Numinous New Mexico

[Austin Popper]

Some friendships can be deep, and occasionally they may be vile.

At the same time, even.

Denny's link sausage manages to be crunchy and greasy at the same time. It's not nice. Deep fried sausage is a heart attack seed too far.

Sitting at my sister's bar many years ago, drinking watery beer, I got a bit hungry and decided to get a snack. I looked at the menu, even though I had been very familiar with it long before Sis bought the place. Everything on it was fried, including, bizarrely, hot dogs. The original owners of the place (who opened it in '54) sliced hot dogs down the middle and grilled 'em. For some reason. Apparently Sis saw no reason to mess with tradition. Want toast? It's grilled. So anyway, I decided to look at the regular junk food, only to find potato chips, Hostess fried pies, and so on. If you wanted anything other than a candy bar or a "beer", it was fried.

To be fair, Sis did a big lunch business, and the daily special was usually lasagna, baked ham, meatloaf and mashed taters, or something not fried. Good stuff. She's a good cook. Very efficient too. Do Not get in her way when she is cooking. Anyone who called her between 11:30 and 1:00 had better be calling to order food. One of her jobs before being a bar owner was at the local grocery store, so she knew the color code on the wire ties on bread wrappers. Bread delivery drivers trying to foist stale stuff on her got chased off, permanently.

 

[JahaRa]

I consider Denny's to be a place to get edible food if there is nothing decent nearby. And I'm really hungry. In my tour driving days, I found myself at Denny's far too often. I knew there was something not right about their sausage links. One time I was seated at the counter, with the cooks in view. I saw one of the cooks pull the basket out of a deep fryer, and dump deep fried sausage links onto a tray. Oh boy.

I love the food in New Mexico, particularly the Mexican food. It's famous for being different and much better than the usual Tex Mex one finds elsewhere (which I like a lot too).

One time on a bus tour, the guide was going over her plans for the day as we waited for the luggage to appear from the hotel. She said she was thinking of having lunch in Cuba, a tiny town in New Mexico where that particular tour usually did a morning break stop, at a gas station because there was nothing else around for miles and miles. "It's a little early for lunch, but we can dawdle a bit on the way and get in at about 11."

"Lunch at Cuba?" I asked, thinking she had lost her mind. She told me the name of the place. I had never heard of it. She told me where it was, and I said I thought that place was long closed down. "You haven't eaten there? It's great. You'll see."

We got to the old motel, which really did look, well, not exactly abandoned, but not open for business either. I parked next to the front door and let everyone out, then parked under a giant shade tree, a welcome luxury in the desert. Inside, I found a modest but very clean diner type place, and the food was wonderful. The owner came 'round and asked me how the food was. I told her it was great. She said, "Everything in your salad there came from the garden out back, fresh this morning."

I told some other guides about it, and they all thought I was nuts. I have no idea how that one guide found out about it.

Later--
Wow! What a difference 30 year make! Cuba now has many places to eat lunch, including a friggin' McDonalds. I think the place we stopped that day was right where this laundromat is now, but it has been a long time and I'm not sure. There were two gas stations, neither of which sold diesel fuel, and a few other businesses but no place better than a gas station for a break stop. Gas stations were pretty much the bottom of the list for that.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/6...d58176f3!8m2!3d36.026279!4d-106.9597809?hl=en

Reminds me of Moab, Utah. The first time I was ever there was on a tour. There was one cafe, a grocery store, and a gift shop or two. We stayed the night, and went to the grocery store so everyone could buy something for lunch, a picnic at Capitol Reef National Park, pretty much the middle of nowhere but with stunning views and some interesting ruins from the wild west days. The next year, Moab had two new motels and a couple of new restaurants. On my last visit, in 2012 I think, the main street was full of gift shops, pizza joints, coffee shops, Mexican restaurants, gift shops, regular Italian places, burger joints, and on and on. Weird.

That takes me way back. When I was a kid we met at the Frontier twice every summer do my mom and my aunt could swap kids. My brother an I would go with my aunt and sometimes her younger kids would go with my mom. My aunt lived in Aztec, where my parents grew up and we lived in Albuquerque. In the 90's there was a place called El Brunos, it is still there, just not a hole in the wall anymore. They have the best chile in the whole state because they grow their own chile. The family owns chile fields and that is what they use in their food. Always fresh. The difference between New Mexican food and Tex-Mex is the freshness and type of chile used in the recipes.

El Brunos now has a restaraunt in Albuquerque as well as in Cuba. Next time you go through Cuba try it.

 

[JahaRa]

I consider Denny's to be a place to get edible food if there is nothing decent nearby. And I'm really hungry. In my tour driving days, I found myself at Denny's far too often. I knew there was something not right about their sausage links. One time I was seated at the counter, with the cooks in view. I saw one of the cooks pull the basket out of a deep fryer, and dump deep fried sausage links onto a tray. Oh boy.

I love the food in New Mexico, particularly the Mexican food. It's famous for being different and much better than the usual Tex Mex one finds elsewhere (which I like a lot too).

One time on a bus tour, the guide was going over her plans for the day as we waited for the luggage to appear from the hotel. She said she was thinking of having lunch in Cuba, a tiny town in New Mexico where that particular tour usually did a morning break stop, at a gas station because there was nothing else around for miles and miles. "It's a little early for lunch, but we can dawdle a bit on the way and get in at about 11."

"Lunch at Cuba?" I asked, thinking she had lost her mind. She told me the name of the place. I had never heard of it. She told me where it was, and I said I thought that place was long closed down. "You haven't eaten there? It's great. You'll see."

We got to the old motel, which really did look, well, not exactly abandoned, but not open for business either. I parked next to the front door and let everyone out, then parked under a giant shade tree, a welcome luxury in the desert. Inside, I found a modest but very clean diner type place, and the food was wonderful. The owner came 'round and asked me how the food was. I told her it was great. She said, "Everything in your salad there came from the garden out back, fresh this morning."

I told some other guides about it, and they all thought I was nuts. I have no idea how that one guide found out about it.

Later--
Wow! What a difference 30 year make! Cuba now has many places to eat lunch, including a friggin' McDonalds. I think the place we stopped that day was right where this laundromat is now, but it has been a long time and I'm not sure. There were two gas stations, neither of which sold diesel fuel, and a few other businesses but no place better than a gas station for a break stop. Gas stations were pretty much the bottom of the list for that.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/6...d58176f3!8m2!3d36.026279!4d-106.9597809?hl=en

Reminds me of Moab, Utah. The first time I was ever there was on a tour. There was one cafe, a grocery store, and a gift shop or two. We stayed the night, and went to the grocery store so everyone could buy something for lunch, a picnic at Capitol Reef National Park, pretty much the middle of nowhere but with stunning views and some interesting ruins from the wild west days. The next year, Moab had two new motels and a couple of new restaurants. On my last visit, in 2012 I think, the main street was full of gift shops, pizza joints, coffee shops, Mexican restaurants, gift shops, regular Italian places, burger joints, and on and on. Weird.

Tourism brings in a lot of money.

 

[JahaRa]

What's the issue with that? We have battered and fried sausages over here in the UK.
OK, I guess they would be swimming in fat - that may be the main problem.

That was an interesting write-up, by the way.

Yes, that is the main problem in my opinion. It is disgusting. Take an already greasy food and boil it in oil, awful.

 

[JahaRa]

At the same time, even.

Denny's link sausage manages to be crunchy and greasy at the same time. It's not nice. Deep fried sausage is a heart attack seed too far.

Sitting at my sister's bar many years ago, drinking watery beer, I got a bit hungry and decided to get a snack. I looked at the menu, even though I had been very familiar with it long before Sis bought the place. Everything on it was fried, including, bizarrely, hot dogs. The original owners of the place (who opened it in '54) sliced hot dogs down the middle and grilled 'em. For some reason. Apparently Sis saw no reason to mess with tradition. Want toast? It's grilled. So anyway, I decided to look at the regular junk food, only to find potato chips, Hostess fried pies, and so on. If you wanted anything other than a candy bar or a "beer", it was fried.

To be fair, Sis did a big lunch business, and the daily special was usually lasagna, baked ham, meatloaf and mashed taters, or something not fried. Good stuff. She's a good cook. Very efficient too. Do Not get in her way when she is cooking. Anyone who called her between 11:30 and 1:00 had better be calling to order food. One of her jobs before being a bar owner was at the local grocery store, so she knew the color code on the wire ties on bread wrappers. Bread delivery drivers trying to foist stale stuff on her got chased off, permanently.

What town is her bar in?

 

[Lb8535]

Well nothing in Amarillo is on the highway which is why you can zip through and look forward to Tucumcari or Santa Rose if you can stay awake. The Denny's had resident bums and served very old and frayed lettuce. I have never noticed that D's is big on fried food, I'm a veggie and their salads are usually perfectly OK and sometimes interesting, Next time I'll look for cracker barrel.

 

[Lb8535]

I consider Denny's to be a place to get edible food if there is nothing decent nearby. And I'm really hungry. In my tour driving days, I found myself at Denny's far too often. I knew there was something not right about their sausage links. One time I was seated at the counter, with the cooks in view. I saw one of the cooks pull the basket out of a deep fryer, and dump deep fried sausage links onto a tray. Oh boy.

I love the food in New Mexico, particularly the Mexican food. It's famous for being different and much better than the usual Tex Mex one finds elsewhere (which I like a lot too).

One time on a bus tour, the guide was going over her plans for the day as we waited for the luggage to appear from the hotel. She said she was thinking of having lunch in Cuba, a tiny town in New Mexico where that particular tour usually did a morning break stop, at a gas station because there was nothing else around for miles and miles. "It's a little early for lunch, but we can dawdle a bit on the way and get in at about 11."

"Lunch at Cuba?" I asked, thinking she had lost her mind. She told me the name of the place. I had never heard of it. She told me where it was, and I said I thought that place was long closed down. "You haven't eaten there? It's great. You'll see."

We got to the old motel, which really did look, well, not exactly abandoned, but not open for business either. I parked next to the front door and let everyone out, then parked under a giant shade tree, a welcome luxury in the desert. Inside, I found a modest but very clean diner type place, and the food was wonderful. The owner came 'round and asked me how the food was. I told her it was great. She said, "Everything in your salad there came from the garden out back, fresh this morning."

I told some other guides about it, and they all thought I was nuts. I have no idea how that one guide found out about it.

Later--
Wow! What a difference 30 year make! Cuba now has many places to eat lunch, including a friggin' McDonalds. I think the place we stopped that day was right where this laundromat is now, but it has been a long time and I'm not sure. There were two gas stations, neither of which sold diesel fuel, and a few other businesses but no place better than a gas station for a break stop. Gas stations were pretty much the bottom of the list for that.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/6...d58176f3!8m2!3d36.026279!4d-106.9597809?hl=en

Reminds me of Moab, Utah. The first time I was ever there was on a tour. There was one cafe, a grocery store, and a gift shop or two. We stayed the night, and went to the grocery store so everyone could buy something for lunch, a picnic at Capitol Reef National Park, pretty much the middle of nowhere but with stunning views and some interesting ruins from the wild west days. The next year, Moab had two new motels and a couple of new restaurants. On my last visit, in 2012 I think, the main street was full of gift shops, pizza joints, coffee shops, Mexican restaurants, gift shops, regular Italian places, burger joints, and on and on. Weird.

That diner in Cuba was famous - I do think there's still a similar small restaurant there although the town is much bigger now.

 

[JahaRa]

Well nothing in Amarillo is on the highway which is why you can zip through and look forward to Tucumcari or Santa Rose if you can stay awake. The Denny's had resident bums and served very old and frayed lettuce. I have never noticed that D's is big on fried food, I'm a veggie and their salads are usually perfectly OK and sometimes interesting, Next time I'll look for cracker barrel.

What highway do you use to go through Amarillo? Cracker barrel is on the west side off of I-40. The only place I ever stop in Tucumcari is the Loves gas station/truck stop. I don't think I have ever stopped in Santa Rosa unless it was also at the Loves gas station/truck stop. I know there is a lake that is used to train scuba divers there because it is very deep.

 

[Austin Popper]

What town is her bar in?

She sold the place quite a few years ago. It's in the hilly part of Kansas. Most of the hills are in the eastern third of the state, though there are a few big ones Out West. That's why the beer was so lame. It's better now, but the liquor laws are still wacky. Better than Utah these days, but that ain't sayin' much.

I have not been in a Denny's in quite a long time, mostly because I haven't seen one. Most of their food is not bad, but given the choice I'd take a Burger King or an Applebee's. A Waffle House nearby? No contest! I would definitely go to Denny's over a KFC or White Castle. Is White Castle even still around?

I see the creators of South Park have purchased Casa Bonita in Denver. Perfect! They claim they will improve the food, but really how hard could that be?

 

[JahaRa]

She sold the place quite a few years ago. It's in the hilly part of Kansas. Most of the hills are in the eastern third of the state, though there are a few big ones Out West. That's why the beer was so lame. It's better now, but the liquor laws are still wacky. Better than Utah these days, but that ain't sayin' much.

I lived at Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas for a year in 1979-1980. I guess it is in eastern Kansas because we were about 50 miles from Kansas city and I was surprised about the hills. I had been taught that Kansas is flat, and compared to New Mexico, it is but not that flat. I did not like living in Kansas, the only place worse that I have lived in is Virginia. But then, in Kansas it was all military where I lived so I did not really get a good idea how it is to live in Kansas, just was always shocked about the Kansas City newspaper stories of children killing their parents. It seemed to happen a lot.

 

[Lb8535]

What highway do you use to go through Amarillo? Cracker barrel is on the west side off of I-40. The only place I ever stop in Tucumcari is the Loves gas station/truck stop. I don't think I have ever stopped in Santa Rosa unless it was also at the Loves gas station/truck stop. I know there is a lake that is used to train scuba divers there because it is very deep.

Always on 40 on the way to Santa Fe. If you get off at Santa Rosa and drive north in town there is a good selection of restaurants and decent hotels. And a laundromat and a nice back road to Santa Fe. I've never actually seen the lake. The most amazing place I've stopped on that route if I may digress was the time I was stuck in my car overnight just over the line into West Memphis, which is pretty unspeakable, because in the wake of a blizzard the one guy running the one snowplow Tennessee owned had screwed up the plowing and during the ensuing freeze tractor trailers were jackknifed for miles. The national guard woke us all up to tell us to start driving at 4 am and I drove until I began to fall asleep ending up in Elk City Ok, where in the middle of nowhere, a crossroad in the desert, there was quite a number of national hotel chains and a really excellent Northern Italian restaurant, Roma. I asked the hotel clerk politely why anyone would want to visit Elk City and she said "oil." The owner of the restaurant had met his wife in Italy and followed her home. Google says it's still there. I've been trying to engineer my trips ever since to have to stop there for the night but usually end up doing Santa Fe-Joplin in one day. I also know a nice place to stay in Joplin if you plan to be there.

 

[Austin Popper]

I lived at Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas for a year in 1979-1980.

Yeah, that part of the state is not much fun. Kansas City is OK if you know where to go, or maybe more importantly where not to go. I have relatives in the general area, and it's not bad. I don't miss Kansas, particularly the climate. Many places can be dull and boring. The winters are often long, cold, windy and grey. Kansas City newspapers and TV stations can be depressing.

Lawrence is a really nice town in a pretty and pleasant setting. It began as an anti-slavery outpost established by New Englanders, and still bears evidence of it in the architecture and in the local culture. Since we are on the subject of food, don't miss the Free State Brewery if you ever visit. It was the first modern brew pub in Kansas. The owners were said to have had to get some state laws changed in order to even open the place. It has been a very popular restaurant ever since. They make really good beer too. Lawrence is home to the University of Kansas, and all the benefits that come with it. If I had to move back to Kansas, that's where I would land.

 

[JahaRa]

Always on 40 on the way to Santa Fe. If you get off at Santa Rosa and drive north in town there is a good selection of restaurants and decent hotels. And a laundromat and a nice back road to Santa Fe. I've never actually seen the lake. The most amazing place I've stopped on that route if I may digress was the time I was stuck in my car overnight just over the line into West Memphis, which is pretty unspeakable, because in the wake of a blizzard the one guy running the one snowplow Tennessee owned had screwed up the plowing and during the ensuing freeze tractor trailers were jackknifed for miles. The national guard woke us all up to tell us to start driving at 4 am and I drove until I began to fall asleep ending up in Elk City Ok, where in the middle of nowhere, a crossroad in the desert, there was quite a number of national hotel chains and a really excellent Northern Italian restaurant, Roma. I asked the hotel clerk politely why anyone would want to visit Elk City and she said "oil." The owner of the restaurant had met his wife in Italy and followed her home. Google says it's still there. I've been trying to engineer my trips ever since to have to stop there for the night but usually end up doing Santa Fe-Joplin in one day. I also know a nice place to stay in Joplin if you plan to be there.

My daughter and I drove I-40 from Albuquerque to North Carolina where we headed north to Philadelphia. I remember stopping in Memphis, I think we spent the night there. We went to Graceland that day before we got back on the road. It was quite eye opening, that museum. I expected a huge mansion. And the basement, I laughed all day about the rooms in the basement. I remember we also stopped at Spaceport OK, which was about a mile from the freeway. It was a fun space museum based on some astronaut from that area.

The last trip I took that direction to Delaware (last year) I got on I70 in OKC because it was shorter but because of construction it added 3 or 4 hours a day to my driving.

 

[JahaRa]

I think I am the one that caused the thread drift so I will get it back onto Numinous New Mexico. I used to take the kids to Billy the Kid weekend at Lincoln, New Mexico. They always had a lot going on for such a small town. It only had one restaraunt that was part of a hotel, the museum, a crafts & gifts store and big fields where they would have fiddle contests and other fun things. Lots of barbeque grills and a horse drawn trolley to go the 1/4 mile from the field where everyone parked to the museum where they had tours of the history of Billy the Kid escaping from their jail. It is on old highway 380 that goes through Roswell to I-25, it also goes from Roswell past Plano, Texas.

 

[Austin Popper]

Graceland is interesting, for sure. When I was there, both of Elvis's planes were on display elsewhere so I had to go through those.

The Jungle Room was a trip!

 

[JahaRa]

Some of you might be interested in some of the supposed haunted places in New Mexico:
https://www.newmexico.org/haunted/

I worked in the Dona Ana County building that was attached to the old jail in the 80's. The jail was still in use too. I don't remember any hauntings that I noticed and I never heard any stories. I do remember one night I had to go put paper in the printer. We were doing shifts so that we could keep the printer going all weekend for tax bills or something. It was an old giant, impossible to destroy printer. Anyway, I took my dog Maynerd with me when I went about midnight and when we got a block away from the courthouse he started howling (he was a wymereiner) and he didn't stop until I parked. Then when we got out he went right to the door I always go in, waited for me to unlock it and ran down the hall and up the stairs to the IT office. He did not have his nose to the ground once. I unlocked that door and he sat waiting while I checked the printer. I had to wait a few minutes for it to empty a box so I could load another one. That was very wierd to me as I had only had that dog a week.

One night in January the finance clerk and I had to work late and we were in my office and the jail had an incident. It was a cold winter but the fire alarms went off and we ran outside. We watched as all the prisoners were pushed out into the yard in their underware (it was about 11 pm). I felt sorry for them. It turned out that a prisoner had set his mattress on fire. Stupid idiot, I bet when all the guys went back in the beat the crap out of him.

Dona Ana County Courthouse & Jail​

Ghost Adventures, a popular paranormal show on the Travel Channel, helped put this southern New Mexico building in the national spotlight where paranormal activity is concerned. Built in 1937, this courthouse is no longer in use, but remains an attraction due to its reputation as a hotbed of paranormal happenings. The location of many deaths over the years, the building has been unused since 2008. Ghost hunters and paranormal investigators have made a point to stop in, and some say they’ve encountered an unknown, violent entity. In addition, shadowy apparitions have been seen, and people have also reported feeling cold spots in the building, a surefire sign of ghost activity according to believers. Other creepy occurrences? A repeat visitor to the site states that he has been scratched by an invisible hand and has witnessed a jail cell door closing on its own.

 

[Ulalume]

This thread is deeply confusing to me so I will just say that New Mexico is a beautifully eerie place and my favorite state.

Here is a nice New Mexican sunset for you.

 

[JahaRa]

This thread is deeply confusing to me so I will just say that New Mexico is a beautifully eerie place and my favorite state.

Here is a nice New Mexican sunset for you.

Why is it confusing?

 

[JahaRa]

That diner in Cuba was famous - I do think there's still a similar small restaurant there although the town is much bigger now.

I just drove through Cuba Saturday, taking my Aunt to the town she grew up in, where her husband is buried. She has bought her gravestone and it was set so she wanted to see it. Cuba has a Subway and a McDonalds and the Cuba Cafe on the south end of town is still there. El Brunos seems to get bigger every time I drive by, but if I am there at lunch time I always stop and have enchiladas. The mural on the wall was painted by my friend. Where the Frontier used to be next to the Frontier motel, there is still a diner but I have not stopped there.

 

[Ulalume]

Why is it confusing?

Because it seems to start from nowhere, and when I first clicked on it, the only things I could see were about pop songs and sausages!

 

[Mythopoeika]

Because it seems to start from nowhere, and when I first clicked on it, the only things I could see were about pop songs and sausages!

Isn't that like most threads here?

 

[Austin Popper]

Because it seems to start from nowhere, and when I first clicked on it, the only things I could see were about pop songs and sausages!

This thread was spun off another one, I forgot what it's about. Usually when that happens, there is an explanatory note placed in what is the new OP. I can see where it would be confusing if you weren't aware of the situation.

 

[JahaRa]

This thread was spun off another one, I forgot what it's about. Usually when that happens, there is an explanatory note placed in what is the new OP. I can see where it would be confusing if you weren't aware of the situation.

It started out talking about what the Brits know about Albuquerque, so I posted some music about Albuquerque with video of Albuquerque. And Numinous means "of, relating to, or like a numen; spiritual or supernatural." And New Mexico is called The Land of Enchantment.

So then some of us told stories about places in New Mexico.

 

[ChasFink]

So then some of us told stories about places in New Mexico.

...and then a hammer came and hit JahaRa on the head.