TRAVEL: New Mexico Road Trip (Part 3) - Santa Fe up to the Colorado border

Our journey continues where we last left off - in Roswell, New Mexico (the preceding adventures of which you can read here). We started the morning with a breakfast of eggs, toast and fruit before hitting the road again. We drove through the small towns of Santa Rosa and Las Vegas, stopping for coffee before we carried on to Pecos National Monument, a ruined missionary from the 17th century built by Franciscan missionaries for the local people of the Pueblo. We had a lovely, informative walk around the convent and its surrounding grounds before heading off for Santa Fe. 

We'd booked two nights at the Inn on the Alameda, a quaint mix of adobe buildings which happened to host a wine and cheese social hour every evening which was great after not having eaten since breakfast. After dropping our bags, we did a quick self-guided walking tour, checking out the oldest church structure in the USA, the State Capitol Building, the Palace of the Governors and its surrounding Plaza, as well as St Francis' Cathedral, which is beautiful both inside and out. 

We picked what had thus far been my favourite restaurant of the trip for dinner at Harry's Road House, which was a short drive out of the city, but absolutely worth it. The portions were generous and delicious, including my wonderful baked cheese & tomato pasta; and this wasn't even including dessert. I wish I'd had more room for it, but we split a magnificent strawberry & rhubarb tart. 

The next day started with a walk to the Railyard District, where we saw Rail Runner trains heading off from the Santa Fe depot, and were invited inside a old style train carriage that was being redecorated by the 'Keep Santa Fe Beautiful' people, a real honour as I'm sure not even many of the city's residents had seen inside of it. 

After a further wander around downtown, we went back to the hotel to pick up the car and drive to one of my recommendations for the trip - Meow Wolf. Honestly, it would be easier to tell you to just go and visit the attraction yourself as it certainly is hard to describe. My best explanation would be to describe it as an immersive art exhibit with a narrative which you could choose to follow, or just check out the fascinating rooms you could wander in and out of. You started off in a house, then making your way into alternate dimensions through secret passages and tunnels to the most amazing places. I hope some of my photos can do it justice! 

Lunch was at the nearby Capitol Coffee before a 45 minute drive back up to Los Alamos, which we'd passed through a few days before, but not really seen. This town was birthplace of the atomic bomb, and so we did a walking tour to see what the town was like before this occurrence and during its era of secrecy whilst all the lab work was being done. Even more than the atomic era, I enjoyed reading about the towns role in the Homestead Act, and take pleasure in walking around on the warm Spring evening. 

We headed back to the city for dinner at The Ranch House on the outskirts of town. Unfortunately for me, they had both spinach artichoke dip and mac & cheese (my two favourite dishes on the menu), so of course I had to go for both! Service was speedy, which was a pleasant change from some of the slower service we'd experienced over previous nights. 

The following morning we hit the road early and drove upstate, stopping off at various National Monuments along the way. The first of these was Fort Union, a fort used by the Union army during the Civil War to protect the land from various tribes and then the Confederate Army in later years. The adobe buildings were mostly almost all ruined, but you got a sense of the scale of the fort, and it's remoteness in New Mexico's vast plains. 

We carried on to Capulin Volcano, a dormant volcano which was now covered in shrub thanks to the fertile soils resulting from the volcanic ash. We were able to drive up to the top and then take a walk around the rim of the volcano. Up here it was extremely windy, in some of the highest gales I'd ever experienced, which caused the trees around the crater to shudder and pushed me from side to side. We read as well that this was a hotspot for lightning - somewhere I definitely wouldn't want to be when it struck! From here we could gaze across the mostly flat landscape, with the exception of volcanic forms here and there, like the smaller Baby Capulin. 

We took a brief pit stop at Enchanted Coffee in Raton, a small joint full of plenty of regulars who chatted amiably with the waiting staff, and then it was time for our New Mexican adventures to end as we crossed the border back into Colorado to continue the final section of our road trip (which you can read about here)!

Tips for visiting New Mexico: Travel far and wide - New Mexico is a huge state, and if you only see Albuquerque or Santa Fe, you'll only have scratched the surface. Road tripping is a great way to pass through towns visitors rarely ever go through, and I'm sure you'll give locals a highlight when they get someone from far away visiting their shop or cafe! Secondly, layer up, particularly if you're visiting around Springtime. As you head South, the weather gets warmer, so it's worth having light layers that you can easily take on and off, especially as it gets pretty cold at night!