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04-19-2006, 09:45 AM
By: Ben Moffett - Contributing Reporter
© 2006 Ben Moffett - Reprint Permission Granted
If you look east from Coronado State Monument when the cottonwoods are in leaf along the Rio Grande, you can see the Sandia Mountains rising majestically in the distance, and a gentle talus slope extending back to the tree-lined riverbed at your feet.
http://steppinoutnewmexico.com/images/100_0850.jpg
It's a snapshot of seemingly untrammeled nature, not unlike what Spanish explorer Francisco Vásquez de Coronado might have beheld when he was in the area in the fall of 1540.
http://steppinoutnewmexico.com/images/100_0851.jpg
At the monument, visitors can travel back in time amid the ruins of Kuaua, a once-thriving Puebloan farming village, inspect a restored kiva, and examine a roomful of elaborately painted Kuaua murals that approach six feet in height. Archaeologists say they are unlike any in the Southwest.
To take a video walking tour of this stunning Rio Grande Valley vista, view our Vistas de Coronado video (http://steppinoutnewmexico.com/pp-514/data/556/vistasdecoronado_final_056kw.wmv) in Windows Media Player format or choose one of our three other supported video formats in our Coronad0 State Monument gallery (http://www.steppinoutnewmexico.com/pp-514/showgallery.php/cat/553).
This is not primitive America, however. It is the northern edge of the largest metropolitan area within 400 miles. The historic town of Bernalillo is tucked neatly behind the cottonwoods, out-of-sight east of the river. Also hidden from view is a brand new bullet train, the fleet and fanciful Rail Runner.
It is the Rail Runner that makes the venerable monument increasingly popular and accessible these days. The train's northernmost station stop is, in fact, about a mile away from the ruins. And sightseers from any point on the commuter's north-south route along the valley can be there in about an hour.
http://steppinoutnewmexico.com/images/railrunneranimfinal.gif
Coronado State Monument is by no means the only appealing attraction on the Rail Runner's menu. Between Bernalillo and Belén, the train's southernmost stop 46 miles away, is a target-rich habitat for out-of-state and local sightseers. There is golf and gaming, hot air ballooning, bicycling, birding, fishing, festivals, fine dining in historic settings, an abundance of museums and ancient churches and glimpses of European pilgrimages that predate Plymouth Rock.
And if getting there is half the fun, the Rail Runner offers tri-level coaches on a sometimes elevated track that allows passengers to view urban, rural and wild landscapes from a fresh perspective. On both sides of downtown Albuquerque, the route is dotted with farms and wetlands, often brimming with waterfowl. In winter, particularly to the south, flocks of sandhill cranes with seven-foot wingspans feed in fields of corn stubble or loaf at water sources.
Belén offers abundant bird watching possibilities, thanks to nearby Bernardo State Refuge, but it is most noted for transportation. Billing itself as a town "where the rails and trails meet," it not only has the ruts of El Camino Real, but, to the delight of railroad buffs, tracks that support an average of 100 freight trains a day and not far from the Rail Runner station stop.
Thankfully, the din of the rail yard can be enjoyed from the safety of a 1910 vintage Harvey House, converted into a museum. The two-story building contains rotating permanent exhibits of railroad memorabilia and temporary exhibits of local arts and crafts including – for two six-week stints a year – an exhibit of model trains.
One refurbished room stands as a tribute to the "Harvey Girls," those well-chaperoned young waitresses who made the famous Fred Harvey chain train restaurants so popular across the West.
Belén's neighbor to the north, Los Lunas, has some railroad history of its own. The town was named after Domingo de Luna who arrived in 1692. Luna's politically savvy heirs and the railroad are responsible for one of its most noted landmarks, the Luna Mansion, which hosted U.S. Presidents William Howard Taft and Theodore Roosevelt and Mexican President Adolfo de la Huerta.
The railroad that pushed through the Rio Grande valley in 1880 would have run right through Don Antonio Jose Luna's hacienda had he not agreed to surrender right-of-way in exchange for updated digs. Luna chose to construct a colonial Victorian home with a twist – a magnificent two-story building with columns that looked like nothing else in town – but constructed with handmade New Mexico adobes stacked 30-feet-high.
The national registry property is now a restaurant, an easy walk from the Rail Runner stop. And owners Danny and Penny Griego retain the cross-cultural flavor. In the Victorian adobe, they serve traditional steak, seafood and pasta dishes, but can't resist enriching their menu with piñon and red and green chile accents.
Adding to the charm of the area is Tomé, a village founded in 1739 that lies on the east side of the river between Belén and Los Lunas. Its principal landmark is Tomé Hill, a sacred volcanic outcropping to which hundreds of pilgrims flock on Good Friday.
The hill is noted for its Puebloan petroglyphs, some 1,800, and probably the most in the metro area aside from those at Petroglyphs National Monument, located on a volcanic escarpment west of Albuquerque.
Some of Tomé Hill's petroglyphs were carved by Penitentes, a centuries old religious brotherhood whose rites include fasting and flagellation. Penitentes erected the three main crosses and shrine at the top of the hill in 1947.
Between Los Lunas, known for one of the state's largest annual balloon festivals, and Albuquerque, known for the world's largest, lies Isleta Pueblo. It is at Isleta where the Rail Runner crosses the Rio Grande through native cottonwoods, affording picturesque views up-and-downstream. The Isleta station is on the east bank, a short distance from the tribe's fishing lakes, golf courses and casino.
Isleta is one of three pueblos served by the train. It also stops at Sandia Pueblo north of Albuquerque, and near Santa Ana, which is adjacent to Coronado State Monument. All three pueblos offer thoroughly modern relaxation for visitors – gaming and headline entertainment plus some combination of golf, fishing, or other participant sports.
Perhaps the best access of all from train-to-attraction by public conveyance is from downtown Albuquerque. The Alvarado station is also the hub of the city's transportation services, including RapidRide buses. From the station, RapidRide can transport visitors 10 minutes west along Central Avenue (historic U.S.-66) to the Old Town area, dating to 1706, the San Felipe de Neri Church (1793), four museums, 125 art galleries, and a profusion of charming restaurants.
Another three-minute ride west will put visitors at the Albuquerque Biological Park consisting of the Albuquerque Aquarium, Rio Grande Zoo, Botanic Garden, and Tingley Aquatic Park. Two are on each side of Central Avenue, but they are all connected by yet another train, the Rio Line, a scaled down model that moves across it's 1½-mile length in 10 minutes, passing through a tunnel under Central Avenue in the process.
At Tingley Beach, there are four ponds, including one for children's fishing, one for catch-and-release fly fishing, and a model boating area.
The Rio Line enters the zoo at the African-Asian section near the elephant exhibits, a distinct departure from the equally appealing Rio Grande riverbed on the line's west boundary.
It is the river and the Paseo del Bosque trail alongside it that extends the nature journey beyond the Bio Park. The bicycle trail can be entered not only from the park itself but from two Rail Runner stops. The Rio Bravo/Airport station connects with the bike trail in Albuquerque's south valley and the north valley's Paseo/Journal Center station, also known as El Pueblo, connects with the river trail through an in-street biking network.
© 2006 Ben Moffett - Reprint Permission Granted
If you look east from Coronado State Monument when the cottonwoods are in leaf along the Rio Grande, you can see the Sandia Mountains rising majestically in the distance, and a gentle talus slope extending back to the tree-lined riverbed at your feet.
http://steppinoutnewmexico.com/images/100_0850.jpg
It's a snapshot of seemingly untrammeled nature, not unlike what Spanish explorer Francisco Vásquez de Coronado might have beheld when he was in the area in the fall of 1540.
http://steppinoutnewmexico.com/images/100_0851.jpg
At the monument, visitors can travel back in time amid the ruins of Kuaua, a once-thriving Puebloan farming village, inspect a restored kiva, and examine a roomful of elaborately painted Kuaua murals that approach six feet in height. Archaeologists say they are unlike any in the Southwest.
To take a video walking tour of this stunning Rio Grande Valley vista, view our Vistas de Coronado video (http://steppinoutnewmexico.com/pp-514/data/556/vistasdecoronado_final_056kw.wmv) in Windows Media Player format or choose one of our three other supported video formats in our Coronad0 State Monument gallery (http://www.steppinoutnewmexico.com/pp-514/showgallery.php/cat/553).
This is not primitive America, however. It is the northern edge of the largest metropolitan area within 400 miles. The historic town of Bernalillo is tucked neatly behind the cottonwoods, out-of-sight east of the river. Also hidden from view is a brand new bullet train, the fleet and fanciful Rail Runner.
It is the Rail Runner that makes the venerable monument increasingly popular and accessible these days. The train's northernmost station stop is, in fact, about a mile away from the ruins. And sightseers from any point on the commuter's north-south route along the valley can be there in about an hour.
http://steppinoutnewmexico.com/images/railrunneranimfinal.gif
Coronado State Monument is by no means the only appealing attraction on the Rail Runner's menu. Between Bernalillo and Belén, the train's southernmost stop 46 miles away, is a target-rich habitat for out-of-state and local sightseers. There is golf and gaming, hot air ballooning, bicycling, birding, fishing, festivals, fine dining in historic settings, an abundance of museums and ancient churches and glimpses of European pilgrimages that predate Plymouth Rock.
And if getting there is half the fun, the Rail Runner offers tri-level coaches on a sometimes elevated track that allows passengers to view urban, rural and wild landscapes from a fresh perspective. On both sides of downtown Albuquerque, the route is dotted with farms and wetlands, often brimming with waterfowl. In winter, particularly to the south, flocks of sandhill cranes with seven-foot wingspans feed in fields of corn stubble or loaf at water sources.
Belén offers abundant bird watching possibilities, thanks to nearby Bernardo State Refuge, but it is most noted for transportation. Billing itself as a town "where the rails and trails meet," it not only has the ruts of El Camino Real, but, to the delight of railroad buffs, tracks that support an average of 100 freight trains a day and not far from the Rail Runner station stop.
Thankfully, the din of the rail yard can be enjoyed from the safety of a 1910 vintage Harvey House, converted into a museum. The two-story building contains rotating permanent exhibits of railroad memorabilia and temporary exhibits of local arts and crafts including – for two six-week stints a year – an exhibit of model trains.
One refurbished room stands as a tribute to the "Harvey Girls," those well-chaperoned young waitresses who made the famous Fred Harvey chain train restaurants so popular across the West.
Belén's neighbor to the north, Los Lunas, has some railroad history of its own. The town was named after Domingo de Luna who arrived in 1692. Luna's politically savvy heirs and the railroad are responsible for one of its most noted landmarks, the Luna Mansion, which hosted U.S. Presidents William Howard Taft and Theodore Roosevelt and Mexican President Adolfo de la Huerta.
The railroad that pushed through the Rio Grande valley in 1880 would have run right through Don Antonio Jose Luna's hacienda had he not agreed to surrender right-of-way in exchange for updated digs. Luna chose to construct a colonial Victorian home with a twist – a magnificent two-story building with columns that looked like nothing else in town – but constructed with handmade New Mexico adobes stacked 30-feet-high.
The national registry property is now a restaurant, an easy walk from the Rail Runner stop. And owners Danny and Penny Griego retain the cross-cultural flavor. In the Victorian adobe, they serve traditional steak, seafood and pasta dishes, but can't resist enriching their menu with piñon and red and green chile accents.
Adding to the charm of the area is Tomé, a village founded in 1739 that lies on the east side of the river between Belén and Los Lunas. Its principal landmark is Tomé Hill, a sacred volcanic outcropping to which hundreds of pilgrims flock on Good Friday.
The hill is noted for its Puebloan petroglyphs, some 1,800, and probably the most in the metro area aside from those at Petroglyphs National Monument, located on a volcanic escarpment west of Albuquerque.
Some of Tomé Hill's petroglyphs were carved by Penitentes, a centuries old religious brotherhood whose rites include fasting and flagellation. Penitentes erected the three main crosses and shrine at the top of the hill in 1947.
Between Los Lunas, known for one of the state's largest annual balloon festivals, and Albuquerque, known for the world's largest, lies Isleta Pueblo. It is at Isleta where the Rail Runner crosses the Rio Grande through native cottonwoods, affording picturesque views up-and-downstream. The Isleta station is on the east bank, a short distance from the tribe's fishing lakes, golf courses and casino.
Isleta is one of three pueblos served by the train. It also stops at Sandia Pueblo north of Albuquerque, and near Santa Ana, which is adjacent to Coronado State Monument. All three pueblos offer thoroughly modern relaxation for visitors – gaming and headline entertainment plus some combination of golf, fishing, or other participant sports.
Perhaps the best access of all from train-to-attraction by public conveyance is from downtown Albuquerque. The Alvarado station is also the hub of the city's transportation services, including RapidRide buses. From the station, RapidRide can transport visitors 10 minutes west along Central Avenue (historic U.S.-66) to the Old Town area, dating to 1706, the San Felipe de Neri Church (1793), four museums, 125 art galleries, and a profusion of charming restaurants.
Another three-minute ride west will put visitors at the Albuquerque Biological Park consisting of the Albuquerque Aquarium, Rio Grande Zoo, Botanic Garden, and Tingley Aquatic Park. Two are on each side of Central Avenue, but they are all connected by yet another train, the Rio Line, a scaled down model that moves across it's 1½-mile length in 10 minutes, passing through a tunnel under Central Avenue in the process.
At Tingley Beach, there are four ponds, including one for children's fishing, one for catch-and-release fly fishing, and a model boating area.
The Rio Line enters the zoo at the African-Asian section near the elephant exhibits, a distinct departure from the equally appealing Rio Grande riverbed on the line's west boundary.
It is the river and the Paseo del Bosque trail alongside it that extends the nature journey beyond the Bio Park. The bicycle trail can be entered not only from the park itself but from two Rail Runner stops. The Rio Bravo/Airport station connects with the bike trail in Albuquerque's south valley and the north valley's Paseo/Journal Center station, also known as El Pueblo, connects with the river trail through an in-street biking network.