Highway 14 is also called The Turquoise Trail. We left Santa Fe and as we rounded the first curve on the highway we saw bicycles in the air! There were also musical instruments, parrots and fish, all part of a kinetic sculpture display by a local artist.

A bit farther down the road we came to Origami in the Garden, full of sculptures that looked like origami. My favorite sculpture was the "Rock, Paper, Scissors".

We passed through the small town of Madrid (pronounced Mad-Rid). It used to be a coal mining town but is now home to many artists.

From Highway 14 we took old Route 66 (NM333) to Moriarity, where we saw a huge gun in a field. It was called "The Judge" and was made from a propane tank and steel tubes. Don't Mess with the Judge!!"

The Salt Missions Trail leads to several ancient pueblos. The ruins of a beautiful mission church is all that remains at Abo.

In Mountainair we were surprised to find swastika designs in the Shaffer Hotel. Later we discovered that the ancient native people had used that sign long before Hitler appropriated it. Pop Shaffer built the hotel and did the artwork on the fence nearby. It is too bad the hotel is now closed. The dining room, which we could see through the windows was decorated so cute.

Quarai Ruins was once home to a massive mission church. We enjoyed walking around the grounds and had a picnic lunch under the cottonwood trees.

The Tejique to Torreon loop is a 20 mile four wheel drive trip. The Maple trees were just changing to red and we saw a lot of pines. Near Tejique a forest fire had burnt all of the trees. We saw some charcoal grey squirrels with big bushy tails.