SOLO ROADTRIP II: THE TURQUOISE TRAIL & SANTA FE [DAYS 4-5]

the next morning i made my way to santa fe, with a few stops on the turquoise trail, a scenic highway. but before that, i stopped for coffee and got it free as it was national coffee day (i had no idea)! the drive had some old mining towns, and i stopped at a couple. the first was madrid. this was the bigger town i went to (but still quite small). it is cut by the turquoise trail, so don't blink or you will miss it! it has a couple little shops & boutique-like places where you can finds goods & jewelry. madrid has a bit of an artist colony vibe going on. it's a little new age-y.  

madrid, new mexico

after i stopped at cerrillos (known for its greenish turquoise). i found this town more interesting as it had more historical buildings. some of the wooden buildings on the main street are for the late 1800s & early 1900s. unlike madrid, you have to go down a few roads off the turquoise trail to reach town. this was much more of a ghost town, with a few businesses open. the main street had absolutely no tourists, but the trading post (a little further down the road) had some tourists...and a llama!

the trading post

there is also a museum attached, but i did not visit.

i then made my way to santa fe. finding a parking structure was a bitch with all the one way streets and the pedestrians. i ended up finding one and went my way to the palace of governors, where the new mexico history museum is located. the building is also the oldest continuously occupied public building in the united states. it served as new mexico's government seat for centuries; through the reign of spain, mexico, & the united states. honestly the museum was smaller than i thought for being the state's history museum, but i was just excited to see a history museum. my favorite part was learning more about the harvey girls; i am weird & enjoy seeing old railroad stations & harvey buildings during my domestic travels.

palace of governors (c. 1610); spanish-pueblo revival style.

next i went to the new mexico museum of art, which i think is housed in the coolest building i saw in santa fe; to be honest it looks like a southwestern flinstones building. once again the museum was on the smaller side, but was free for me as i had the culture pass. 

new mexico museum of art (c. 1917); pueblo revival style.

i love these colors.

the courtyard is very pretty; like an adobe jungle. also, all over new mexico you will see ristras, strings of chiles hung up outside of buildings to bring good luck/health.

in a little courtyard shop is a sign referring to the meeting place new employees met to start work for the manhattan project. from here they were bussed to los alamos lab to work on the atomic bomb.

cathedral park & the cathedral basilica of st. francis of assisi (19th century)

my favorite find of the day was the oldest house museum, the oldest house in santa fe. it's free & has a cute little gift shop with a nice fellow working the shop. i ended up buying some navajo button earrings. 

215 e. de vargas st. (c. 1646)

inside the oldest house

street art.

i ended up making my way to the motel, and this is when things got a little complicated. i went to a small mom/pop motel and the electronic reader would not lock my room when i left (obviously i could still lock it from the inside). it was not the worst thing that could happen, as i could lock my stuff in the car, but when staying at a motel for 2 nights, it is nice to be able leave your stuff inside and take a break from always packing. i ended up going to the lobby 3 times that night to get it fixed. it work for a little and after a few minutes, unlocked. finally after the third fail, i was fortunately given a new room.

due to this inconvenience, i decided to just eat at a greek place in the same parking lot. i ended up getting a nice meal and a conversation with a cute boy. i then went in for the night, cross stitched, and watched housewives of orange county.

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the next day, i made my way to bandelier national monument. on my way i ended up actually taking a bit of a detour and driving through los alamos laboratory, which was kind of fun. the nice man checking my i.d. told me how to get back on route. 

the main loop trail.

the monument consists of the dwellings of the ancestral puebloans, dating between 1150 to 1600 ad. most of the area is actually wilderness. you do not have to walk for very long to see the dwellings, but do have to go up some stairs. if you want to go inside some of the dwellings, you need to go up some ladders. 

my sad attempt of a selfie.

bandelier national monument was one of the highlights of my trip. it was just so fun; like an adult playground. climbing up the ladders & crawling through the dwellings made me feel like a kid again in the best possible way. i love things like that. i was so happy for this decision, though this park was not part of my original plan. i was instead planning visit the gila dwellings near silver city, but decided not to after learning about the long winding road around the cliffside and the spotty weather.

that girl climbing i eventually befriended. she is also from socal & was traveling solo. we ended up taking pictures for each other & walked the way back talking about our travels & lives.

the alcove house with a reconstructed kiva. to access, you need to climb 140 ft. via 2 ladders. 

a family of deer. this was the closest i had ever gotten to deer. they were unafraid. 

i decided to take advantage of the motel and return to the area early. i stopped at a few thrifts stores (where i found a cute vintage 90s romper), ate some pho, and then returned to my room to sleep early.