March 7, 2024

Captain's Log, Day 61


Yesterday we hopped in the Jeep for a road trip to Santa Fe, NM.  Hwy 14 is a great road to travel, it's the Turquoise Trail highway through the mountainous terrain. This whole area is dotted with galleries of different and unique types. Along the way you will see the results of their craft.



Working in metal seems to be the media used by many artists in the area. They also love to go big as you can see from the pictures. 



 Santa Fe is noted for its downtown plaza with all it craft, jewelry and top end fashions. Anything and everything you want. However the Wildhorse store was closed. This is where I purchased my owl last year. 

Wildhorse
 

The downtown is beautiful with it old building including churches. Most days you will see native jewelry being sold along the square. 


Check out the sign.
  

Diane bartering on the plaza.


Native vendors along entire street.

On the way home from Santa Fe we stopped in Cerrillos to get lunch at the Black Bird Saloon, however, it was closed until mid March. We have run into this many time in the past week as many businesses are not opening until mid March or April. 

Two bar town in Cerrillos. Many buildings in this old town are run down and or falling down. We are always amazed at the living conditions in these small town.

Black Bird Saloon

From Cerrillos we headed into Madrid which dates back to the 1800's when they discovered coal. Because of the geology of the area, hard and soft coal were mined to a depth of 2500 feet. Soft and hard coal is only found in two mines in the world. The town eventually became a ghost town until the early 1970 when artist and craftspeople arrived. There is an original soda fountain and tavern in town. We had lunch at the soda fountain. 

In addition there is the Maggie's Diner that was used in the movie Wild Hogs. Today it is a store selling movie memorabilia and T-shirts.

 

In addition to theses stools all the booths are still in the diner.



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