photos by Elaine A. RussellToday my hubby, my daughter and I went to Madrid, NM. I have never been; in spite of the fact that it's only about an hour away from the house. Madrid used to be a coal mining town up until the 1950's.. when it became more or less a ghost town until it was purchased (yes the entire town) by a fellow named Joe Huber in the 1970's (he grew up there... his dad was involved in the mining operations). Joe got alot of artists and such to move there... and well... the rest is history. The film WILD HOGS was shot in part there... and we ate at the Mine Shaft Tavern where some of the filming took place.
Today there was a "Gypsy Festival" there... and so we went. The festival included lots of tents of vendors selling candles, scarves, jewelry, and more. Then there were the hula-hoop dancers, people in costume, a magician and his assistant, and tons of performances by belly dancers.
In spite of the heat (and it was actually much cooler this weekend than last)... we had a really good time. The road up and back from Madrid is really, really scenic...
and it is on my short list of things to do again in the future.