Thursday, August 10, 2000
On our way back South on I-25, we did drive through a pueblo. It was really interesting to see a little of the culture in that area. We didn't stay long, though, before we were off for our final destination for the day. We made it to Albuquerque by mid afternoon and checked into the El Vado Motel, one that came highly recommended and we could easily see why. With a brightly colorful neon sign and pueblo style, it was a perfect Rt 66/Wood Family place to stay. The room was even charming with a separate bedroom for Vienna. She was thrilled with that. We had plenty of time, so we went to the Aquarium/Botanical Garden, which was right across the street from the motel.
We ate dinner at the famous Route 66 diner. It's a new diner but really cool. Decorated with all kinds of '50's stuff, jukebox, booths, the whole bit. They had a great fritos pie (that's a bowl of fritos with chili and shredded cheddar on top, delicious!). I have got to make that at home, soon. Great shakes and rootbeer floats, too. The place is beautiful at night, too with lots of neon. For a Retro place, it really works.
After dinner, Andy and I took off to photograph all the great motels along the Rt. 66 main drag. We found about a dozen great motels with awesome signs but not all of them were lit up at night. We took the ones we could and saved the others for morning. We have really added a lot of motels to our photo collection. To see all these great additions, make sure to check out Motel Americana.
Nobody ever told us that Santa Fe was so beautiful! That was the first thing we learned after leaving Tucumcari. We detoured off the I-40 track to follow 66 north through Santa Fe then back down to Albuquerque. But Santa Fe was the real treat. We didn't get a lot of time to spend there but I was very impressed. With small, cozy streets, a charming plaza with a fiesta going on and buildings all in the Pueblo revival style, it felt like we had stepped into a Mexican Indian storybook. Even the State Capital building was the deep brown and boxed shape of an ancient pueblo home. I was really amazed by the beauty of it. We did have time to stop by the Information Center to get info on a nearby Pueblo and things to do in Albuquerque.
Vienna really enjoyed this and Andy and I liked it, too. The aquarium was small but it had some really neat animals- my favorite was the sea dragon. The sea dragon looks like a sea horse only with stems and leaves growing off of it. I had never seen one before and it was really beautiful. The gardens were also lovely. They even had a butterfly garden with lots of butterflies and even a display of cocoons hatching into butterflies. It was neat.
