Author: John Cruse

If you travel with us by reading our posts and are wondering what has happened to our posts in 2023, the answer is, we have been travelling but, for various reasons, not posting.

This will be rectified in due course and we will catchup with posts for our 2023 travels to South Korea, The Outer Hebrides, Northern Ireland and Egypt.

Our travels for 2024 are all planned and we will be posting our first 2024 posts shortly.

Our route from Tahiti to Valparaiso (courtsey of Silversea Cruises)

Our final trip of 2022 is fast approaching. Yet another trip booked pre-Covid and shelved for a couple of years. As can be seen from the route map above, it is an exploration cruise from Tahiti, French Polynesia across to Valparaiso, Chile, visiting the many islands that are situated inbetween. Our friends in Australia, Eric and Diane, alerted us to this trip and we could not miss the opportunity to visit such a remote British Overseas Territory, the Pitcairn Islands, which were the main thrust of our interest in this trip.

I am sure that many of you will have read the books and seen the films about the Mutiny on the Bounty which happened in 1789. The reason I mention this is because some of the mutineers and some Polynesian men and women hid on the Pitcairn Islands (Adamstown) and remained undiscovered from 1790 until 1808.

For those unaware of the story of the mutiny on the HMS Bounty, it was captained by Lieutenant William Bligh and was engaged in transporting breadfruit from Tahiti to the British colonies in the West Indies. The expedition, which left England in October 1787, was promoted by the Royal Society and its president Joseph Banks who believed that bread fruit would grow in the West Indies and be a cheap food for the slaves in the sugar plantations. After sailing around Cape Horn and into the South Pacific Ocean, the mission was to pick up bread fruit in Tahiti and take it to the West Indies via the Indian and South Atlantic Oceans.

The crew consisted of 46 men, 44 Royal Navy seamen and two civilian botanists. This included a 23 year old Fletcher Christian, Master’s mate, who came from a wealthy Cumberland family descended from Isle of Man gentry. He had twice voyaged with Bligh to the West Indies and served on the Bounty without pay as one of the “young gentlemen”.

Bligh enforced strict discipline on the ship and when men stepped out of line, punishment was dealt out. There were clashes between Bligh and his officers on the trip down to Tahiti so when they reached Tahiti, the 5 months stay to collect bread fruit must have been a relief for Captain and crew. It seems that many men were not happy to leave the attractions of Tahiti, particularly the promiscious women, as they had enjoyed their time there. It seems that Fletcher Christian’s mood was not generally good and it did not help when, back at sea, Bligh accused him of stealing coconut from Bligh’s personal supply.

A mutiny ensued on 28 April 1789 and Bligh and some of his loyalists were cast off in the ship’s largest open boat. Bligh and his loyalists finally made it back to England in March 1790. The mutineers returned to Tahiti and some stayed there but Fletcher Christian and 8 others mutineers, along with 20 Polynesians (6 men and 14 women) left finally arriving in the Pitcairn Islands.

There is a lot more to the Mutiny on the Bounty, a true story, which is well worth reading as the above is only a very short precis. I would not suggest watching a Hollywood film on the Mutiny as Hollywood tends not to let the truth get in the way of a good storyline.

The above story tweaked our interest in this trip but I am sure there will be much else to report on as we visit French Polynesian and the Chilean Islands on our way across to Valparasio. We have visited Easter Island before so it will be interesting to go back and see what may have changed in the last 22 years.

Copyright: Words John Cruse 2022

We are back and as expected wifi was in most places non-existent so we were not able to post daily updates.

That said, for this trip, we have decided to post on various topics rather than specific days. The trip was split into two sections, a circular drive from Ulaanbaatar (UB as it is known to the locals) through mid-Gobi, down to South Gobi and the Sagsai Eagle Festival which was held in the far west of Mongolia in the mainly Kazakh province of Bayan-Olgii Aimag.

Mongolia is not a country I knew much about before going there so I though I would set out a few facts. It is nearly 6 times the size of the UK and has a population of 3.2 to 3.4 million with half of those living in and around UB. UB is a sprawling city with many new apartments being built as more Mongolians desert the nomadic life and move to the city for a different style of existence. Those still out in the vast countryside do continue to embrace a nomadic lifestyle and their wealth is measured by how many sheep, goats, camels, cows and horses they have. Fellow travellers of ours were asked by a nomadic family how many animals they had, and when they said one dog and two cats, they were asked, “are you poor”.

So a very different way of life for many in Mongolia compared to the western world. That said, all the nomadic families have mobile phones and satellite tv so are not as “cut off” as one may think from the outside world. Those who follow the nomadic life live in “gers” for the summer and nowdays move to a small house in the winter when it can get down to -50 centigrade. Living in a ger in those temperatures would be harsh as we found out to a lesser extent when we visited the Eagle Festival.

As you would expect, Mongolia’s history is linked heavily with its two big neighbours, Russia to the north and China to the south. Mongolia had been ruled by the Chinese Qing dynasty for circa 300 years until 1911 when a revolution broke out and on 1 December 1911, Mongolia declared independence. This ushered in the Bogd Khan era (Emperor of Mongolia) which lasted until 1924 after which Mongolia became a socialist state until 1992 under the leadership of the Mongolian Peoples Revolutionary Party. During this period Mongolia had close ties with the USSR. Today Mongolia is an independent country although we were told that many Mongolians are not happy with the current Government, who have a stranglehold on politics in Mongolia. It seemed that people were very sceptical as to how the Government was using tax payers’ money, so nothing new there.

Most Mongolians are Buddists and the Kazakh’s over in the west of the country are Muslims. There were many Buddist monastries dotted around the country, usually at the top of a hill, and in the west many mosques. Islam seems to be much more relaxed in the west with the Kazakh people – no head scaves or other dress code and many people preferred to worship at home rather than go to a mosque. For those muslims living out in the wild as nomads, worshipping at home seemed very sensible.

Mongolians drive on the rightside of the road but I have never been to any country that has so many cars with the steering wheel on the wrong side ie the right side. Also, I have never been to a country where the majority of vehicles are Toyota Prius. We were told a politician in the ruling party was able to purchase a vast amount of Toyota Prius’s directly from Japan and sell them on to the populus. It was very interesing seeing Mongolian drivers trying to overtake lorries and having to get the whole car out on the wrong side of the road.

Coming to roads in Mongolia, those who had seen the Top Gear special would probably have got the impression that the road system in Mongolia was very underdeveloped. It certainly is and 95% of our travel was off road on varying levels of rough terain. Lucky our drivers had the UAZ Van, a Russian vehicle that can still be bought brand new today, that is good off road but not so good on tarmac.

More to follow.

If you have any problems seeing pictures on the e-mail you receive, please go to the actual website where they will be in glorious colour.

Copyright: Words and photos John Cruse 2022

The route map – courtesy of Goyo Travel

Our next trip starts this week and we are off to Mongolia for a journey into the Gobi Desert and then to see the Eagle Festival which is held in the west of the country.

As can be seen from the map above, Mongolia lies between Russia to the North and China to the South and I understand it is roughly the size of Alaska. Mongolia is the 19th largest and the most sparsely populated independent country in the world, with a population of approximately 3 million people. It is also the world’s second-largest landlocked country after Kazakhstan.

The country contains very little arable land, as much of its area is covered by steppes, with mountains to the north and west and the Gobi Desert to the south. Approximately 30% of the population is nomadic or semi-nomadic, and 45% live in the capital Ulaanbaatar. There are no other major cities in the country with the next largest, Erdenet and Darhan, having populations of 100,000 and 80,000 respectively. The highest point in Mongolia is Nayramadlin Orgil (also known as Mt Khuiten), at 4,374 meters (14,350 feet).

I am sure that many of us have heard the term Outer Mongolia. Interestingly, Inner Mongolia refers to the northern portion of China that borders with Outer Mongolia which is actually the country of Mongolia as we know it today. This division, I understand, was formed in the 1600s during the expansion of the Qing empire. In 1911 Outer Mongolia declared its independence after the fall of the Qing dynasty.

The life expectancy is 65 for men and 73 for women, the major religion is Buddism and the official language is Khalkh Mongolian.

After we leave the capital, Ulaanbaatar, and head south to the Gobi Desert we will be staying in ger camps which have 2-4 beds each and a traditional wood burning stove. No doubt this is 5 star luxury Mongolian style. We will find out soon.

As there will not be good, or possibly any, internet connections outside of Ulaanbaatar, our postings will most likely come at the end of our trip, so stay tuned.

Copyright: Words John Cruse 2022 (route map courtesy of Goyo Travel)

After our visit to the Inuit community of Artic Bay on the northern part of Baffin Island we were called down to the ship’s lecture theatre for what we were told was a mandatory briefing for all passengers. This sounded ominous but when you go on any expedition in the Arctic seas, plans change all the time due to ice and weather. We had ice along the west coast of Baffin Island resulting in the first part of our itinenary being changed but we had now sailed past that and, whereas the wind had got up as we sailed north, there had been no more mention of problematic ice.

The Expedition Leader, Christian, took the microphone and told us that Quark Expeditions had advised him that our return charter flight from Resolute would not be happening as the airline had cancelled the flight due to a combination of unexpected aircraft technical issues and crewing challenges. We also received a letter in our cabins from Quark explaining that due to Resolute’s short gravel runway which is only suitable for specially-equipped aircraft, and aviation industry-wide COVID and suppy chain challenges, we would be returning to Kangerlussuaq in Greenland for our charter flight back to Toronto. This meant we would be losing 3 days of our trip. Had disaster struck again in our quest to visit the Northwest Passage?

Our Expedition Leader went on to say that we would sail overnight along the coast of Devon Island and go directly to Beechey Island so that we could visit it before making our way back along the Lancaster Sound and through Baffin Bay to Kangerlussuaq. Hurrah we cried, as at least we would be able to visit the most important place in relation to the Franklin story.

As we said in the prologue, our main reason for joining this expedition cruise to the Northwest Passage was not to see Polar Bears, Walruses, Belugas, Narwhals or visit remote Innuit communities, although all of these would add to the experience. We had ticked all but one of these off our bucket list in our trip to the Hudson Bay in 2014. It was the historical narrative that had attracted us to this trip in order to see the remoteness of the area and to get a feel for the challenges that the 1845 ill-fated Sir John Franklin expedition endured with 129 men losing their lives.

For us, the most poignant moment in the trip would be to sail down the Lancaster Sound and land on Beechey Island where 3 of Franklin’s crew were buried along with the grave of another unfortunate sailor who died and was buried there on a later mission in the 1850s to find out what happened to Franklin and his crew.

The dissappointment of losing 3 days of our trip would be negated, for us at least, if we finally got to Beechey Island. So when the boat set off overnight all looked positive. That night the wind got up and the sea became very rough but Quark’s newest ship in it’s fleet, the Ultramarine, dealt with the conditions very well.

After a good night’s sleep we woke to find the wind had subsided but the ship was stationary. The Expedition Leader came on the tannoy to advise us all that due to 100mph winds overnight the Captain had decided that his only option was to rideout the storm in a stationary position. This meant that we were still at the eastern side of Devon Island near Dundas Harbour and 70 nautical miles (roughly 80 miles) from Beechey Island. He also advised that this meant that our schedule did not allow us to get to Beechey Island and make it back to Kangerlussuaq. Instead we would cruise up to Croker Bay and make a landing at Dundas Harbour that had a Royal Canadian Mounted Police post, which finally closed in 1951. This site had also been used by the Hudson Bay Company in the early 1930s until fur prices collapsed. Dundas Harbour also had the remains of some settlements of the Thule people who are the ancestors of the modern day Inuit.

Yet again so near, but circumstamces beyond our control have scuppered our completion of this bucket list item.

Three days at sea now with not much to view as even the sea birds seem to have deserted us on this trip. The expedition staff are giving some lectures, which have been very interesting and informative but do not remove the disappointment of not reaching Beechey Island.

We have been lucky that we have two historians on this ship, both whom we have met before. Laurie Dexter who was part of the Expedition Team for our Hudson Bay trip and Ken Burton who was part of the Expedition Team on our last ill-fated trip to the Northwest Passage where we ran aground. Both have given excellent lectures on the Franklin story from his start in the British Navy, being govenor of Van Diemen’s Land (now Tasmania) to his last expedition, death and the many expeditions that followed to find out what happened. They also talked about the Erebus and Terror being found and the theories as to how the ships moved to their final resting places. The investigations are still ongoing and as bodies may still be on the ships, they could be declared British war graves. Time will tell on this aspect. Ken had even sailed the Northwest Passage in his capacity as a Royal Canadian Mounted Police ship’s captain and took Michael Palin onto Beechey Island when Michael was there researching his book, Erebus – The story of a ship.

Therefore, apart from a few lectures, we have to look forward to a charter flight from Kangerlussuaq to Niagra Falls, New York State, with a coach ride across the border to Toronto where we overnight and then home to prepare for our next journey, details to follow.

Copyright: Words and photos John Cruse 2022

We had an uneventful 300 mile drive from Kingman to West Hollywood. There was not much to stop and see on the way although the town of Barstow that we passed through was mentioned in John Steinbeck’s novel, The Grapes of Wrath.

We decided, on our first full day in Los Angeles, to drive the last 12 or so miles from West Hollywood to Santa Monica Pier which is the official end of Route 66. The traffic in Los Angeles was heavy most of the day so a short 12 miles took 30 minutes and we witnessed some dreadful driving particularly on the Interstate. So, after just over 2,800 miles, we reached the end of Route 66 although we had had a couple of detours to Monument Valley and the Hoover Dam which increased the usually quoted mileage of 2,448 for Route 66.

The tribute to Robert Waldmire is outside of a memorabilia shop at the end of the Santa Monica Pier. Robert (Bob) Waldmire was an American artist who is well know for his artwork of Route 66 and won the National Historic Route 66 Federation’s John Steinbeck award in 2004 for his contributions to the preservation of Route 66.

Sanata Monica had a nice long beach which must be very popular in the summer months and on public holidays and it featured its own version of “Muscle Beach” which they claimed was the original. There were no muscle men there the day we visited and it looked to me more like something a local council in the UK would set up in a local park that would equally not be used.

We asked a policeman, who happened to be at the end of the Pier, if there were any other “End of Trail” Route 66 signs and he thought there may be one in Santa Monica Boulevard so we took a walk around the downtown area.

Santa Monica seemed a pleasant part of the Los Angeles sprawl and had many restaurants and bars including an “English pub” which, in the usual American style, looked nothing like UK style pub. It has a homeless problem too, although it is not as visible as in Hollywood. As we could not find any other End of Trail signs we returned to West Hollywood and the delights Sue has already reported on.

Route 66 was completed and whereas we had driven 2,800 miles in less than 3 weeks, the driving had not been challenging for me but enjoyable. We had only spent just over £300 on petrol (or “gas” as they say) which was at a record high in the US, as it is in the UK, but was still only roughly 60% or less of what we pay in the UK.

Our epilogue will follow with some observations made along our road trip.

Copyright: Words and photos John Cruse 2022

The reason for our stopover in Kingman was to make a visit to the Hoover Dam which was only 75 miles away. A short drive in US terms. We had been there when we visited Las Vegas in 2018 but did not had enough time to vist the Dam museum or go on the powerplant tour.

A bit of trivia before the history: who is the Dam currently named after and what was its original name? The options for who the Dam is currently named after are; 1. J Edgar Hoover; 2. Herbert Hoover and 3. Henry the Hoover. No clues for the original name but it relates to a city close by.

The Hoover Dam was built in the Black Canyon on the Colorado River between 1931 and 1936 during the Great Depression and straddles the state line between Nevada and Arizona. It was inaugrated on the 30 September 1935 by President Franklin D Rooseveldt.

Since about 1900, the US Government had been invesigating whether Black Canyon, Boulder Canyon or other spots along the Colorado river had the potential to support a dam that would control floods, provide irrigation water and produce hydroelectric power. The US Congress authorised the project in 1928 and a consortium of six companies won the bid to build the Dam and with great imagination called themselves “Six Companies, Inc.”

The Museum gave a good overview of the construction of the Dam and the challenges that such a big project gave, as nothing had been done on this scale before. New building techniques had to be trialled. For instance, to aid the non-stop construction they built with concrete in block sections which also hastened the drying of the wet concrete.

Workers from all over America and beyond came to try and get employment during the Great Depression although only circa 6,000 were working on the Dam at any one time. Boulder City which is near the Dam was built to house the workers as the site was remote in the 1930s. Some of the jobs were extremely dangerous and there were fatalities from various causes: falls from the canyon side, explosions, carbon monoxide poisoning and pneumonia, to name a few.

These days we are used to hearing how major infrastructure projects are over budget and running late but Six Companies turned the Dam over to the federal government on March 1, 1936, more than two years ahead of schedule.

Once the Dam was built, the body of water above the Dam took six to seven years to reach its final height and was named Lake Mead. It is the largest reservoir in the United States by volume when full although, due to the current drought in the southwestern United States, is dangerously low near to the level where it would not give enough water to turn the turbines for electricity generation.

The Dam’s generators provide power for public and private utilities in Nevada, Arizona and California. As the road over the Dam was being used heavily, a bridge has been built nearby to take the Interstate 93 traffic. The roadway on the bridge is nearly 900 feet above the Colorado River.

The Dam is operated by the US Bureau of Reclamation and is 726 feet high and 1,244 feet long. At the base it is 660 feet wide but only 45 feet wide at the top. It cost apparently USD 49 million to build.

One interesting consequence of the water levels of Lake Mead dropping so low is that 2 bodies have recently been found which police believe could have been in the lake since the 1970s or 80s.

If you are in Kingman or Las Vegas the Dam is worth a visit, but if you go on the organised tours from Las Vegas you don’t get much time at the Dam, so self-drive is best.

The answers to the trivia questions above is firstly, Herbert Hoover (unfortunately not Henry the Hoover) and secondly, The Boulder Dam.

Copyright: words and photos John Cruse 2022

After our detour off Route 66 to Monument Valley, we were rejoining Route 66 at Winslow, Arizona. Winslow is probably best know due to the 1972 Eagles classic, “Take it Easy” co-written by the late Glen Frey and Jackson Browne.

There was not much to see in the 225 miles between Monument Valley and Winslow but all the land was part of the Navajo Nation with towns like Kayenta and Tuba city on the route.

The town of Winslow today makes it living from being a historic Route 66 town and the fame and attention brought by the Eagles song. The Eagles song has had such an impact that the “Standin’ on the Corner” park has been built on the corner of 2nd and Kinsley Avenue. They have even put a flatbed Ford truck there as mentioned in the song.

Very close to the Standin’ on the Corner Park is the Old Trails Museum which gives the history of Winslow that is closely connected to the railway, early air travel and a man called Fred Harvey.

Entrepreneur Fred Harvey opened a series of eating houses along the Santa Fe Railway that evolved into America’s first restaurant chain, the Harvey Houses. The company, which operated from 1876 through the 1960s, introduced innovations such as the refinement of dining in the West and the widespread employment of women known as “Harvey Girls.” One of those hotels was the one we were staying in called La Posada and was positioned right next to an active 24-hour railway line mainly used for extremely long freight trains.

With the advent of more efficient trains and the explosion of automobiles, railroad travel began its decline and Fred Harvey started closing trackside restaurants and hotels in the 1930s. World War II temporarily reversed the trend, and La Posada hired more Harvey Girls to serve meals to 3,000 soldiers riding through town daily on “troop trains”. The hotel finally closed in 1957 but escaped the wrecking ball when the Santa Fe converted it into division offices in the early 1960s. Winslow locals organized the La Posada Foundation in the early 1990s and secured grant funds to help save the building. In 1997, Allan Affeldt and his wife, artist Tina Mion, purchased La Posada and reopened it as a premier hotel and gardens.

The aviation history of Winslow is also interesting. In 1929, aviator and Transcontinental Air Transport (TAT) technical chairman Charles A Lindbergh chose Winslow as one of twelve critical refueling stops for the nation’s first coast-to-coast passenger service. He chose the location for the terrain, weather patterns, and access to the Santa Fe line. Passengers taking the 48-hour, New York-to-Los Angeles trip would fly during the day and ride the train at night. Lindbergh’s TAT colleagues chose the flat, open landscape south of town for a terminal, hangar, parking apron, and three long asphalt runways. TAT flew a fleet of Ford Tri-Motor planes that held ten passengers and had small kitchens for in-flight meals. In 1930, TAT and Western Air Express merged as Transcontinental & Western Air (TWA).

When the United States entered World War II in 1941, the US military converted Winslow’s airport into a refueling and repair stop, and more than 350 military flights passed through Winslow daily. TWA resumed commercial flights after World War II and became Trans World Airways in 1950, though service to Winslow Municipal Airport ended in 1953. Frontier Airlines provided regional flights from 1950 to 1974, when it discontinued service to Winslow due to high costs and lack of passengers.

After our overnight stop in Winslow, we move on to Kingman, Arizona and will visit towns like Williams (which is on the histroic Route 66) and will drive on the longest remaining stretches of the historic road being the last 82 miles from Seligman to Kingman.

Copyright: Words and pictures John Cruse 2022

As the chorus of the 1988 Prefab Sprout song King of Rock n Roll said “hot dog, jumping frog, Albuquerque”, I was wondering as we drove into Albuquerque whether the chorus had any relevance or was just poetic licence. Time would tell.

It was Memorial weekend when we arrived in Albuquerque and the receptionist at the historic El Vado Motel told us that most restaurants and shops would be closed including those that were part of the motel. This seemed rather strange by current day standards as businesses normally take advantage of the extra available consumers to make money on public holidays. Not in Albuquerque where we only found one pizza restaurant open that day. The El Vado Motel is situated on the historic Route 66, opened in 1937 and was one of New Mexico’s first motels to greet Route 66 travellers. Although updated, the buildings still have that retro feel.

The next day dawned and, as Albuquerque is not a walking city like Santa Fe, after some research we decided to take their equivalent of the Big Bus tour. This tour goes around the three principle areas of the city being the old town, downtown and Nob Hill.

The old town is the principle area where tourists congregate as it is a mixture of shops and restaurants with a few strategically placed local First Nations people selling their knick knacks. It has a plaza at its centre and is a nice area particularly when the sun is shining as it does for 300 plus days a year in Albuquerque. Being in the desert, Albuquerque cools down over night and can be chilly in the morning, but at this time of year gets up to 31 degrees Centigrade by the time the sun starts setting in the evening. Our tour bus guide pointed out the new developments around the old town, many of which were still feeling the effects of the Covid lockdown, and the museums that were in the area. We decided to visit one of the museums later that day being the Rattlesnake Museum and would have looked in at America’s only nuclear museum if it hadn’t been 12 miles out of town. One of New Mexico’s claims to fame is that the scientists who worked on the Manhattan Project to produce the atomic bombs dropped on Japan in WW2, Little Boy and Fat Man, did so in the state at Los Alamos and Albuquerque.

The Rattlesnake Museum was very interesting and opened our eyes to how many different types of rattlesnakes there are and just how poisonous some of them can be.

Between the old town and downtown was an area called ‘country club’ (see photos below) where there were some very nice houses. This area if often used by film companies for big budget productions and many film stars have lived in, or stayed, during filming in the area. One of the claims to fame was the Breaking Bad series which was filmed in the area and around locations in Albuquerque.

The downtown area was less interesting and seemed to be only populated by homeless people, as very few people were walking on the streets. One interesting thing about downtown Albuquerque is that it has the only crossroads where Route 66 crosses itself.

How could this be you ask? It seems to stem from a political controversy in the 1920s between politicians in Albuquerque and Santa Fe. There was an attempt in 1927 to move Route 66 out of Santa Fe which had to do with the gubernatorial election held in 1927. Then Governor Arthur T Hannett lost his bid for re-election and he directly blamed the Republican politicians in Santa Fe for his defeat. In one of his last acts in office, before the new governor would be sworn in on January 1st, Hannett ordered construction to begin immediately on a bypass taking Route 66 to Albuquerque by bypassing Santa Fe altogether. That bypass cut circa 100 miles off the original route via Santa Fe and cut all the business that Santa Fe gained from the Route 66 traffic. So the crossroads in Albuquerque are where the old route via Santa Fe and new route now meet in Albuquerque.

Nob Hill was more interesting and, we understand the area is named after its namesake in San Francisco. We were shown some very strange houses built by architect, Bart Prince. Make up your own mind as to whether you would like one next door to you.

We also visited the Aquarium and Botanical Gardens which were opposite the El Vado Motel and both were interesting although not really Route 66 related.

Next we go to Monument Valley at the heart of the Navajo Nation which is a 6 hour journey and a divergence from Route 66.

Copyright: Words and photos John Cruse 2022

Whereas the Inn of the Five Graces was a fabulous place to stay, Santa Fe was a bit too touristy for our liking and was full of arty shops selling over priced knick knacks. Santa Fe is not too big so most attractions are within walking distance except for some of the museums which are on the outskirts some 1.5 to 2 miles away.

We boarded the open-sided bus that is Santa Fe’s version of the Big Bus Company taking tourists around cities all over the World. The guide was very entertaining and the tour was worthwhile, but what he did say about his city was that much of the good looking adobe brick buildings were fake. Rather than being built in the traditional style, they had just been rendered to look authentic.That said, they did look nice, and close to our hotel was the oldest house in Santa Fe that was built in the mid 1600s and is now a small museum.

The oldest house is next to the oldest church structure in the USA, built in 1610 by the Tlaxcalan Indians from Mexico under the direction of Franciscian pardres.

One thing worth seeing outside of town, in the museum area, is the sculpture called ‘Journey’s End’ by Reynaldo ‘Sonny’ Rivera portraying the lead wagon of a trail caravan as it makes its final approach into Santa Fe.

The Santa Fe Trail was an historic 19th century transportation route across southwestern North America connecting Missouri with New Mexico. First used in 1821 by William Becknell, it served a a vital commercial and military highway until the arrival of the railroad to Santa Fe in 1880. Initially it was an international trade route between the United States and Mexico and served as the 1846 US invasion route of New Mexico during the Mexican-American war. The old Santa Fe trail is the city street that roughly follows the wagon path.

The next morning we left Santa Fe for the short drive (only 63 miles) to Albuquerque and on the advice of the hotel concierge, took the pretty route which went via small towns off the interstate. As it is currently Memorial weekend in the USA, many Americans were enjoying the extra day off so the scenic route was full of Harley Davidson’s, Dodge Vipers and more ordinary holiday traffic. When we got to the small but nice town of Madrid, about half way to Albuquerque, many of the travellers had parked up and were enjoying the food and drink on offer.

Madrid had some ‘antique’ shops just like Santa Fe, selling all those things you never knew you wanted but a bit less polished and it even has its own cannabis shop, as it’s legal in New Mexico.

After enjoying the delights of Madrid, we drove on to the El Vado Motel in Albuquerque which is situated on the old US66 historic road close to the old town. Tomorrow we see what delights Albuerque has to offer.

Copyright: Words and photos John Cruse 2022