Since we have been in New Mexico we have been eating Mexican food like crazy. You just cannot get food like this any where else. We stopped at a Subway for lunch and along with the usual tomatoes, lettuce, onions, etc. for your sandwich you could chose green chili; only in New Mexico. We stopped at a Pizza Hut for their lunch buffet. One of the pizza choices had green chili on it; only in New Mexico.
We found one strange thing this summer. While walking through the WalMart in Gallup, NM we came upon a display of Skyline Chile. Right in the heart of Indian county. For those of you who do not know what Skyline Chili is (sometimes called Cincinnati Chili) I am sorry but even if I could, it would take to long to explain. It is a food that as far as we know is found only in the southern part of Indiana and Ohio. It must have been put on the truck going to Gallup by mistake. We bought a big supply.
We continued our tour of the northwest corner of New Mexico by driving south of Farmington to the Bisti Wilderness Area. This is an area of very strange erosion features. Unfortunately, this is a true wilderness area which means the only access is on foot. The temperatures here were in the high 90s, much too hot for us old folks to be hiking, so we limited ourselves to what we could see along the access road.
Near Aztec, NM is the creatively named Aztec Ruins National Monument. These are ruins of an Indian town built around 1100 and are similar to several towns in the Four Corners Area. There were about 400 rooms built here.
We moved to the north central part of the state near Chama, NM where there is an old narrow gauge steam powered railroad. We lived in New Mexico for 30 years and said the whole time we were there that would go to Chama and ride the train. After all this time we finally made it.
The train, of course, burns coal. With your window down it can get a little dirty and smelly. I am somewhat surprised the President hasn’t shut it down.
When they blow out steam to clean the boiler it can also get wet. It sort of cleans off the soot. They should provide towels.
There is a open observation car that you can move to at any time. Great fun.
Part way on the trip there is a stop for lunch. They have a lot of choices. Everything they serve is made right there, out in the middle of nowhere. I had a great green chili chicken stew. Here we are approaching the lunch stop.
The trip is from Chama, NM to Antonito, CO. At Antonito we boarded a bus and were taken back to Chama. A trip of about an hour.
