I had exactly 3 hours and 20 minutes in between flights from Montana and Albuquerque New Mexico. I got a bar seat at one of the airport restaurants and ordered a glass of wine and some lunch. I was waiting for a friend to meet me here so we could head to Albuquerque together and then on to Santa Fe for a few days. Having lived in Colorado for many years, I had been to Albuquerque and Santa Fe on multiple occasions, but not recently, so I was really looking forward to this trip. While I was waiting for my lunch, a woman sat down next to me and we got to talking – it turned out that she was also flying into Albuquerque and renting a car to then spend a few days in Santa Fe. Let’s just say that if it wasn’t for meeting Christy from Cleveland in the airport bar, we would never have taken the side road from Albuquerque to Santa Fe, which is called the “Turquoise Trail”. Most people who drive between these two cities take the major highway because it’s the most direct route, I get that, but we were on vacation and were looking for something more exciting. The Turquoise Trail is actually State Road 14 and is about 53 miles long. There are random pieces of artwork on the hillside along the route, and it’s a National Scenic Byway – the town of Madrid sits about in the middle and is well worth stopping for!

The town of Madrid had originally been a mining town and many of the buildings had fallen into disrepair over the years. I don’t remember when people started heading back to this town or when it became known for its art galleries, but it’s magnificent.

As we wandered through the town in and out of galleries and stores, sometimes it was the gallery items that caught our eyes first, or sometimes it was as simple as an entrance to the building itself that we found fascinating. The artwork was beautiful and everyone we spoke to was so friendly and happy to share information about the artwork or the town. At the end of the town, as we were about to turn around, we spotted a “photo park” and just had to see what it was all about – that area entertained us for quite a while and was well worth the $2.00 suggested donation!!

In between the art galleries and shops, there are many restaurants and cafes to choose from and we picked the “Mine Shaft Tavern” which offered great ambiance, food, and beer from the local brewery.

I want to say thank you again to “Christy from Cleveland” for telling me about this really fun town, that we ended up spending a few hours in!! We did finally make it to Santa Fe that afternoon, but not before we purchased some delicious chocolate bark pieces at Shugarman’s Chocolate – and they do ship 🙂