The Turquoise Trail, which runs from Albuquerque north to Santa Fe, is the route for people bored by ”scenic” drives.
Oh, it`s beautiful, all right. This ribbon of highway unfurls over a sun- dappled landscape of cholla cactus and juniper. It climbs through evergreen and aspen groves and sidles along the back side of the purple Sandia Mountains. But there are other sights along the trail-and not all of them natural, either-to divert attention and upset the best-planned itineraries.
The road slinks through resilient, dog-eared towns that have survived a dozen incarnations. It winds past quirky roadside attractions. Its inhabitants are refined and rough around the edges.
D.H. Lawrence described New Mexico, where he lived and worked for a time, as being like comic opera played with solemn intensity.
Hit the Turquoise Trail for continuous performances daily.
Get off the interstate
The route begins where New Mexico Highway 14 veers north off Interstate Highway 40 toward Cedar Crest, about eight miles east of Albuquerque. This alternate route to Santa Fe won`t take much longer, but travelers concerned with speed and efficiency should stick to Interstate Highway 25.
Summer ski lift
Sandia Crest rises among the aspens and evergreens of the Cibola National Forest. New Mexico 536 leads to the summit, but you can also stop at the Sandia Peak Ski Area in the summer and ride the chair lift to the top.
An observation deck on the peak looks out over Albuquerque and the Rio Grand Valley, stretching below like a vast brown ocean.
Or make the 1 1/2-mile hike down a well-groomed path to the High Finance Restaurant. (Most patrons reach the restaurant via a tram that travels up the other side of the mountain.) The restaurant has a steak and seafood menu priced from $14 to $29. Summer hours are 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. or later. Call 505-243-9742 for reservations.
Gold rush town
Retracing tracks to the Turquoise Trail, you encounter the tired old town of Golden, 11 miles north of the Sandia Crest turnoff. In 1825, the town became the site of the first gold rush west of the Mississippi River.
The only commercial enterprise is the Golden General Merchandise Store
(closed Sundays and Mondays), unless you count the Turquoise Trail Shop, a dilapidated curio shop full of battered stuff and shut tight. A bleached cow skull crowns the doorway and a Coke machine faded pink by the sun stands sentry outside.
Next door, an unseen artist has arranged old Mason jars and wine bottles to create a dazzling free-form sculpture on a patch of weedy ground. Blue, green and purple glass shimmer amid the dirt and rocks. More colored glass is draped in daisy-chain fashion atop a fence made of aspen limbs.
What this all means is anyone`s guess. Figure it as just another oddity along the Turquoise Trail.
Coal mining town
The 1800s coal mining town of Madrid (pronounced MA-drid) lies 12 miles beyond Golden. The mines went bust in the 1950s and the town was abandoned for two decades. But in the 1970s, the lure of cheap housing, spectacular sunsets and the mild, dry climate drew people back to town. A mixed bag settled in Madrid, eventually boosting the population from 12 to its present total of 400 or so.
In the `70s, miners` shacks went for as little as $750 and ”you could come to town with $100 in your pocket, throw a beer party and still have cigarette money left,” said Rich Tatro, a 13-year resident of the area. ”Now if you could get a house for $50,000, you`d be lucky.”
The town is home to many artists, or at least people who claim to be.
”What do people do here? Nothing. Nothing of real permanence or profit. They say they`re potters and artists and glassblowers. But they don`t make any money off it,” said Harvey Emslye, an 85-year-old retired physicist who originally came to New Mexico to work on the Manhattan Project, which developed and built the atom bomb. ”They survive here. It`s a microcosm of a city in a low-key kind of way.”
Some of the town artisans and entrepreneurs probably would take exception to Emslye`s assessment. There are a number of enterprises here that appear to be quite successful. Most visible is the row of stores on Main Street`s elevated boardwalk, which include a couple of shops that sell good Santa Fe-style furniture and crafts.
The Old Coal Mine Museum exhibits old drills and gears and allows visitors to climb aboard a 1906 Baldwin steam engine. Tours of the coal mine, which closed in 1956, are conducted daily from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. during the summer. Admission is $2.50 for adults and $1 for children.
And in the center of town, the Madrid Country Store stocks a little bit of everything, including malts and milkshakes served at its old-fashioned soda fountain.
Emslye prefers a seat in the Mine Shaft Tavern. It`s a classic Old West establishment with a moose head mounted over the fireplace and a massive old bar populated by regulars who look as if they haven`t budged in a few years.
”I`m not an alcoholic, but I like the bar life,” said Emslye, a grizzled old man with mottled skin, a tangled gray beard and the clipped speech of an aristocrat. He`s a well-traveled, educated man who regales fellow bar patrons with stories of Asian kings, shipwrecks and a local murderer.
(”Great guy, beautiful man, no good,” he said, summing up the killer.)
Long bar needed
”I really came here to die. But I didn`t. Can`t figure out why,” he mused, taking a sip of bourbon on ice, a drink the tavern has dubbed a
”Harvey” in Emslye`s honor.
Cerrillos is a classic, sleepy New Mexican village that lies about 15 miles south of Santa Fe, and a mile off the Turquoise Trail. Its unpaved streets are lined with adobe houses, old churches and tall shade trees. Even before the Spanish arrived in the 17th Century, turquoise from the area was being traded as far away as Mexico.
The present village has existed since 1879 and, in its mining heyday in the late 1800s, supported 21 saloons, four hotels and a population of about 2,500.
Today, there is considerably less action in this community of 200. Most of it is centered at the far end of town, which in tiny Cerrillos is about a block from the near end of town. Here, a sign reading Casa Grande Trading Post-Turquoise Mining Museum-Live Animal Petting Zoo, only hints at the entrepreneurial fervor of proprietor Todd Brown.
29-room adobe
He collects rocks, raises honey bees, cultivates plants, sells antiques and is the author of several self-published works, including a book on children`s gardening that comes with seeds glued to the text. (”That way, when you finish reading it, you just bury the book,” he reasoned.) And he built a 29-room adobe to contain it all.
Brown, a 38-year-old with shoulder-length hair, who dresses in worn jeans and moccasins, looks like a refugee from the 1960s. And in fact, he arrived in New Mexico 21 years ago searching for a commune. He never found the commune, but he did find Cerrillos and he fell in love with the village.
Others who travel the Turquoise Trail will, too, Brown says.
”I think the state should promote these scenic roads, but I think they ought to have a rest stop. Seems like everyone who comes here, all they want to use is my outhouse.”
