Route 66: a thing so glorious that everyone wants a piece of it. Which means that for every amazing piece of memorabilia, stretch of Route 66 or piece of carry on luggage (don’t ask), there is a piece of tat or dirt track that’s beyond terrible. The only exception: food. You can pretty much guarantee that every diner trumpeting its Route 66 connections will be fun to eat in and great for photos, but purveying disgusting food.

Or so we thought till we found ourselves with time to spare in the Nob Hill part of Albuquerque, and asked to be pointed in the direction of somewhere to eat. And were recommended the Route 66 Malt Shop, at 3800 Central Avenue (ie Route 66).

At first glance, it looked like all the others. Bright colors and neon outside, retro stuff and juke box inside. Burgers and milkshakes on the menu. So far, so borrring. Slow service, too—we sat without anyone approaching us for a while (because we were alone?), so since we were in a hurry, we went up to the counter. A superfriendly man, who looked like he was in a rockband 20 years ago, asked us what we wanted.

We asked for something New Mexican. “Do you like blue cheese?” he said. “Because if you do, you need the Bleu Cheese Green Chile Burger.

He was right; it was the best burger we’d had for ages and easily the best burger of 2011. Blue cheese and green chile doesn’t sound like it should work, but omg it does. As for the meat: perfectly seasoned and magnificently juicy. Even the bun was delicious. We told the rockstar so, and he sat down at our table to tell us why.]]> juliab 2012-01-11T16:47:25-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2012/1/6/144748/0982

Fried ice cream was something we’d never considered until two weeks ago. In fact, it wasn’t something we were even aware of existing, what with being British. And then we were in the supercheap-but-superfabulous Guadalajara Grill in Taos, New Mexico, when we saw this huge thing looking like a deep fried brain, saying Fried Ice Cream $5.50. And we had to have it.

It didn’t look as brainy as it did in the display case, when it came. It was still huge, though – in a sweet taco shell, covered with a layer of cream, chocolate sauce and a cherry which we promptly scraped off. It looked a bit more brain-lumpy underneath. ]]> juliab 2012-01-06T15:30:17-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2012/1/4/13216/43306
A snow-covered part of the Grand Canyon

”Why are you flying to Albuquerque?” were the words on most people’s lips last week when we told them we were cutting short a trip to Vegas to hit New Mexico.

Why Albuquerque? Well, to start with, for the flight—one of the most spectacular ones we’ve ever been on.

From Las Vegas to Albuquerque we were looking south, and got a prime view of the snow-covered high desert, mountains and miniscule trees poking out of the snow. All very beautiful, except we heard the pilot announce that “on the left, you’ll see the Grand Canyon.”

So on the way back, we swapped sides to face north, and were greeted by snow-covered mountains, snow-covered plains…and then, yeah, the Grand Canyon. We flew pretty much all the way along the Grand Canyon—from 40,000 feet we picked out the famous South Rim, less famous North Rim and, we think, possibly the West Rim, too (though we didn’t see the Skywalk). ]]> juliab 2012-01-04T15:23:45-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2012/1/3/13059/93762

Want to win a trip to Albuquerque, where you can hang out on the set of Breaking Bad?

Well, AMC is giving fans the chance with a recently launched sweepstakes. The winner will receive a walk-on role in the hit show, along with a four-day, three-night trip to Albuquerque, New Mexico, where Breaking Bad will soon begin filming its fifth season.]]> cmb 2012-01-03T13:25:02-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2011/9/28/9614/82680

We’re sure you’ve seen plenty of pictures of the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, so try to make this the year you finally make it out to New Mexico to check it out in person. We know it’s short notice—things run from October 1 through October 9—but where else can you see a SpongeBob SquarePants hot air balloon in person?

The hot air balloon party started back in the 1970s with just around a dozen or so balloons, but when the balloons hit the skies next week there will be more than 700. The launch field is almost 80-acres in size, so definitely remember to bring your sneakers if you’re planning to walk around before lift-off. This is one of the only festivals where visitors are allowed to walk between balloons so take advantage of the opportunity to meander about. ]]> kjb 2011-09-28T09:06:14-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2011/5/12/102938/453

Planning to hit happy hour tonight after work? We have something for toast to: the opening of Spaceport America, which represents yet another step closer to making space tourism a possibility. The Spaceport, located in the Mojave Desert in New Mexico—Albuquerque is 150 miles to the south—only just completed its runway in October and is already open for public tours.

This comes at the most opportune time; just as the sun is going down on the NASA space program and the space shuttles retired, Virgin Galactic's new wave spaceships enter the spotlight.

The AP has the news first, of course, that Virgin Galactic's facilities will host the first tour this Friday, a tour aimed at "giving guests an up close look at the spaceflight facilities before operations begin," which is later this year if all continues to go according to plan. ]]> JetSetCD 2011-05-12T11:08:55-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2010/11/2/21155/3701

In Santa Fe, we visited James Beard Award-winning Cafe Pasqual for breakfast. As we waited outside for the restaurant to open, we saw the above sign, which read "Notice: No Guns Allowed."

We weren't packing heat, but we were curious as to why there was a need to put up such a sign, especially in a nice spot in the historic plaza. We also then were left wondering if we'd have to duck and cover if we ate elsewhere.]]> Jennifer Kester 2010-11-02T10:54:21-05:00 Search Jaunted string http://www.jaunted.com/search/