Suspended over jagged peaks

Trip Start Feb 20, 2006
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Trip End Feb 28, 2006


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Flag of United States  , New Mexico,
Tuesday, February 28, 2006

Here I am heading down another scenic byway. This time it's the Turquoise Trail which follows the ridge of Sandia Mountains. There were a couple of cute little towns but I decided not to stop. I headed over to the Sandia Tramway, the longest tramway in the world at 2.7 miles, taking one up about 4000 feet. I am not one for touristy destinations but the view of Albuquerque was worth the price of looking like a camera-touting tourist.

A simple yet delicious meal at the highly regarded Artichoke Cafe was a nice change from chile. On almost a whim, I decided to drive out to Acoma, also called Sky City. The pueblo perched on top of a mesa surrounded by unusual rock formations and bathed in the late afternoon light was certainly stunning and worthy of the 4 hours of travel time.

Back in town, I headed to the hostel. I walked in the door and felt instantly at home. This hostel is one of the most welcoming and homiest I've been in, albeit a bit tatty and rough around the edges. It is also the only one I've been to that requires mandatory chores. In the end, it wasn't so bad: the chores actually makes it feel more like a community. Among the guests for the evening were an artist doing her Georgia O'Keefe pilgrimage, a social work student doing research nearby, a Canadian freelance writer, a retired park ranger travelling Route 66 by Greyhound, a guy moving from his Mississippi home, recently destroyed by the hurricane to a job in California, and a young woman who recently uprooted herself to create a new life. Being Mardi Gras, the Mississippian (is that what you call them?) cooked dinner for all of us. We sat around the large table, a haphazard family of sorts.

Here on Route 66, I had to do the American thing. I, along with the other 2 Canajuns and an honorary Canadian (she was an American but pretty cool) headed out for malted milkshakes in as kitschy a diner as we could find, filled with Marilyn Monroe posters, route 66 signs, malt mixers, bright neon lights, vinyl booths and a jukebox. We even sang along to Patsy Cline. Then we called it a night.
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