November 2008 ...........

Albuquerque : Petroglyph National Monument - Long ago people discovered that by chipping away the rocks thin
desert varnish revealed a lighter gray and left a lasting mark. American Indians believe these images are as old as time. Archeologists estimate that most of the images are 400 to 700 years old, however some images may be 2,000 to 3.000 years old. There are some 20,000 images in the park; animals, people, crosses and many others. The monument is off of I-40 at Exit 154 and is worth the stop.

November 2008 ...........

Albuquerque : We all go through Albuquerque on I-40 going somewhere or coming from somewhere. This time we decided to stop and see what the town had to offer. We didn't stay long but enjoyed the visit. It's the largest city in NM, and was founded in 1706 as a Spanish outpost. It retains much of the Spanish cultural and historic heritage. Old town was fun to spend some time in, we walked around and visited the shops and the church. The Santa Fe Railway bi-passed old town in 1880, building it's depot a couple of miles east and that quickly became known as new town. In 1885 Albuquerque was incorporated as a town in 1885 and a city in 1891. Old Town remained a separate community until the 1920's when it was absorbed by the city.

April 2011 ...........

Tucumcari: "Heart of the Mother Road" and "Gateway City of Murals" on historic Route 66. There is a museum with a R-66 exhibit and the world's largest mural dedicated to R-66. We stayed on the old main street of town (R-66) at a park that was at one time a motel. It was just an overnight for us so we didn't unhook, but did walk several blocks down the street. Found a motel that has been redone and looks just like it did in the 50's. There were many vacant buildings nd several really neat murals. There are manyh more attractions we couldn't see on a Sunday night without unhooking the tow car. Freinds stayed there three days and said it was a great experience. It's definitely a "go back to" place.

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