Albuquerque, NM

We arrived in Albuquerque from Amarillo, Tx on Thursday, April 18th. We haven't been able to update the blog because the internet was bad at the Enchanted Trails campground we have been staying at. Even though we had good cell phone reception, tethering the computer to the phone proved to be slow also.

New Mexico, Land of Enchantment

On Saturday we decided to take a LONG drive on the turquoise trail drive and continue to the loop through Los Alamos and back to Albuquerque. Over 200 miles!

While in Amarillo, if you remember we went to the Alibates flint quarry. We hiked the tour with another couple. Jay Wilson who was from Canada told us his step sister Carla had a 'weird' museum on the turquoise trail by the name of 'Tinkertown'. 

We of course had to stop and see Carla and Tinkertown!

Tinkertown

Carla was excited when we told her that her stepbrother had told us about Tinkertown, so she gave us a discount to the museum. The discount excited me! Lol!

The museum is interesting and worth seeing if you are in the area. It is filled with models of strange characters  some of them are animated and play music like this diorama. These were hand carved by Carla's husband who has since passed.

Diorama

Others had just two or three characters that were animated.

Diorama 2

There was also a lot of Circus memorabilia. This display had the tallest man in the world at the time at 8'4'' pants and shoes on display.

The Big and Tall Rack!

There were many collections from Flat Irons, to Wedding Cake toppers to these swords!

Sword Collection

As I said it was a weird and strange collection but worth seeing!

We then continued on towards Santa Fe, NM. We didn't really have much time in Santa Fe but we did stop and have a picnic lunch and enjoyed the view.

Santa Fe

We continued on towards Los alamos. It looked like it was raining the way we were going!

Towards Los Alamos

We did not realize that Los Alamos was so high in the mountains. The views were spectacular as we headed up towards Los Alamos.

On the way to Los Alamos

This is the town of Los Alamos.

Los Alamos

We were planning on continuing to highway 4 which would take us to the Jerez Indian Ruins and finally finish the loop to Albuquerque. I was following the GPS when I came upon a road block with a dozen security booths blocking the road. Patty noticed that one of the booths was being manned so we drove up to it.

It turns out the the Los Alamos National Laboratory is on this road! This is where the Manhattan Project was researched and developed to create the first atomic bomb.

We had to show ID and state we were U.S. citizens to drive on the road to complete the loop. 

As we were sitting in the truck talking to the officer, and although it was about 50 degrees out, it started snowing on us. Weird!!! Well after a few jokes by the officer that we seemed totally lost he cleared us to continue by the labs!

Los Alamos National Labratory

We continued to climb and actually achieved 9000 feet in elevation.

9047 feet

Highway 4 almost looks like Oregon or Washington. It is totally different then the other side of the mountain.

Jemez Byway

We arrived at the Jemez State Monument.

Jemez State Monument

The Monument consists of the 14th century stone ruins of Gisewa Pueblo, and the 17th century San José de los Jemez Mission Church. The Jemez People once occupied Gisewa Pueblo and many other Pueblos in this area.

The people of the Jemez Pueblo manage the monument and charge $3.00 a person to view it. There is a small museum in the building. They 'loan' you a booklet that has numbered sites in it to explain what each area of the ruins were. You walk the path and follow the numbers on the walkway and read the booklet.

Jemez Ruins

The booklet was well laid out to follow the path. A lot of information about the pueblo life.

Ruins

Spanish Franciscan missionaries built the San José de los Jemez Mission Church between 1621 and 1625.

Church

You could walk into the church ruins.

Inside the church

Here is the belltower for the church.

Chruch Belltower

These rooms may have been were the priests lived.

Rooms

We just like how the sun made a prism through the window on this wall. Pretty cool.

Window

These doorways and windows made a nice picture!

Doorways

Back at the bottom looking up at the ruins. This was really worth going to! Well preserved and great history.

Jemez Ruins trail

We continued on highway 4 to the 25 and on to Albuquerque. We did put on a lot of miles but the scenery was really beautiful so the drive and sites was worth it!

That's it for now,

Love you all,

God Bless,

Brian and Patty