Our Route 66 Daily Journal: October 15, 2026

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Today we did Route from Grants to Gallup, NM, as well as a side trip to a national monument, volcano, and ice cave.

We started our day with coffee from Mt Taylor Coffee Co in Grants.

Next we visited the New Mexico Mining Musuem and went underground.

We then learned more about the area’s history at the Cibola County Historical Museum.

Next we took a side trip from Route 66 and visited the Ice Cave and Bandera Volcano. Originally, we planned to go to El Morro National Monument and visit the ice cave and volcano on the way back to Grants and Route 66. However, we got stuck behind striping road work for over an hour just to the ice cave and it would have taken another two hours at that rate to get to El Morro. We saw it coming back towards the ice cave having turned around almost to El Morro later, so it seems we might not have made it to the ice cave before it closed if we had stuck to our original plan.

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At El Morro National Monument, we took the trail to Inscription Rock.

After El Morro, we returned to Grants so we could continue on Route 66 to Gallip. On the way to Gallup, we stopped at the Continental Divide.

We also visited the Ortega's Indian Market at the Continental Divide.

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In Gallup, we check in to the Hotel El Rancho.

We then had dinner in the hotel's restaurant.

See full list of Our Route 66 Adventures here and Google map here.

Our Route 66 Daily Journal: October 14, 2026

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Today we did Route 66 from Albuquerque to Grants, NM with a side trip to a pueblo.

We started our day with coffee from Cutbow Coffee in Albuquerque.

As we were leaving Albuquerque, we spotted the Cruising Cultura Route 66 statue and stopped for photos.

Our first stop as we drove Route 66 towards Grants was at the Villa de Cubero Trading Post.

We took a little detour from Route 66 to visit the Sky City Cultural Center & Haak’u Museum, which included a guided tour of the pueblo, which is thought to be the longest continuously inhabited community in the United States.

Next we visited El Malpais National Monument and the La Ventana Natural Bridge, which is actually on part of the National Conservation Area and not the National Monument.

We then headed into Grants and did their Route 66 Drive through Sign.

After doing our sign photos, we parked nearby and walked around the Fire & Ice Park, which had a very interesting sculpture with tiles telling some of the area's history.

At the KOA, we started our load of laundry and then went for a walk on their trail through the lava flows before making dinner.

See full list of Our Route 66 Adventures here and Google map here.

Our Koffee Trail: Cutbow Coffee

Date of Visit: October 14, 2026

Location: Cutbow Coffee (Albuquerque, NM)

Rating: ❤️(Love)

Before leaving Albuquerque this morning, we stopped at Cutbow Coffee.

I enjoyed a Cutbow Amorcita, which has red chile syrup. I don’t like spicy food, but for some reason I enjoy spicy coffee drinks.

Dad enjoyed a San Pancho pour over.

See full list of Our Koffee Trail stops here and Our Koffee Trail Google Maps list here.

Our Route 66 Daily Journal: October 13, 2026

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Today we did things around Albuquerque, NM, including a national park unit, museums, and the rest of the pre-1937 Route 66 into Albuquerque.

We started our day with coffee at New Mexico Pinon Coffee.

Next we visited Petroglyph National Monument, where we took a short, but steep hike.

We then visited the Albuquerque Museum, which included some temporary exhibits related to Route 66.

Next we walked around Old Town with our first stop being for some fudge at The Candy Lady.

After finding several places closed on Tuesdays, we ended up at the Church Street Cafe and enjoyed lunch there.

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After lunch, we briefly went inside to see the San Felipe de Neri Church.

We then braved the Rattlesnake Museum.

Next we drove to the Rio Grande Trading for the stamp in the Mother Road Passport.

Our next stop was at Albuquerque's Madonna of the Trail statue.

Next we drove out to Enchanted Trails RV Park & Trading Post, where we checked out some vintage trailers, saw their giant hubcap tree, and got a Ricky the Roadrunner.

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We were supposed to visit Enchanted Trails this morning, but Dad misread the spreadsheet and skipped it after Petroglyph National Monument. Doing it at the end of the day, worked out better, though, as we knew we had time to take the pre-1937 Route 66 to Albuquerque as our way to our hotel.

As we headed to west to pick up the pre-1937 alignment, we stopped at the Rio Puerco Bridge.

On our way back to Albuquerque, we also made a quick stop in Los Lunas for a photo of their Route 66 sign.

See full list of Our Route 66 Adventures here and Google map here.

Our Route 66 Daily Journal: October 12, 2026

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Today we backtracked back East on post-1937 Route 66 from Albuquerque to Moriarty and returned to Albuquerque.

We started our day by walking to get coffee at Little Bear Coffee.

We then drove to Moriarty on Route 66 and first stopped at Crossley Park to take photos of the statues.

As we headed to Moriarty, we realized the first museum we planned to visit was closed on holidays, but we still were able to visit the nearby Lewis Antique Auto & Toy Museum.

Before leaving Moriarty, we took some photos of the Whiting Brothers Gas Station, which is now Sal & Inez's Services Station

As we headed back to Albuquerque, we got shakes at Blake's Lotaburger. We first tried to get Pumpkin Pie shakes in Moriarty, but their shake machine was broken. The one in Edgewood's pumpkin pie has not defrosted, but we were able to get cherry shakes.

Back in Albuqueque, we enjoyed visiting the National Museum of Nuclear Science & History.

We then drove out to the West Central Route 66 Visitor Center, which we knew was closed all the days were are in the Albuquerque area, but hoped we could still visit their Neon Sign Park. The park is behind their gates, but we were able to see them okay from outside the gates.

Next we had dinner at 66 Diner.

 

After dinner, we headed to Monterey Motel, where we are spending the night.

See full list of Our Route 66 Adventures here and Google map here.

Our Route 66 Daily Journal: October 11, 2026

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Today we took a detour from Santa Fe to visit some National Park units and then took Route 66 from Santa Fe to Albuquerque.

Our first stop of the day was Pecos National Historical Park, which is off of the pre-1937 Route 66. We did the Ancestral Sites Trail here.

Then we headed off of Route 66 to visit the Los Alamos Visitor Center that is part of the Manhattan Project National Historical Park.

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Our next stop on our detour was the Valles Caldera National Preserve.

Bandelier National Monument was our final stop on our detour from Route 66.

We had some rain and rainbows as we returned to Santa Fe to pick up Route 66 where we had got off it and continue on to Albuquerque.

In Albuquerque, we checked in to the Hotel Andaluz Albuquerque, which was the first Hilton hotel outside of Texas (I think like 4th Hilton hotel overall).

For dinner, we walked around the block to JC's New York Pizza Department, which is on Central Avenue - one of Route 66's alignments through Albuquerque.

See full list of Our Route 66 Adventures here and Google map here.