ROUTE 66, STAGE 7: TUCUMCARI - ALBUQUERQUE

The idea for today was forget for a moment about Route 66 and learn a little more about the state of New Mexico and its unique history. So about halfway to Albuquerque we turn right to visit Santa Fe. But first, if you are interested in a dive in a picturesque place, write on your map the Blue Hole of Santa Rosa. Of course, admission is not free ($ 8). We pass by. Before arriving in Santa Rosa we saw in our own I40 a museum of old cars. We also did not go but if you like this topic, you know it!

The road that goes up to Santa Fe is worth the detour. Long straight up and down the moors of the desert lands of New Mexico, with no more apparent life than a dispersed cow suffering from the heat of the sun on its back. It's pretty (the first miles! Then it gets a bit monotonous).

And almost without realizing it appears the town of Santa Fe, with its low adobe houses, its blue windows, its alleys full of galleries and bazaars, its arcades supported with wooden logs, its peppers hung from the wooden beams of the courtyards, its bones of cattle heads ... The village is Super interesting!

The recommended visits are, in addition to approaching the Visitor Center and let you inform by Kassandra, a very nice aunt (here there is also free parking!), go directly to the San Miguel's Church ($ 1), the oldest in the US built over 800 years ago, next to the oldest house, which now actually has a souvenir shop inside, the Loretto Chapel (3 $) with its spiral staircase, the San Francisco Cathedral (free) and the Square, around which the small houses and alleyways of the town are distributed. If you have time, take a walk around other areas and discover authentic neighborhoods.

In one of the corners of the Plaza starts a local craft market, under the arcades of the street, where people with Native American blood sell their jewelry and souvenirs. They are not quite cheap, but there are really cool things!

Santa Fe, besides hosting lots of art Galeries, It has a museum, like the O'Keeffe (more information), where there is a huge amount of works by this artist, one of the most famous in New Mexico, known as "the mother of American Modernism." Admission is $ 13.

Kassandra recommended us to do some Visit around Santa Fe: up to Spanish and Taos (although they are too far away), to know the Bandelier Caves going through first Poplars, or reach Cochiti Pueblo and discover its national park Kasha-Katuwe, or better known as Tent Rocks.

The Los Alamos history It is somewhat peculiar. This quiet town in New Mexico was chosen as the perfect place to carry out one of the most secret and important plans in the history of the American army: the "Manhattan Project." So far they moved a group of the best scientists to create, neither more nor less, than the first atomic bomb, back in 1943. Today you can visit a museum that reviews this history and exposes some objects related to nuclear war, such as the bombs that fell in Palomares (Almería) and other artifacts.

But we had to decide for one place and finally we went to the Tent Rocks, We already want to visit a national park! And it did not disappoint us at all! The erosion of thousands of years has caused the mountainside to be modeled in capricious ways, in the form of tents or witch hats!

Admission to the park costs $ 5 per vehicle, although if you have the annual America the Beautiful pass you can enter. We take the opportunity to get it there, it costs $ 80 per vehicle and is paid in cash.

The tour is simple, you have to continue for a few miles after passing the security check and you arrive at a parking lot. From there there is a loop walk 1.2 miles, it is best to do it counterclockwise, to get closer and closer to the rocks. Halfway there is a detour to the right where another 1-mile route begins that seems to be more complicated (it seems that you have to climb rocks), is round trip, so then you will reach that same point and continue The first route. It's simple, but it can hit pretty hot so be careful! We take about 40 minutes with photo stops.

Close access at 4 in low season and at 6 in high season.

The town of Cochiti It has nothing, we went to see the lake, but without news of it. So we set course for Albuquerque, the city of Walter White, where we will spend my birthday with a free super breakfast and touring the Breaking Bad locations! Post coming!