Detour

We took a little detour in New Mexico. After spending the night in Santa Rosa, I noticed a little blip in the local guide about Puerta de Luna. The name sounded so romantic! It's 10 miles south of Santa Rosa down a curving road in the Pecos River Valley. We're always on the lookout for cool retirement locations in the Southwest. Someplace less sizzling in the summer than Phoenix. Some little town with quaint homes, shops, and scenery! An undiscovered Winthrop, Washington or Bisbee, Arizona with fairly close access to an urban area with shopping and good medical care. (We don't ask for much!)

Remains of Rosa de Lima chapel on the road to Puerta de Luna.

Driving down to Puerta de Luna along the Pecos, it was beautiful. We saw a couple of large haciendas and thought maybe this was the new valley of the rich and famous. The scene above with the historic church in the distance told us we were nearing our destination.

Old church.

Down the same road as the church, there were some small houses of interest. One had an artsy flair (that's being kind) with an old Conoco sign out front.

Old hovel.

As I was taking photos of the local color, a shit-kickin' large black dog came barreling down the road. We normally keep the windows locked, but Craig had unlocked so I could snap pictures from inside the car. So Saby, in her excitement, rolled her back window down and was hanging out whining and carrying on. (Yes, the Wonder Dog CAN hit the button and roll her window down.) Anyway, the big black dog was barking, gnashing teeth, growling, jumping around -- you get the picture. So it was a moment of panic getting Saby securely back inside the window and getting the hell out of there! Nothing like attracting a LOT of attention when you're taking photos in a 'rustic' neighborhood. Tee hee.

We moved on down the main road in search of the town square. I was thinking quaint shops, a bakery stop, some photo ops of historic buildings, etc... We never found it. I did see one other residence of note before we decided to cut our losses and head back to the interstate.

Another rustic casa with used car lot out front.

While the Pecos River valley was beautiful, this little village was what I would call 'off the map'! I read a description of Puerta de Luna online again and I'm sure we missed something. It describes an old courthouse, square, and historic adobe buildings. The description and name sounded so intriguing, but I'm still marking Puerta de Luna off the retirement list.

No offense -- Puerta de Luna-ites!