It’s Spring Break 2022, and Celina’s Ballet Folklorico has had incredible success in Lubbock. So we thought it would be a good idea to collect her at the venue and then take a road trip towards New Mexico. And so we left on Saturday morning to collect our little daughter at the hotel bright and early on Sunday (long live the time change).
The trip was about 1340 miles, and we had seven days to do it. That was quite sporty, but since we had made no plan in advance, it was okay for us.
Lubbock, TX – Where are Buddy Holly’s glasses?
So we picked up Celina on this somewhat chilly Sunday morning (during the night, the temperatures dropped below 32°F). After a hearty breakfast, we took advantage of our presence in this tranquil little town to answer one of the essential questions of our own youth. After all, “Die Ärzte” already asked the question “Where are Buddy Holly’s glasses now?” in a song many years ago. There is a whole museum dedicated to probably Lubbock’s most famous son, so this was on the visit list.
And lo and behold … there is indeed the legendary glasses, with which you can sing if you wear them!
Amarillo, TX – Big Texan + Cadillac Ranch
And on we went to Amarillo, where the artistic creativity of the female family members should be given free rein. We have already visited the “Cadillac Ranch” in 2019 and found it unique. However, once there, we decided to postpone the project to the following day due to overcrowding, overtiredness, overstarvation, and overcoming (in terms of wind and sandstorm). So instead, we went directly to our night quarters, the “Big Texan.” Here a really fantastic location awaited us! The motel was visually based on a western city, and “Everything is Bigger,” not just a slogan in the associated restaurant. Due to the crowds on Sunday evening, we first “checked in” in advance and then spent an hour in the shooting range, bar, and gift store to pass the time. In a vast hall, there were all kinds of Texan delicacies: to mention the plate-sized Tomahawk steak (20 oz) and the giant steak (72 oz = approx. 2kg), of course, grilled directly on the fire. We then opted for a smaller BBQ plate along with quesadilla and chili cheese fries for the 3 of us.
There was also background music: two lovely gentlemen fiddled from table to table like in a movie.
Cadillac Ranch
The following day we went again to the place for artists in the open air to catch up on our project. We chose the now even better weather than the previous day to not sweat and have to share the art objects with too many other visitors (yes… it was windy, cold, and rainy, but in nice weather, everybody could spray cars).
Now you may call us again environmental piglets, but a) we had eco-spray paint (we claim) and b) the car wrecks have been especially “sunk” as art objects.
Tucumcari, NM – Route 66
After we were now so really nice and wet, frozen through and colored in places, we swung into our “small car,” … turned up the heat, and headed in the direction of New Mexico to sniff a little Route 66 – Feeling again. Petrus obviously took pity on us, and we ended up in beautiful weather in Tucumcari (the place served as inspiration for Disney’s movie “Cars”).
Las Vegas, NM – Where are the casinos?
After we had strengthened ourselves in a local pizzeria, we continued our journey and landed in Las Vegas, NW, where we spontaneously set up our night quarters.
The following day we realized that we had been in Las Vegas exactly one year ago (only in the one with the many casinos, i.e., Nevada). There was nothing to see of gambling places or even a party mile here, but there was a lovely historic city center and a beautiful train station. So a comparative picture collage was the obvious thing to do.
Andrea then spoke at length with the tourist information employee while Celina and Matthias captured the immediate surroundings in pictures.
Taos, NM – Rocky Mountains snow stop
And as if we hadn’t frozen enough in the last few days, the beloved wife and mother forced the poor husband and father to drive into the southern Rocky Mountains hills to find more snow so she could build a snowman. The little daughter didn’t care about anything, as she was still struggling with the lack of sleep from the previous days. Only when it came to the topic of “food” was she always wide awake.
We continued to Taos, a place that should be nice. The guidebook (okay, Google and a work colleague) promised a pueblo of the Native Americans – we found a rather crowded place in front of the local ski area, with various road construction sites and overpriced souvenir stores. Since also the parking automats did not function and we decided after the third attempt that with the overcrowded city also a tow truck would not find its way in the shortest time the way to our vehicle, we decided for a short stroll by the town. After that, it was pretty seamless along the Rio Grande (yep, the same river that forms the Mexican border a few hundred miles south and on which we already sailed around last year) back south.
Los Alamos, NM – Museum
And to crown this Tuesday, we decided to visit a museum, which thematically quite, unfortunately, thematizes current sensitivities. Among other things, it was about the Manhattan Project and consequently about the first atomic bomb…
The museum is really quite interesting… only stupid if you open the door 10 minutes before closing time. But to collect some Global Study Points for Celina, we finally did a high-speed tour. Well, in a few weeks, the dear little daughter is here again with her school.
Santa Fe, NM – History vs. Modern Art
Part 1: the historical part (art & culture for “the old”)
The second oldest city in the USA is characterized by pure history. Santa Fe is a mixture of Native American culture, Spanish-Mexican influence, and many churches built during the missionary era. We “only” visited the Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi. We know enough European churches. After a hearty breakfast – with chili here, of course – we wandered around the Historic District and the market, where many Native Americans were selling art, pottery, weavings, and jewelry.
Part 2: MeowWulf – The House of eternal Return (Modern “art” for the teenager)
Celina’s schoolmates had told us about “MeowWulf,” which we didn’t know what to do with this. Well, the flyer describes it as follows: a combination of mystery house, museum, jungle gym, art, fantasy, and fun. The writer of “Game of Thrones,” who lives here in Santa Fe, created this bizarre interactive experience that is now quite famous (at least here in the US). There’s really no way to describe it. The adventure starts in a dark alley, a Victorian apartment building. Now you can walk through various corridors here – e.g., through the refrigerator into a kind of UFO scenario, through the fireplace into an ice cave with a neon mammoth skeleton, or through the washing machine (yes, you squat there in a mini-room between socks, clothes, etc.) into a laundry room. like in a washing machine) into a fantasy jungle, further through light and laser tunnels, fantasy rooms or an underwater neon forest and, and, and various weird “worlds” climbing, crawling on all fours, stumbling… It was an extraordinary but quite fun experience, which was also worth its proud price.
In the late afternoon, dazzled by the now again bright sunny environment (we girls were after over 2 hours in the dark-colorful ambiance), we wanted to treat our dad as a highlight. So on to the next “highlight”…
Madrid, NM – Visit Maggie’s Diner
If you’ve seen the movie “Born to be Wild,” you’ve probably heard of the tranquil city of Madrid (no, not the one in Spain). And yes, the “place” – or rather, the former ghost town where the “Wild Hogs” take a forced break and the biker gang “Del Fuegos” do their mischief – really exists. Okay, the main attraction is probably “Maggie’s Diner,” which in reality never was and never will be a diner. The building, which has gained certain cult status due to the movie, was built specifically for the film. Parts of the benches and tables still exist and now serve as storage for T-shirts, caps, biker fashions, etc. The bar functions as a checkout counter where you can chat comfortably about God and the world with “Maggie” – a pretty cool hippie lady who runs the gift store.
After, of course, for the biker friends in Germany diligently photos were taken, and stickers and patches were bought; we strolled a bit through the Gypsy Mall (small art studios, of which, unfortunately, also due to the two-year tourist shortage, many have now given up). There is also a railroad museum, a cafe, and beautiful colorful dropout houses. And yes, there is also a chili festival in October. But unfortunately, we could not fathom how excellent or hot the chili was, and in the absence of a place to stay, we had to leave this lovely place the same day.
Driving Home to Austin, TX
We spend the night in Moriarty at Route 66 and let the evening end in the Chili House with BBQ and burger. Then it goes again in the direction of home, but up to the state border to Texas, it still goes many miles by… NOTHING… absolute nothing! It is unimaginable in Germany to drive several hours without a place only through a flat steppe landscape. Sometimes a crumbling farmhouse, a few lonely cows, occasionally a ranch gate (without a ranch)… otherwise only dead straight road through dry grass steppe. So it’s not really surprising why the aliens look for their landing places here, of all areas.
On the way, still in New Mexico, is the tranquil town of Roswell, NM, around which many legends entwine because of the alleged UFO crash in the 1970s. We only stop briefly at Walmart to stock up on coffee and drinks. We have already visited the UFO museum in the summer of 2019, and there’s nothing more to see here.
After several hours of driving and back in the beautiful state of Texas, we made one last stop in Odessa, TX. There is supposed to be a replica of Stonehenge here. However, since the sandstorm is so fierce now that you can hardly see anything in the pink dust, we better skip that and cure Celina’s cold before we start the final leg.
After another 6 hours of driving through the Texan desert, cotton fields with wind turbines, and finally through our beautiful Hill Country, we arrive back in Austin after seven days of the road trip. Of course, being on tour is always lovely and exciting, but it is also nice to come back “home.”
But in two weeks there will be another long weekend…