New Mexico 2021 - D&D Travel

D&D Travel Presents - New Mexico 2021

There are almost 250 images between two pages, so take your time and continue scrolling for some great photos of a great state - The Land of Enchantment! We begin with Albuquerque, then on to Santa Fe, Las Vegas (New Mexico that is!) and Roswell, ending in White Sands National Park. Please enjoy!

The Rio Puerco Bridge once carried Route 66 over the Rio Puerco and was built in 1933.

This RV Park, on Central Avenue (Old Route 66) in Albuquerque, has vintage trailer exhibits as well!

Above & next 4 below: Vintage motels along Historic Route 66 in Albuquerque - many still in operation since the 66 heyday from the 1930s to the present...

Camino 66 in Albuquerque is a huge and dazzling shop with all sorts of colorful Mexican pottery and handcrafts! The storefront belies it's size inside!!

Still more vintage '66 signs in Albuquerque, most all along Route 66

Above and next 3 images below: Beautiful murals adorn the sides of buildings along and near Central Avenue (Route 66) in downtown Albuquerque...

Above and next two: Lindy's Diner has been used as a location for at least 30 movies over the years! It doubled as the Crashdown Cafe for season one of the CW TV Series "Roswell, New Mexico." The building currently in use as the Crashdown Cafe is still an exterior set for the series - but is located on Bridge Street in Las Vegas, New Mexico, as of August, 2021 (shown later in this photo essay).

Lindy's owner was kind enough to give us these two mementos from the "Roswell, New Mexico" TV series party at the diner a while back! By the way, the food is great here!!

Across from Lindy's is the KIMO theater - of Pueblo Deco architecture and opened in 1927 - an awesome Old Route 66 landmark on the National Register of Historic Places - at 423 Central Avenue NW in Albuquerque.

A vintage Diary Queen along an old alignment of 66 in Albuquerque.

Heading out on I-40 east toward Las Vegas, NM...

Old wagon ruts can be seen easily (below) along remnants of the Santa Fe Trail, which carried settlers, freight. etc. from Franklin, Missouri to Santa Fe, New Mexico. Pioneered in 1792, the route began in earnest about 1822 and was pretty much abandoned with the coming of the railroad in the late 1800s. Today much of it is preserved as the Santa Fe Trail Scenic Byway!

Fort Union was erected basically to guard the Santa Fe Trail, which passed directly through it. Built in 1851, it became a national monument in 1954. The landscape, as you can see, is quite stunning!

Officially, Plaza Drugs, which is now located in the back of the building, has been "displaced" by the exterior set used as the Crashdown Cafe for the CW TV series "Roswell, New Mexico." Currently still in production as of August, 2021, the cast and crew often shoot exteriors here along Bridge Street in Las Vegas, New Mexico. Below is a "Roswell" mural diagonally across the street, also used in the series!

Lighting cables and equipment line the rear of the building, ready for the next shoot!

One of just a couple of drive-in movie theaters still in operation in New Mexico, Fort Union may look familiar to fans of the A & E and Netflix television series "Longmire" which ran from 2012 to 2017...The theater is in Las Vegas, NM, just north of town.

A summer storm lurks in the east, near the Fort Union Drive-in...

Another curiosity in the Las Vegas area is the colorful Cristo Rey Churchyard Cemetery in El Llano, along NM 65.

Across from the church lies an old, retired truck, along with a few other "choice" vehicles of the past.

Near the village of San Jose, Old Route 66 crosses the Pecos River...

This old iron span dead-ends as part of Road B41D in San Jose. It once carried traffic across the Pecos River as a spur of Historic Route 66, just south of I-25.

On everyone's bucket list should be a ride in a hot air balloon! We were lucky enough to spend an hour silently floating above Albuquerque early in the morning, with virtually no wind...and a perfect, pinpoint landing, as expected, in an abandoned golf course north of the city!

Our pilot - "JF," both an airline captain and a 20-year balloon pilot, upon our perfect landing...

The Rio Grande Gorge Bridge, locally known as the "Gorge Bridge" or the "High Bridge", is a steel deck arch bridge across the Rio Grande Gorge 10 miles northwest of Taos, New Mexico, United States. Roughly 600 ft above the Rio Grande, it is the tenth highest bridge in the United States

Talk about colorful! This unit was parked at the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge visitor area...

Not far from Taos, New Mexico is a series of passive solar homes: "The Earthship architecture concept began to take shape in the 1970s. The architect Michael Reynolds wanted to create a home that would do three things: first, it would utilize sustainable architecture, and material indigenous to the local area or recycled materials wherever possible; second, the homes would rely on natural energy sources and be independent from the "grid"; thirdly, it would be feasible for a person with no specialized construction skills to build. Eventually, Reynolds's vision was transformed into the common U-shaped earth-filled tire homes seen today." This is a fascinating place to visit when in the area!