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From Primedia Publications

Las Vegas...New Mexico?
Trip Planner
Getting There
Las Vegas is in northern New Mexico, 64 miles east of Santa Fe, on I-25. The nearest major airport is Albuquerque International, 124 miles away. It's served by most major carriers. Santa Fe has commuter (small plane) service, primarily via Denver. From Albuquerque or Santa Fe, the direct route is I-25 north to Las Vegas. For the scenic route, take I-25 to I-40 in downtown Albuquerque, then follow I-40 eastbound 70 miles to State Route #3. Take northbound Route #3 for 32 miles through the villages of Villanueva and San Miguel in the Pecos River Valley to the intersection of I-25, 22 miles west of Las Vegas. Amtrak's "Southwest Chief " (Chicago-Los Angeles) stops daily in Las Vegas.

Information Please
The Chamber of Commerce, 513 6th St., (800) 832-5947, has visitor's guides, maps, and brochures of suggested walking tours. Open weekdays; hours vary. The Rough Riders Memorial and City Museum, 725 N. Grand Avenue, (505) 425-8726, has mementos and photographs of Roosevelt's Rough Riders plus many local items. Of particular interest: a detailed map locating nearby Santa Fe Trail ruts. Call for hours.

The Las Vegas Citizens' Commitee for Historic Preservation has an informative Web site at http://www.nmhu.edu/research/cchp/.

Lodging and Dining
Las Vegas has an assortment of franchise and independent motels. If you believe where you stay should be part of the trip, book into the Plaza Hotel, 230 Old Town Plaza, (505) 425-3591, or The Inn on the Santa Fe Trail, 1133 N. Grand Ave., (505) 425-6791. The Plaza, built by Don Benigno Romero in 1881 and rescued by the Lucero and Slick families in 1983, is a first-class Victorian hotel whose appearance, inside and out, has changed little in the last 100 years. The hotel has mirror-image, three-story central staircases, original Corinthian support columns and tin ceilings. Stenciled designs on the dining room walls are exact copies of the 1880 versions. The Inn on the Santa Fe Trail is a circa-1937 Pueblo Revival-style motor court. Boarded up in 1988, the inn has since been upgraded and restored (enlarged rooms, Southwestern furniture, new mechanical systems), but the owners left intact the spacious, shady grounds. To stay at the inn is to visit an early motel&3151;only the good parts. Breakfast served poolside. Pets welcome. El Rialto, (505) 454-0037, 141 Bridge St., just east of the Plaza, is a full-service restaurant with a liquor license. They serve classic New Mexican food (posole, chicos) and wonderful chicken tamales made by a wizard in the annex out back. The Landmark Grill in the Plaza Hotel serves excellent "continental" food, pasta, good fish, and has a decent wine list for rural New Mexico. The Grill actually has a chef. For dinner, you'd better make reservations, (505) 425-3591. Or there's always fast food out by the Interstate. And there's Estella's (see previous page).

What To See and Do
Fort Union National Monument is 26 miles north of Las Vegas, eight miles off I-25 at the end of New Mexico 161. The fort was established to protect the Santa Fe Trail (you can see trail ruts in several places on the Monument) from Indian attack. It later became the largest fort in the Southwest and the supply depot for 50 other military outposts. On a windswept plateau where the mountains meet the Staked Plains, Fort Union's 100 acres of adobe ruins photograph magnificently. There's an excellent small museum. Allow at least two hours to walk the grounds.

San Miguel del Vado is just off I-25 on State Route 3, about 33 miles west of Las Vegas. Founded in 1794, San Miguel del Vado was the village from which the Las Vegas colonists emigrated and an important early stop on the Santa Fe Trail. San Miguel's small working ranches, watered by acequias from the Pecos River, look a lot like they did before the U.S. conquest. There are many interesting ruins, and the walled adobe church is choice.

Montezuma Castle, five miles northwest of Las Vegas in Montezuma, N.M., is now Armand Hammer's United World College. The Santa Fe Railroad's earliest (1884) resort hotel, the Montezuma was a Gilded Age hot springs spa and attracted the Southwest's first real tourists. The place is a huge (300 rooms) Queen Anne Romanesque building visible for miles, and one can see miles from its wrap-around porches. Tours of the grounds are available.

Further Information
The Hungry Traveler should note that indigenous cuisine is called "Spanish," a misnomer. It isn't even remotely Spanish. "Chihuahua-Pueblo Indian-Expedient" is a better description. It can be very good and hasn't changed much since Susan Magoffin, a young bride traveling the Santa Fe Trail in 1846, wrote of the green chile stew, "I could not eat a dish so strong, and unaccustomed to my palate."

New Mexican cooking is searingly hot. Many of the names of dishes sound familiar, but New Mexican "Mexican" is subtly different. The tortillas are often made with blue corn, and you'll commonly find papitas (fried potatoes) and chicos (dried green-corn kernels) on your plate. Sopaipillas, the puffy deep-fried sweet bread whose closest cousin is the beignet of New Orleans, appear plain (as bread), stuffed with meat (main course), and plain again (dessert). The bottle of honey on the table is for the dessert mode—dribble it over them.

Unlike West Coast Mexican cooking, tomatoes in New Mexico are a garnish and seldom appear in sauces. If there's red on the plate, it's chile. If there's no red on the plate, it's still chile. When your order is taken, you'll be asked if you want "red or green." This refers to sauce preference, red or green chile. The farther north you go in New Mexico, the hotter the chile. At Las Vegas's latitude, the red sauce eats through plates. The green is hotter. Tender-tongued people should emulate Susan Magoffin and avoid green chile stew. If nervous, stick to the sopaipillas.