On the Mother Road, New Mexico (east of Albuquerque)

From Amarillo, TX, we set our GPS to take us to Santa Fe, NM, on the old RTE 66; but we first we stopped to take a look at Tucumcari, NM.

One of the best places to see a time capsule of RTE 66 Americana is Tucumcari, New Mexico. EVERYTHING has remained the same for decades.

No ATM’s, Starbucks or Chipotles to be found here – only curio shops, diners, motels and gas stations frozen in time.

The Blue Swallow Motel is one of the few hotels on RTE 66 that has never closed, even during the most severe economic downturns.

We admired the mid-century lawn chairs . . .

. . . and vintage cars.  The colors pop next to the surreal blue sky of New Mexico.

The garage of the Blue Swallow showcases Easy Rider. Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper & Jack Nicholson rev up their choppers.

Another mid-century hotel, the Route 66 Motel, has modernistic, Jetson-like outdoor seating . . .

. . . and an airplane running through an espresso bar?  Onward to Santa Fe.  As the famous yodeler Jimmie Rodgers sang:

• A hundred miles from Tucumcari
• Down to Santa Fe . . .
• Gee I’m happy today . . .
• Found my honeycomb, found my honeycomb
• I’ve forgotten Tucumari
• No more reason to roam.

We traveled through Apache country, which was once treacherous territory even for trapper, frontiersman Kit Carson, who eventually settled in NM.  We took the old Santa Fe Trail into Santa Fe.

Santa Fe was officially on RTE 66 until 1937, when the road was routed to the south to avoid dealing with both the high altitude (+7,000 feet) and more severe winter weather. It was unseasonably cold here, so we bundled up.

Sante Fe is the oldest and highest state capital in the US and the country’s second oldest city.  Founded in 1610, the city has preserved its original adobe structures. The Planning Commission makes sure that all new buildings downtown follow this architectural style.

The town has had quite a history!  Desparado Billy the Kid was jailed here and then shot to death after an escape attempt.

We ate dinner at The Shed, one of most popular restaurants in town,  It is known for making the best red and green chili on the planet.  On Wednesday evening we had to wait about an hour to get in.  It looks empty, but because of the cold (in the low forties) people waiting for a table were all packed in like cattle in a boxcar.

We ordered the famous green chili chicken enchiladas, made with fresh hatch chilis.  We drank a ton of water to put out the fire.  Boy, was it hot, but also delicious.

Santa Fe is really proud of its chili peppers.  They hang all over the place.

The downtown buildings are arranged around a historic plaza. The city, an art colony, has an amazing number of galleries and southwestern jewelry and craft shops.  We have never seen so many turquoise pieces and geodes for sale.

At one end of the plaza stands the majestic St. Francis Cathedral.

No trip to Santa Fe is complete without a visit to the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum. An American modernist with a distinctive style, she was the first woman to have an exhibition at MOMA in NYC.

The lover and eventual wife of photographer Alfred Stieglitz, O’Keeffe lived in New York, but visited New Mexico every year to capture the stark beauty of New Mexico on canvas.  Each vacation became longer and longer until, after the death of Stieglitz, she moved here permanently.

Because Stieglitz photographed her so frequently in the nude, art critics interpreted her paintings as being representative of her sexuality.

This critique mortified her, but you have to admit that her paintings have many sensual curves, and some even look . . . well . . . gynecological.

At her estate, Ghost Ranch, she used to collect skulls from the desert and then draw and paint them.

She was truly a free spirit, who refused to follow the norms of her era – both in her art and in her life.  She lived a full, fruitful 99 years.

We also visited Museum Hill, which houses many Southwest museums. Outside is a colorful sculpture garden.  Above is a statue of an Apache spirit dancer.

Jill, mugging in front of the Museum of Indian Arts & Culture

A statue called “Morning Prayer”

We toured the colorful International Museum of Folk Art @ Museum Hill, . . .

. . . full of masks from Guatemala . . .

. . .  and Mexico.  Why are the Guatemalan masks so much smaller than the Mexican ones?  Do people in Central America have small heads?

Many dioramas from all over the world fill the museum.  The one above is a Mexican village full of vibrant trees of life.

Folk art celebrating the Day of the Dead is abundant. The museum also has an exhibit on the history of Flamenco, quite popular in this area once called “New Spain.”   Many people from Spain settled here, so when locals say they are Spanish, they mean their ancestors came from Spain, not Mexico or Central or South America.

After having almost perfect weather throughout our trip, we awoke to snow falling in Santa Fe.