Route 66 New Mexico And Texas Side Trips

Side trips during this leg of your Mother Road Adventure include Aliens at Roswell and Southwestern culture in Santa Fe. Not only will you be intrigued by the UFO Museum and its extensive Area 51 evidence and artifacts. Driving through oil and cattle country, you'll be charmed by magical little towns like Artesia, Texas, the enchanting sunsets in rugged New Mexico, and of course the entertaining roadside souvenir shops that dot the I-40 through New Mexico's Old 66 route.

More than just kitschy displays, the UFO Museum in Roswell has an extensive collection of evidence and documentation of the Area 51 incidents and other UFO sightings. With movie theatre screening U.F.O.-themed movies and documentaries and a gift shop, there are plenty of reasons why the Automobile Club calls this stop in Roswell a "gem".

Just as mysterious as Area 51, Roswell seems just like any other town as you enter it on from the highway, but there are plenty of unique gift shops and small attractions unlike any other that you've seen. The U.F.O. Museum And Research Center is an unassuming, but massive, collection of physical evidence, photographs, newspaper clippings and other documentation from the Area 51 incident and other U.F.O. sightings and encounters. Before getting back up to the I-40, and more Route 66 adventures, stop at Peppers Bar & Grill for a bite to eat.

Albuquerque is a historic, enchanting city of artists, adobes and artifacts. It has an old Mexican-style zocalo, or main square with shops and beautiful Southwest historic buildings. There are some great Old 66 roadside motel signs on this stretch of the Mother Road. When in Albuquerque, make time for a trip up to Sandia Peak on the Sandia Peak Tramway. You'll love the view and the meal from High Finance Restaurant at the top of Sandia Peak.

Day 4: Cadillacs Coming Out Of The Ground and 72oz. Steaks In Texas

On the Texas leg of your Route 66 adventure, you'll pass some of the best roadside attractions and some of the best rest stops on The Mother Road.

Amarillo may be known more for it's cowboys and cattle than for it's high art, but Cadillac Ranch is a roadside curiosity that blends a complex meaningful vision with the car culture that is the history of Old 66. The brainchild of helium millionaire Stanley Marsh and San Francisco Art Collective Ant Farm, who built this installation, up the road, but moved in 1997 to its current location, within view of the I-40 features Cadillacs of different years thrust into the earth nose first at exactly the same 45º angle. 

The landowner donated the land to the art group for this roadside art-ifact that encourages viewers to help preserve the art object by spraying graffiti on it. Hundreds of people walk up the dirt path from the service road to make their mark on this timeless piece of culture and history. Exit I-40 at Arnot Road and take frontage road 2.5 miles east.

It's More Than Hot Air: If They Eat It, It Will Be Free
Speaking of the helium millionaire, Stanley Marsh, the helium monument and Don Harrington Discovery Center are an easy-access complex of suburban museum, park and monument and is found entertaining by all members of the family. You can absorb a bit of Amarillo history and plenty of cosmology in the state of the art planetarium.

One of the legends that I have yet to explore is the Big Texan Steak Ranch where the 72oz. steak dinner is free if you can finish the whole thing, potatoes and salad while up on a stage just off I-40, exit 75.

At the next stop, we'll be in Shamrock Texas, known for it's perfectly preserved examples of Route 66 roadside architecture.

Day Three: Blue Hole Of Santa Rosa And Dinosaurs of Tucumcari

Continuing through New Mexico, your next stop is Santa Rosa, home to 12 spring fed lakes (including 80-foot deep Blue Hole), a great Route 66-era diner, The Route 66 Auto Museum, and an ancient Adobe Village, Puerto de Luna, about 10 miles from town. Joseph's Bar & Grill is our favorite stop for roadside fare.
The first time we stayed in Santa Rosa, we camped at the KOA. With Wireless Internet and "room service" (they bring meals to your campsite in a golf cart); it sure didn't feel like we were roughing it, but when we took down the tent in the morning and found the Tarantula sleeping under it, we knew we had experienced an outdoor adventure. Of course, after that experience, I'm always a bit disappointed when the campground doesn't have Wi Fi, but I don't miss the spider.


Tucumcari has great examples of Route 66 roadside Motels

Our next stop is Tucumcari, home of some of the best examples of Mother Road roadside Motels, 50's dining and Route 66 neon. With themed hotels like the Blue Swallow, which has an enclosed garages for the car next to each room, truly a "no tell motel". Other Tucumcari gems include The Safari Inn, Teepee Curio, a souvenir shop inside a cement teepee, and our favorite local restaurant, Del's.

Teepee Curio is a classic Mother Road stop with great Route 66 Souvenirs

But 50's memorabilia and culture is not all you'll find in Tucumcari. It's also in the heart of one of the worlds' great fossil beds, which has transformed the local community college into a world class paleontology/geology laboratory and created the fabulous Mesalands Dinosaur Museum.

Because the facility has its own Bronze casting foundry, they have the world's largest collection of bronze skeletons, fossils and replicas of prehistoric creatures which offer you an incredible hands on experience touching and feeling life-size casts of dinosaurs, dinosaur parts and, of course, dinosaur poo.

Unlike most museums, at Mesalands Dinosaur Museum, a lot of the exhibits say "Please Touch"! 

Bunking in for the night at the Tucumcari Hampton Inn. Tomorrow, we're headed to Texas.

In the next post, we're headed to explore roadside art at Cadillac Ranch and other wonders in Amarillo and beyond.

Day Three: Entering The Land Of Enchantment, New Mexico

New Mexico truly does enchant. You won't be able to drive through the state without seeing a beautiful sunset or dramatic storm. From Gallup to Tucumcari is a magical journey that you can make in one day, but you may want to take more to savor this brew of Southwestern culture and Prehistoric landscape.


A trip across New Mexico on Highway 40 (with cultural detours on Route 66) is a trip through the best the Southwest has to offer

Shortly after crossing the western border of the state, you'll reach Gallup and the historic El Rancho Hotel, I-40, exit 22. For several decades the local mountains were the scene of hundreds of movies, so hundreds of stars from the 20's through the 60's have stayed here. It's truly worth a stop if only to board the grand staircase to the beautifully old balcony on the second floor to see the autographed photos of these bygone legends of the big screen.

El Rancho Hotel has all the elements of a great Route 66 Roadside stop: historic artifacts, local food and culture, a gift shop and just enough kitsch
The next stop is Albuquerque, where you could spend an hour or a week, enjoying the food and attractions of this little jewel of a Southwest City. We like to go up the Sandia Peak Tramway to High Finance Restaurant for a nice dinner and beautiful panoramic view of the sunset.




In the next post, we'll continue onto Santa Rosa where we camped once at the KOA and awoke to find this tarantula sleeping under our tent. Then, we'll continue through the wondrous New Mexico landscape to Tucumcari where we'll bunk down for the night.