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.

Our Route 66 Daily Journal: October 10, 2026

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Today we did Route 66 from Santa Rosa to Santa Fe, NM, with a side trip to Las Vegas, NM, before spending most of the day in Santa Fe.

Our first stop of the day was in Las Vegas at the Plaza Hotel, where we got coffee at their Sip & Savor Cafe.

We then drove Route 66 to Santa Fe, which also followed the Santa Fe Trail.

In Santa Fe, we found parking near the Plaza and then walked around to what we wanted to visit. Our first stop was at the San Miguel Church.

Next we visited the New Mexico History Museum, which includes the Palace of the Governors.

We mostly did the Palace of Governors part before lunch and then returned to see the history museum exhibits after lunch.

For lunch, we had savory pastries and coffee at 35N Santa Fe Coffee Co.

After lunch before returning to the New Mexico History Museum, we visited the Oldest House.

On the way back to the museum, we found an End of the Santa Fe Trail marker.

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

Our Route 66 Daily Journal: October 9, 2026

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Today we did Route 66 from Tucumcari to Santa Rosa, NM mostly with stops at museums.

We started our day with good conversation about Tucumcari and Route 66 with locals while getting coffee and lemonade at Kandel’s Street Sips.

As we were driving to get coffee, we spotted the train station, which we had read about being restored on a historical marker yesterday. We were going to just go take some photos of it, but learned that there was a museum inside, so we decided to wait about ten minutes for the Tucumcari Railroad Museum to open.

Our next stop was the Tucumcari Historical Museum.

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We then enjoyed Mesalands Community College’s Dinosaur Museum.

Since we were ahead of schedule even after an extra museum, we decided to have lunch in Tucumcari at La Cita.

Before leaving Tucumcari, we stopped to take photos of the Tucumcari Route 66 Statue.

Our next stop was at the Blue Hole in Santa Rosa.

As it was only around 3pm, we decided to also visit the Route 66 Auto Museum today instead of waiting to do in the morning as originally planned, which should allow us more time in Santa Fe tomorrow.

Before heading to the hotel, we drove the musical road in Santa Rosa several times to get an okay video of playing "My Country Tis of Thee."

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

Our Koffee Trail: Kandel’s Street Sips

Date of Visit: October 9, 2026

Location: Kandel’s Street Sips (Tucumcari, NM)

Rating: ❤️ (Love)

Our first stop this morning was for coffee and lemonade at Kandel’s Street Sips. We enjoyed good conversation about Tucumcari, New Mexico, and Route 66. We also picked up the New Mexico Route 66 Main Street Passport and the got the Tucumcari Main Street sticker.

As they didn’t have decaf lattes, I got an Electric Berry Solution Lemonade (blue raspberry syrup, butterfly tea, flavored cubes). It was delicious.

Dad enjoyed a latte.

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

Our Route 66 Daily Journal: October 8, 2026

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Today we started with a side trip to some National Park units and then did Route 66 from Amarillo, TX, to Tucumcari, NM, including some Dirt 66.

Our first stop of the day was at the Lake Meredith National Recreation Area visitor center for the America 250 stamp. We then drove out to Fritch Fortress campground to takes some photos of Lake Meredith.

We then drove to Alibates Flint Quarries National, where we took a short hike before watching the movie at the Visitor Center.

Back on Route 66 in Amarillo, we found coffee at 806 Coffee.

Our next stop was at the Milburn-Price Culture Museum in Vega.

In Vega, we also took some photos at the old Magnolia Gas Station.

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At Mama Jo's Pies and Sweets, I got a slice of pie for later (meant to have for dinner, but ended up having for breakfast the next morning).

We had a late lunch at the Midpoint Cafe and Gift Shop.

After lunch, we took photos of the Route 66 Midpoint.

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We also stopped for photos and souvenirs at Dream Maker Station.

As we left Texas, we stopped at the abandoned Last/First Motel Stop in Texas for Dad to put the New Mexico sticker on the car.

In New Mexico, we were originally planned to take the Interstate and visit Russell's Travel Center, but I had heard that they were selling off the museum and that it might not have much to see, so we decided to skip it and take Route 66 as it turned into a dirt road to San Jon.

There ended up being a sign for local traffic only partway along the dirt road, so we ended up going back up to the Interstate at the exit for Russell’s Travel Center, so we did stop and to see the car museum. There were not any cars still on display, but they was still quite a bit to see, although not for long as a good amount is on auction ending in two days (and yes, for a few hours we did seriously consider bidding on an old gas pump...)

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We continued on Route 66 as mostly frontage road to Tucumcari, where we first stopped at Tee Pee Curios.

As we headed to the KOA, we stopped at some Tucumcari Historical Markers.

After it got dark, we headed back into Tucumcari for some photos of the neon signs including the Blue Swallow Motel and Tee Pee Curios.

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