New Mexico | Fotoeins Fotografie

I-40, Interstate 40, US-66, US route 66, Continental Divide, NM, USA, fotoeins.com

Fotoeins Friday: I-40 and US-66 at Continental Divide, NM

To kick off 2019, I begin with glimpses from the road over two weeks this past autumn in the American Southwest.

Traveling west on Interstate 40 (I-40) towards Flagstaff, the town of Continental Divide in New Mexico sits on top of the geographic feature known as the continental divide, defined as “the main series of mountain ridges in North America, chiefly the crests of the Rocky Mountains, forming a watershed separating the rivers flowing east into the Atlantic Ocean/Gulf of Mexico from rivers flowing west into the Pacific Ocean.” Off I-40, you reach a frontage road that is old US route 66 (US-66) along which there are shops and a big gas station. The view here faces northwest to two east-west railroad tracks and towards Navajo Nation lands in the distance. The town of Continental Divide is 112 miles east from Albuquerque and 49 miles west from the New Mexico-Arizona state border at Lupton.

I made the pictures here on 12 October 2018 with a Fujifilm X70 fixed-lens prime. Thanks to AB for making this memorable trip possible. This post appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com as https://wp.me/p1BIdT-czy.

Santa Fe Bite, Santa Fe, NM, fotoeins.com

Cozy cafés, Southwest sabores

Our time in the American Southwest was much more than the extensive drives, more than the 3100 miles accumulated on the road. We were eager to sample the food, and specifically, the sustained burst of heat from red and green chiles famously represented in New Mexico. The following are some of our favourite flavours with visual reasons why we were not disappointed and why we want to go back.

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Classical Gas Museum, Embudo, NM, fotoeins.com

Colours of the American Southwest

Above/featured: Classical Gas Museum: Embudo, NM – 11 Oct 2018 (X70).

I wrote previously about our time (in autumn 2018) driving through parts of the American Southwest where I also gave more “shutter workout” to my Fujifilm X70 compact mirrorless camera.

We’d seen an abundance and variety of colours throughout our journey, and upon return, I asked myself from what we had witnessed if there were sufficient examples to show. What follows below are sets of images from Arizona and New Mexico, with colours distributed throughout the “ROYGBIV spectrum”: Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet.

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Bugs Bunny, Warner Bros. Cartoons, Bully for Bugs (1953)

That Left Turn in Albuquerque, 1938-2019

Above/featured: “Bully for Bugs” (Warner Bros. Pictures, 1953).

Something is burrowing through the desert when a creature pops up through a hole in the dirt. A grey rabbit stands, brushing himself off and looking at his surroundings. Realizing he’s not where he should be, he checks his map and says aloud with mild irritation:

“I knew I should’ve taken that left turn at Albuquerque.”

That Bugs Bunny statement is a frequently used gag in a number of Warner Brothers cartoons. But seriously, that is one very specific geographical reference. What does Bugs mean by “that left turn?” Is it a real thing?

Let’s go to New Mexico in the American Southwest, to Albuquerque, whose modern development has been shaped by the car and high-speed roads. The city’s history is tied with the creation of the American highway and with one of the most well-known highway, US route 66.

After the 1937 realignment of highway US route-66, Central Avenue became the east-west “Mother Road” through the city. Driving west on Central Avenue towards the city’s Old Town district, the road bends slightly right and northwest to run parallel with the Rio Grande river. The road eventually comes up to a junction, and drivers are faced with choices at the intersection of what are now Central Avenue and Rio Grande Boulevard.

• Turn right, and drivers are headed away from US-66 and north towards Santa Fe.
• Jig slightly left, and drivers continue west on US-66 towards Arizona and the highway’s west terminus in Los Angeles, California.

John Deeth wrote about this in August 2011.

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I-25, El Camino Real, US-66, Rosario, Budaghers, New Mexico, USA, fotoeins.com

US Southwest drive: road trip numbers & memories (2018)

Above/featured: NM I-25 southbound, between Rosario and Budaghers – 5 Oct 2018 (X70).

In October 2018, we embarked on a modest 2-week driving trip through parts of New Mexico and Arizona. We began in Santa Fe and Albuquerque, drove west towards Flagstaff and the Grand Canyon, south to Tucson, and finally, northeast on the return to Santa Fe. With our first-time attendance at the Balloon Fiesta and first-time visit to the Grand Canyon accomplished, we’d like to examine further the Grand Staircase geographical formation beyond the Utah-Arizona border region and the historical remnants from old highway US route 66.

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