We got a bit spoiled yesterday by the incredible twisty, scenic roads we traveled from Roswell to Socorro. The ride today turned out to be much less twisty and not as photogenic as we might wish. Our photos today will be mostly of the Abo Ruins.
Speaking of which, we stopped a few miles out of Mountainaire, New Mexico, and toured the Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument Abo Ruins. The ruins date back to the 1300's. The site was a major trading center at one time.
The Abo Ruins site is made up of two parts, the first are Franciscan Mission ruins dating to the 1600's and the second are ancient Pueblo Indian ruins that have not yet been excavated.
Early in the 1700's Spanish Franciscan began missionary work in the area. It was one of the earliest contacts between Pueblo Indians and and Spanish colonials.
Abo Ruins
Foundations
One rule were happy to obey
Ruins closeup
Jim's Abo Ruins glamor shot
Bill touring the ruins
Our ride from the ruins to Sana Fe included a mix on interstate, moderately twisty roads and four-lane. We stopped for lunch at the Bike Peddler Restaurant in Tijeras, New Mexico, which is located on the old Route 66. All three of us are dog lovers and enjoyed making friends with Bella, an 18-month old Alaskan Husky. Bella is expecting a litter soon and her owner would not allow us to feed her, regardless of her intense begging.
Bella, an incessant wiggler, is not easy to photograph. This was the best we could do.
Hillside leading into Santa Fe
We arrived in Santa Fe and checked in to our ninth room in nine days.
We found an establishment overlooking the Santa Fe square.
Dinner at the Anasazi Restaurant in downtown Santa Fe.
We have decided to stay in Santa Fe for a two nights. Saturday
will probably be a non-riding day. We could use the rest and Santa Fe
is a great place to it. There will certainly be good meals and probably
some shopping. There may or may not be a blog post on Sunday.
