Mother’s Day In New Mexico

Mother’s Day was a week ago. And this year we spent Mother’s Day in New Mexico. However, unlike previous Mother’s Days, we did not spend it hiking on some monumental trail. This year was a little different.

We began the Mother’s Day celebration as we commonly do, with Mama Nomad eating Mint Newman O’s and coffee. After this nutritious breakfast, Mama Nomad read cards that were made for her and opened her Mother’s Day gifts. Then we prepared for a day of new adventures. Our first stop was Sandia Park, New Mexico.

You may ask, “what is in Sandia Park, New Mexico?” With a population of 237, it is a fair question to ask. And my answer would be, the Tinkertown Museum. The Tinkertown Museum was founded in 1983 by Ross Ward. Ross was an artist whose carvings began as part of a traveling exhibit, that went to county fairs and carnivals in the 1960s and 1970s. Today it is a 22 room museum with over 50,000 bottles making up many surrounding walls.

When you walk through this place, you have to look in all directions because some of what you need to see is on the ceiling while other things are on the floor. At one point, you will even encounter a 35′ antique sailboat, the Theodora R, that was sailed around the world by one of the family members. It took him 10 years to do it. And, as luck would have it, the captain, Fritz Damler, that made the amazing voyage was actually there to greet us and answer our questions.

This museum had a wide variety of carvings with environments that were powered and had the figurines moving. Some of the carvings were even put to music. I had truly never seen anything like this place in my entire journey of the US. This place is worth a visit, truly.

After we left Tinkertown, we continued northward to another little city called Madrid. It has a population of 149 people. Seems like it was a day to visit little towns. What drew us here? The answer is the movie Wild Hogs that starred Tim Allen, John Travolta, Martin Lawrence, William H Macy and Ray Liotta. It was filmed in this little town. And, the town has a thriving little art scene in it.

We drive through the town, twice. It took us about 5 minutes, both ways. We found a gravel parking lot and got out to explore. We ducked into this little chocolate shop called Shugarman’s. The owner was quite polite and he made some interesting, yet delicious chocolate. I tried this New Mexico flavored chocolate that had peppers in it as well as some dark chocolate with cherries. Both were great. We spent a little time wandering around the town and then decided to leave. The town lacked sidewalks and much of the merchandise was priced at a level that we did not agree with its value. But we did leave with a bag of Shugarman’s chocolate. It was that delicious.

We left Madrid and headed back to Albuquerque. The whole family was hungry and Mama Nomad was in the mood for some Southern Cooking. We did a search and, to our surprise, a restaurant called The Nexus Brewery kept popping up. We were unaware that a brewery would serve Soul Food, but we were game and headed over.

When we got there, we saw a poster of Guy Fieri. He is the host of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. The poster was there because Guy visited the Nexus Brewery. And Guy does not commonly visit places unless they have great food. So, it was a good sign. We were seated quickly and our server was cordial and attentive.

We ordered some fried okra to satiate our hunger while our food was prepared. Before too long, our food was brought out. Mama Nomad and I shared fried chicken, macaroni and cheese, greens and mashed potatoes. The boys each ordered something scrumptious. When the food hit the table, we were off to the races. The food was great, our server was awesome and the atmosphere was super relaxed. We had a great Mother’s Day dinner.

After the Nexus Brewery, we headed home. Mama Nomad had enough excitement for the day and we were all beat as well. After everything was said and done, Mama Nomad had a great Mother’s Day for 2017 and her opinion was the only one that mattered. Another successful Mother’s Day. I wonder what we will do next year. Safe Travels.