Kings adventures: The Turquoise Trail National Scenic Byway

The Turquoise Trail links Santa Fe with Albuquerque. It is about 50 miles along Highway 14 and goes through historic mining towns and gently rolling foothills giving a sense of the old West. The guides all said to stop at the San Marcos Cafe and Feedstore for breakfast or lunch but we had already breakfasted and it was too early for lunch and, anyway, we didn't find it until the return journey and then it was too early for evening meal. So we did not see the menagerie of peacocks, turkeys and exotic chickens. Shame!

Views en route.

As we drove south we came across an exhibition called Origami in the Garden. Unfortunately it was closed but we got some views of the exhibits from the road.

From what I could see this garden forms part of what is called Little Garden of the Gods. It is set in an area of striking rock formations.

A bit farther on we found some more rocks and this signpost:

Pause for thought or was that wise? But Jim wasn't bothered and continued taking photos.

We stopped off, as instructed, at Cerillos, one of the oldest and most heavily worked of the original Spanish mining areas in the Southwest. At its peak in the 1880s, seemingly, it had 21 saloons and 4 hotels serving the men who came to mine turquoise and lead. Today it has a church, a post offuce, a Trading Post with Turquoise mining museum and a petting zoo (it stinks believe me!) At the perimeter of the Trading Post there is a sign saying scenic view. I think we were supposed to see a river but, like all 'rivers' we have seen to date there is no water only a dry, sandy riverbed

We continued along the Turquoise Trail until we came to Madrid (Maadreed with emphasis on first syllable I think ). This is the town where mining for hard and soft coal began around 1835. The town now has shops, galleries and cafes. It was coffee time so the No Pity Cafe appealed to us. It's also called Mama Lisa's Cafe. There we had coffee and delicious oatmeal cookies with fruit, nuts and chovolate chips. The all day breakfast menu looked inviting as did the lunch dishes.

A quick trip round the 'town' and I found a shop called Color and Light Art where the work was beautiful and where I was tempted to buy 3 things but .... Jim was looking.

We continued on the Turquoise Trail and wound our way up to the top of the Sandia Mountains Crest from where there were spectacular views but a camera like ours doesn't do them justice. On our return from the crest we had to visit Tinkertown Museum, a fok art museum created over 40 years ago by a man called Ross Ward. It showcases miniature wood-carved figures, a miniature animated 1880s western town and a three ring circus. The construction makes use of various recycled materials. Unfortunately Ross Ward got alzheimers at the early age of 57 and he died in 2002. Tinkertown is a really quirky place wbich displays the creative talent and patience of Ross Ward.

We took the same route back - secretly I was hoping to return to do some purchasing at Color and Light. However, events overtook me and it went right out of my head There was 'music' at a cafe just across from the Mining Museum and, dissonate as it was, somehow we found ourselves seated and ordering a very late lunch having picked my way across several and many canines who were in after prandial slumber.

This is why!

The lunch took a long time to arrive and we were forced to listen to the most awful music. Fronting the group was a young woman in her 20s or early 30s, playing a guitar. She could sing ok. Providing the "harmony" were 2 others, one young and the other not so young but very drunk. She could not sing in my opinion and was consistently off key. A woman in her late 50s, or even older, was flamboyantly playing a violin and 2 men with long-ashed cigarettes hanging from their mouths through which they periodically emitted a yee haw.

I tried very hard to look as if I was enjoying myself but my face would not obey. After one song there was a faint ripple of applause and the violinist ( for want of a better word ) loudly proclaimed " Wasn't that awesome! ) It was indeed!

We had parked across the road at the coal museum where there was also a restaurant with music that was at least in tune. We parked near this horse.

Shortly after our meal arrived we saw the horse owner mount his horse and, flanked by his 2 dogs, amble down the street. Jim said he had seen him riding into town as we had been having coffee. So he had spent a number of hours in the saloon and the horse knew its way home.