We had heard about the car museum with Route 66 gift shop in Santa Rosa and decided to take a day’s excursion last fall. Perhaps they would have things in their gift shop that we could use for decor in our new Route 66 room.
It was a gorgeous clear day with blue New Mexico sky and puffy white clouds. It’s interesting to see how the landscape changes, from grazing land to pinion trees, back to more scrub land with prickly pear and cholla cactus.
Our first stop in Santa Rosa was lunch at the Silver Moon Cafe. The food was good, but not exceptional. Perhaps I had expected something more along the lines of the 66 Diner in Albuquerque.
I had a map of Route 66 New Mexico that had been published in 2000 that showed all of the Route 66 buildings, landmarks and places of interest at the time. It’s amazing how many of them have disappeared in 10 years. The billboards on rocks in Santa Rosa are long gone and the rocks are hard to find. The Club Cafe that was reputedly such an outstanding place to eat is gone and only a battered sign remains.
