Weather was beautiful in the morning. The sun was shining and it was in the low 50s. By the times we hit the road it was in the 70s. Albuquerque was only about and hour and a half away, however, we opted to take the scenic route called the Turquoise Trail. This byway added quite some time on because there are places to stop along the way.
Some history on the Turquoise Trail:
It encompasses 15000 square miles.
It links Albuquerque and Santa Fe.
The highest peak is Sandia Crest at 10600 ft.
The name comes from the blue-green turquoise first mined by the early Pueblo people.
Francisco Coronado was the first of many explorers to the area.
The trail stretches 65 miles and includes towns such as Sandia Park, Golden,Madrid and Cerrillos. Originally it consisted of two smaller towns called El Real de San Franciscoand Puerto. Along the way are homes, ranches, galleries and shops, a golf course/ ski resort, lodging and a horseback riding trail.
The trail was designated an American Scenic Byway in 2000.
A major gold rush occurred in 1825. Cerrillos was ceovetedlong before that for it's turquoise and lead ores used for glazing pottery.
Golden grew in popularity in the early-mid 1800s for it's placer gold deposits, hence its name.
Madrid was mined by squatters in the early 1800s and later became a company owned coal mining town.when the coal market collapsed, Madrid became a ghost town. In 1954, the whole town was for sale for $250,000! In the 1960s and 70s, artists, crafts people, and renegades rediscovered Madrid and helped it to become what it is today.
In the 1920s, Madrid was best known for its annual Christmas lighting display. New Mexican families came for miles and TWA diverted nighttime flights for their passengers to view the display.
The newest tidbit....it was the setting for parts of the movie Wild Hogs.
Madrid was the ticket and it boasted some neat shops. Our favorite was Chumani Gallery. The owner Todd could not do enough for us. He was definitely one of the best shopkeepers we've met along the way. Rianna was also very nice. She owns Trading Bird Gsllery.
Nick had lunch at The Hollar which was highly recommended by several locals. He said the hamburger and fries were done to perfection.
We enjoyed the rest of the ride and savored the sights of pinon, junipers, and mountain mahogany trees.
We got to American RV park early, and decided to spend the afternoon poolside. We had the pool to ourselves which was wonderful. This campground was one of the nicest we've been to.
They serve a continental breakfast daily, the sites were spacious, and the pool and hot tub were clean.
I spent the afternoon in the pool. After dinner we relaxed and looked forward to our trip into Albuquerque the next day.
No comments:
Post a Comment