Not that Las Vegas

Las Vegas, New Mexico

Before leaving Canon City this morning we went to see the old historic downtown and saw a board on a building that listed the name and brand of the ranches in the area. It was begun in the 1850s and is still updated as necessary. Cute town, but just about everything was closed at the time we were there.

Later we stopped in Trinidad, Colorado, a town on the old Santa Fe Trail. Took a ride on a sightseeing trolley driven by a retired Greyhound Bus driver. Almost everything in Trinidad is made the red bricks--the streets, many buildings and residences, etc. The driver said no other place in the country uses as much brick per capita as Trinidad. (Who calculates this kind of stuff?)  Anyway, Trinidad was settled by Italian and German immigrants. The Italians did the stonework, including fancy carvings on the larger buildings, and the Germans did the interior woodwork, according to the driver.

Trinidad has the oldest, continuously operating reformed Jewish temple in the country (according to the driver). There used to be a lot of Jews in Trinidad, and they were very successful, said the driver, but they began moving out when competitors began eating into their profits. So they eventually all left and now they're in Venice, California. They'll never come back to Trinidad; no reason to come. The driver said all this without a hint of prejudice in his voice. Thankfully, there were no Jews on the trolley.

Oh, and so the temple continues to "operate continuously," I guess, because it was never sold and is still owned by the Jews. A rabbi in California has the only key to the building, but there's no reason for him to open the building because there are no Jews there.  Then, on another subject, he told us there were no bats in Colorado, just New Mexico. Old people, yikes!

A cute little town with lots of interesting restaurants. I had a Big Mac; Serry had an apple.

As we continued south on I-25, the land began changing. There are still mountains, mesas, and other  large rock outcroppings to be seen, but now they're far in the distance. The dominant feature in northern New Mexico so far are immense ranches.

We're in Las Vegas, NM, tonight and tomorrow night we'll explore the town tomorrow, as there's a lot of stuff to see according to Fodors, and then Friday we'll head toward Amarillo, Texas.