weird super hero theme here

A Day of the Dead themed mural

I leave the van where it is parked, it appears fine and it’s quiet, no problem, but in the morning the street is clear of all cars, makes me feel a bit vulnerable there, so I quickly move.

After coffee searching the internet for things to do, I end up at a county library fro a few hours to get my photos organized and work on this blog.

I decide to go the the History and Art Museum across town near the Old Town Albuquerque. After the museum, I explore the Old Town area adjacent to the Museum. It is filled with beautiful shops and restaurants, many in old adobe buildings built a century ago. The central square remains which was the way most Spanish towns were plotted and it remains quite original.

I loved this featured exhibit on Danny Lyon, he is now a hero of mine

Everything is bright and colorful

Beauty and Mystery

Many artistic patio's

My next day involves doing laundry in the early morning, followed by a hike on the Embudito trail which was a tough scramble uphill on a confusing trail, lots of branches, following a small creek. It was shaded by dense vegetation, trees and shrubs and many wild flowers but the footing was slippery on the rocks.

The initial sandy portion of the trail was easy

Lots of flowering plants

You then follow a small creek through the valley between the mountains

Into dense greenery in places with lots of rock scrambling

I also explored the lower area of Central Street where the El Rio and the KinoTheaters are located and of course saw many murals and street art. The area shows much decay, very sad, however the KinoTheater is protected and still looks spectacular. I also wander over to the train station which has been improved and the state of New Mexico runs an impressive regional rail service. I was tempted to go for a ride.