Santa Rosa,
New Mexico
Santa Rosa |
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From Natchez we drove to Dallas and spent a night in a forgettable Gigantic downtown hotel. From our window we had a nice view of a scene I have started to collect: Small old church dwarfed by
skyscrapers and (in this case) billboard.
From Dallas we headed for Santa Rosa, New Mexico. This is one of the towns that received their reasons for existence in the 20th century from old Route 66, the classic "Mother Road". Construction of I-40 killed off most of the small towns along Route 66. Santa Rosa is right on I-40 and has survived but most of the quaint (but probably pretty awful) old places are gone. However, Santa Rosa has its own claim to fame: A series of ancient sinkhole lakes that are fed by artesian springs. Pretty rare in the High Desert!
Below are two pictures of one of these sinkholes. It is 80 feet deep and water circulates constantly, maintaining a year round water temperature of 62 degrees. The water is crystal clear and the pool, called the "Blue Hole" is popular for diving lessons. We did not see any divers, but several teenagers dove into the pool - Brrrr...
From Santa Rosa we continued on our westward journey. Next stop: Winslow Arizona. Below one of the impressive sights along the drive: Grasslands and "painted rockformation in New Mexico.
A special treat was a visit to the Petroglyphs (about 20,000 of them) in an area next to unending, uniform suburbs of Albuquerque. It is quite a juxtaposition to leave the suburban sprawl and walk among the rocks covered with drawings made between 1200 and 1700 by the Indians and the first Spanish explorers and settlers.
plus some contemporary graffiti
The meaning of most petroglyphs is unknown, although various meanings have been imputed to them by the (presumed) descendants of the people who once roamed this area and went to considerable trouble to "write" on the rocks in this area.
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