On our way to Santa Fe, my tour group took the scenic route along the "Turquoise Trail." Our tour guide did an excellent job of pointing out interesting locales along the way.
For instance, we stopped in a very small town right off the highway to visit a few of the shops. The shops cater to tourists driving through, and not surprisingly offer a wide variety of turquoise jewelry, pottery, art, etc. But the most interesting part about this little town is that the 2007 movie "Wild Hogs" was filmed in it. The diner featured in the film was built specifically for the movie, with the keys being turned over to the people of the town. It's not used as a diner today, though, because the cost of bringing in food considering the small number of potential customers wouldn't turn a profit. And the fair that takes place in the movie looks fairly large (no pun intended) but it was actually shot in a small parking lot that only fits about 10 cars. The magic of film, right?!
Another small town we visited looked like a very small, run-down, wild west downtown. And as it turns out, this is where the 1988 movie "Young Guns" was filmed. And as if that wasn't enough, we saw a real-life cowboy riding his horse along the train tracks with his two dogs following. Talk about a taste of the southwest!
We also passed the community of Sandia Park where last year's HGTV Dream Home was built. Apparently, the woman who won the home had lost hers in Hurricane Katrina. However, she decided to take the money for the home (over $2 million) since she didn't want to relocate to New Mexico (and probably also because of all the taxes she would owe).
After our couple of tangents to see "famous" towns, we finished the journey to Santa Fe. I was pleasantly surprised by what a nice town Santa Fe is. And apparently I'm not the only one who thinks so since celebrities such as Oprah and Randy Travis live in Santa Fe during part of the year.
The actual visit to Santa Fe will be featured in New Mexico - Part 4. I'll give you a hint - it involves a visit to a place featured on the television show Unsolved Mysteries. (insert creepy music here)
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