Given
that we had credit at the resort to use, we decided to eat at the hotel's Corn
Market restaurant, where I had a very pleasant green chile corn chowder and
black bean burger. Admittedly, without the credit we probably wouldn't have
eaten there given the prices, and I'm sure there are plenty of lovely places to
eat around Albuquerque too.
After
a yummy breakfast the next morning (French toast with prickly pear for me, an
extensive buffet for the other members of my party), we made the short trip to
Petroglyph National Monument, where at the Visitors Centre it was revealed that
the Monument extends across various parts of the city, so we hopped back in the
car to part of the Monument with the highest proportion of petroglyphs.
A
one hour walk around the sandy paths meant we passed by hundreds of petroglyphs
carved into the rock, ranging from lizards, hand prints and human figures to
indecipherable geometric shapes, the meanings of which have been lost to time.
We
next headed into Albuquerque's Old Town, which just so happened to be
celebrating their Founders Day, meaning that we were treated to live music,
dancing and shows as we walked around. We did a short walking tour of the town
which took us through arty mini-districts and past some of the city's museums.
It
being lunchtime, we went in search of food, ending up at the number 1 eatery in
Albuquerque, the Golden Crown Panderia. This bakery is famous for their huge
sandwiches and pastries, both of which we tried, including fruity empanadas and
free cookies which they hand out to every patron.
We
next headed to Sandia Peak, which involved a relatively long drive as the
'tramway' (ie cable car) up to the peak was closed for maintenance during our
visit. From the top, we got a lovely, albeit windy, view which on a clear day
you would be able to see for over 100 miles. Nevertheless, it was still pretty
warm, although snow still lay on the ground.
Back
at a lower elevation, we chose the scenic Turquoise Road home via the
delightful town of Madrid, with its colourful mailboxes and quaint houses, with
live music from the local tavern drifting out across the town. As we headed
back to the hotel, we stopped off at The Freighthouse for a dinner of ribs and
mac & cheese before another quiet and peaceful night at the resort.
The
next day started with a long drive way off the map to the Very Large Array (the
VLA), a series of 28 huge satellites which chart data from across the universe.
Admission included a self guided walking tour of the facility across some of
the windiest plains I've ever walked across. It was very interesting to see
this strange environment as well as learn what these vast structures are used
for. The VLA doesn't even shut down for movie filmings, charting data 24/7, 365 days a
year.
It
took an hour to get back to some form of civilisation, and 3 and a half hours
to get to the next point of interest. These are distances unfathomable to us UK
dwellers, where you wouldn't be able to go more than a few tens of miles
without coming across a town or at least a village.
Eventually
we arrived at White Sands National Monument, which was similar to the Great
Sand Dunes National Monument we'd visited in Colorado, with the key difference
being the colour of the sand. Again, this was something you would never imagine
to find in the middle of the States, with vast dunes stretching for miles and
hiding any signs of interstate or buildings. There was the option to walk along
the dunes, but the 32'C temperatures and strong winds put us off. Heavens knows
how unbearable it would be in midsummer!
We
headed about 20 minutes back to the nearest town of Almagodoro, if you can even
call it a town. We concluded that the town had sprung up around the nearby
military base with a long strip of fast food chains and not much else. We
checked into the Holiday Inn Express before heading out to one of the few non
chain restaurants, Can't Stop Smokin' BBQ, for a decent barbecue dinner before
it closed, which most places in this town did pretty early on a Sunday evening.
We
had a particularly early start the next day for one of the longest drives of
our road trip, this time to Carlsbad Caverns (which I still think sounds
German) which would be the furthest South we'd be going on this journey. We
split the drive with a pit stop at Jahva Coffee in the small town of Artesia,
which turned out to be a particularly religious coffee shops, with numerous
crosses adorning the walls.
After
around 3 hours of driving, we arrived in the town of Carlsbad itself, where we
had considered staying overnight but decided against due to the cost of staying
in this oil-mining town. A short drive further took us to the Caverns, and then
the excitement began. We started walking down a path that took us nearly a mile
beneath the surface.
The
deeper we descended, the darker it became and we soon lost all sign of
daylight. The cavern contained hundreds of speleothems everywhere you looked, a
thoroughly fascinating experience, particularly given the scale of the cavern.
Even when we'd reached the bottom, there was an additional mile and a half walk
around the 'Big Room' which contained some amazing natural structures.
Unfortunately
for us, the elevator, which usually takes visitors back up to the Visitor
Centre, was broken, and so we had to retrace our steps all the way up back up
the entrance route, which was certainly tougher than going down! As we emerged,
a flock of swallows swooped in and out of the cave, providing a deep contrast
from the stillness of the caves below.
To
build up our energy, we made a stop at Sonic 'America's Drive-in' where you
pull up in booths, make your order, and then a carhop brings your food to you.
I chose a delicious Oreo Peanut Butter shake to keep me going. Our destination
for the night was the Holiday Inn in Roswell, a town made famous for a supposed
UFO crash decades ago, although the legacy remains. Many of the shops had
little green men standing outside, and even the lampposts had alien eyes on
them. We took dinner at Cerrito's Mexican Restaurant which seemed fairly
authentic, and definitely spiced up our evening! Next stop: Santa Fe!
No comments:
Post a Comment