Saturday we went back to the Plaza area. Sunday we drove the Turquoise Trail. I'll begin with yesterday's adventure first.
The other evening in the office, 1 of the workers gave us a few ideas for a day trip. She marked a map for us, outlining the things to see and do along the way. It sounded like stuff we'd like to see, so off we went early Sunday afternoon.
Turquoise trail landscape
The trail is route 14, which is about 300 yards from the campground. The first stop, Cerrillos, was less than 5 miles down the road. The film Wild Hogs was filmed in this area. Turning off of 14, there is a large sign that tells of some of the town's businesses. I spotted Mary's Bar as 1 of those places. We park and sought out the restroom sign. It's a porta potty. Someone is in there and they are in there a long time. So off to plan B. Mary's Bar. The bar is unlike anything I've ever seen before. The back half of the bar is furniture covered in plastic. The bar has a slight, unpleasant aroma. It's dark inside and the place needed a good dusting during the Clinton administration. There is a guy at the bar buying some beer to go and he's taking up all of Mary's time. At least I think it was Mary. New Mexico sure loves there septuagenarian barmaids. I think it's the bicep flab that turns them on.
Anyway there isn't a bathroom in the bar. From the looks of the place I think you had a better chance of not catching something by peeing on a cactus. We are told that the trading post next door has a bathroom. I spot a saloon across the way that surely has a functioning toilet. Off we go. Our destination is the Blackbird Saloon. They have a few tables outside and most of them are filled with people eating lunch. Heading inside we are greeted by a nearly packed house of afternoon visitors. There are no seats at the bar, it's stand up only. There is a line at the cash register. The clerk says he'll be with us shortly. Vrai heads towards the back. There's only a single 1 holer back there and they are 3-4 deep. I don't think anyone in Cerrillos is in a hurry. I order a few drinks and they are cheerfully served up.
The menu is this enormous black board behind the bar. I glance up at the offerings. This isn't a burger and fries kind of place. They have some very creative sandwiches and entrees. There's elk and gourmet grilled cheese and a whole bunch of other interesting offerings. We didn't eat there but if we did, I'd have a hard time selecting something. This is the perfect place for everyone to get something different and share a few bites.
Chatting with the barkeep/cashier, I mention how I appreciate the effort that the kitchen went through to make an eclectic menu. He says that the menu changes daily and that his wife is the responsible person in the kitchen. They are only open 4 days a week, Thursday through Sunday. He claims they have enough work on the days that they are closed with cleaning, prep and ordering. They have been serving food for 2 1/2 years so it appears they have a viable restaurant business in the sleepy little town of Cerrillos.
We depart then do a little looking around in the trading post.. They have some jewelry and other higher end items. Attached to the TP is a dance studio. I wonder how many students they have since the town doesn't seem to be very populated. Traveling around I'm often puzzled by some of the shops that little towns have. I wonder how many customers support a niche store. Then when I inquire you find out that those businesses are thriving.
The town had a 2nd trading post and a petting zoo a few blocks away. We mosey over and see a shop with an enormous offering of rocks. It's a cross between an antique shop, trading post/tourist shop, and a museum. There are probably hundreds of old time bottles. They have hundreds of those old glass insulators.
I remember seeing those when I was a kid in the 1960s. They have so many of them that they line the edge of the building's roof. They are all sorts of colors. I don't know what you would do with them other than make some sort of display out of them. Vrai picked up and put down a turquoise hair thingy. I think she's going to go back and buy it before we leave.
The petting zoo was an alpaca, a half dozen goats and a few birds. To call it a zoo was an understatement. The goats flocked to anyone approaching the stall. The alpaca stayed in the shade and could not have cared less about the people offering some food. Then it's back to the car to see more of the trail.
We pass through the town of Madrid. The locals call it MAD RID, instead of pronouncing it MAH DRID. We don't want to look like Okies, so it's important we call things by their proper names. Madrid looked very much like the town of Jerome, just south of Flagstaff. It's a shopper's paradise. No shortage of things for sale. They had a few restaurants and watering holes. We just did a windshield tour since there was more stuff to see.
Further along we turned off into the Cibola National Forest. It was a 15 mile drive to the top to a scenic Sandia Crest overlook. I think this road had the most switchback per mile of any road in the US. You never really got a head of steam since there was always a sharp turn to get you further up the mountain. Being it was Sunday, a lot of people were up there. We climbed up to almost 11,000 feet above sea level. We passed a ski resort along the way. Down at the campground at 7,100 feet all the trees are mostly scrubby and short. Driving up the side of the mountain the trees grew taller. They mostly blocked the view while driving up. Every so often the trees would break and we could see down to the valley below. The real treat awaited us at the top where we had mostly unobstructed views all the way to Albuquerque. The end of the road was a mile above ABQ and 2 miles above sea level. It was in the high 50s up there while it was in the mid 70s along route 14.
Albuquerque in the background
Closeup of Albuquerque from a mile up
We took some pictures then headed back down. I had a truck riding my bumper on the way down. First chance I got, I pulled over so he could get around me. And unknown to both of us, further up the road there was a sedan that poking along down the road. This car caused a long pile up of cars. And the car was driving with his trunk open. I could see a cooler in there but the trunk looks like it should have closed. I downshift heading down steep grades, even with an automatic. I could see the cars ahead of me were riding their brakes hard. At 1 curve the truck that was behind me sped up on the wrong side of the road to get past the traffic jam. Good thing nobody was coming up at that time. That wouldn't have ended well.
Finally the slow poke pulled over. I'm not sure why he waited so long since he was severely impeding traffic. We roared ahead and got back onto route 14. Next stop was the music highway. A portion of route 66 in Tijeras, NM plays America the Beautiful when you drive over the painted highway lines. You have to keep your speed at 45 MPH and keep the tire over the line. It's a lot harder than it sounds. We managed to find the right strip and ran it for a while. I guess my tires veered a bit because it stopped then it started again. I tip my hat to any driver that can keep their car on the white line for the entire song. Here's someone else's video of that experience.
