On Friday, May 29, 2009, our group piled into our rented van and trekked off to Madrid, NM. This is an artist colony in the mountains southeast of Santa Fe about 20 miles. No signal lights or stop signs in this little town.
A 2 lane highway goes through the middle of town and each side is lined with shops, restaurants, one bar, a mine museum and homes. This is the town where Wild Hogs with John Travolta was shot and it looks the same after that event as it did before.
It was a beautiful sunny day. On our drive to Madrid there were a number of opportunities to stop and take pictures of the rugged rocks and items of interest in the desert. As you can see, Madrid offered a number of picture opportunities as well.
Gene & I visited here in January and there were few people as it was a chilly Saturday and not many people out. Friday was much busier, however, there was no pushing and shoving. No loud crowds. No hurry. And above all no cell phone service. What a treat. Our group would split up, meet up again and just move from shop to shop or photo opportunity each pursuing their interests. At lunch we met up at the one bar & restaurant. At our leisure, we ate, drank and visited.
Now we had had the opportunity to do the same in Santa Fe, but this was different. There was not a line waiting to be seated so we could linger as long as we wanted. What a great time we had. We compared photos, passing around our cameras and discussing the different things that each had chosen to photograph.
After lunch, we hit a few more shops then off we went back to Santa Fe. However, on the trip to Madrid, Gene had spotted a sign for the historic town of Cerrillos. We had seen the steeple of this church from the highway and thought we should investigate.
One of our friends photographs old gates and doors so there were several treats for him in this small town. Now remember I mentioned that there were no signal lights or stop signs. This tiny little place there were 5 or 6 stops signs for their dirt roads. Downtown was about 8 buildings and this church. We all thought this was a hoot.
We dropped our friends off at their condo, said our goodbyes as we were leaving on Saturday morning and returned to our hotel. My mind was so rested. What a great feeling.
By the fourth day we were a little tired of New Mexican food. So I got on the internet and searched out placed I didn’t know in Santa Fe for dinner. I found Harry’s Roadhouse. It had some great reviews, and was located in the far Northeast part of town away from the tourist areas. Off we went with Garmin to find our dinner. Wow the parking lot was packed and there was a number of couples and groups waiting. This tells you it must be good.
The menu is very eclectic. Mediterranean, Moroccan, New Mexican, Italian and American items were on the menu. Gene took on a pasta dish with a Vodka marina cream sauce and Italian sausage. I ordered the salmon tacos. I know I said I was tired of New Mexican food, but somehow fish tacos made with good grilled fish cannot be passed up. Gene’s Caesar salad had a very pungent dressing that he didn’t care for, but the pasta dish more than made up for it. My salmon tacos were wonderful. Harry’s is a great local place, very, very casual. What a wonderful way to spend an evening with my favorite person. This was truly a day that defines The Glamour of the Road that I enjoy so much.
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