Twitter road trips USA: Texas to New Mexico day five - as it happened

Wrapping up with photos of the wonderful people and places of the past five days

We've just taken our Breaking Bad tour guide Miguel to our hotel bar for a pint, and while we recharge our batteries for a night at the Marble Brewery (recommended by many of you), it's time to wrap up our epic, 1600-plus-mile roadtrip that took us through West Texas and up through New Mexico. 

It's hard to believe we're at the end of our journey. It will be a little strange not to jump into a car tomorrow, plug a random address into a GPS and arrive in a town I've never heard of. And I'll miss heading to a new desert town or roadside attraction and knowing for a fact that the next person I encounter will be more interesting than the last. This was how our entire trip has been; just when we thought we'd experienced the best thing Texas or New Mexico had to offer, something even stranger or more beautiful or a little of both came along. 

From day one, the best part of the trip was the people, characters I don't think I'll forget for a long time. There was Bear Trap, the Fort Davis Texan who'd escaped a life of trouble and ended up tending rattlers and scorpions in a roadside museum. There was David, who we found soaking alone in a roadside hot spring in New Mexico, enjoying the solace. And there was Donna, who made us a special dish in an Albuquerque diner and kept her other patrons in line while doing so. 

I came to this part of the country with a specific set of questions for a reason. I wanted to hear from Texans about what can be an intense, sometimes misguided, focus on the Lone Star state; I wanted to hear New Mexicans share their opinions about the Land of Enchantment, a state that is often overlooked.

What the majority of Texans told me about themselves was absolutely true in the time I spent there: they are some of the most open, kindhearted people a traveler could hope to encounter. And the thing most New Mexicans told me – that there's more to their stunningly gorgeous state than endless desert and green chile – was right on target, too.

We didn't get to everything we'd hoped – White Sands and Carlsbad Caverns were two big losses – there was just too much ground to cover and not enough time. But you went easy on us, and this trip was a success because you adapted your plans along with us, even changing the soundtrack to match our movements. And it's no small thing that we were able to experience everything we did because of your recommendations.

The comments, tweets, Witness recommendations and Facebook posts rolled in continuously throughout the week, and in the rare moment we needed a new tip, we never had to wait long for you to pitch in.

A sincere thanks for riding along with us on a pretty unforgettable trip. And a special thanks to Sarah and John, for getting me from one place to the next, in one way or another.

And as it's early yet in Albuquerque, you can still continue to follow Katie with #twitrips as the night goes on!

The final day of Katie's southwest TwiTrip has taken her to a Tinkertown Museum (where she was called "uncontrollable") to the views of Turquoise Trails and the llamas of Cerrillos.

Another set of tracks from Breaking Bad to celebrate Friday night in New Mexico

Recommended at Guardian Witness the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe, but a late arrival and the hectic pursuit of other reader tips prevented Katie from getting to see what PMStephen called "sweetest little museum … a complete must visit".

The 'Mother of American Modernism' spent the second half of her life in New Mexico full-time, after buying a house on Ghost Ranch. From this base, she would travel deep into the desert to paint her favorite remote locations, such as the "Black Place". Per Wiki:

Known as a loner, O'Keeffe explored the land she loved often in her Ford Model A … She explained: "Such a beautiful, untouched lonely feeling place, such a fine part of what I call the 'Faraway'. It is a place I have painted before … even now I must do it again."

We can't reproduce any of her paintings here per rights restrictions, but you can take a look at some of the museum's gallery online, including her colorful landscapes, haunting trees, and abstract works.

Below the line, pabqnm has suggested that if Katie and the team "get overwhelmed by the short dress, high heel crowd" at their hotel, they should head to the Albuquerque neighborhood of – don't laugh, English readers – Nob Hill.

The neighborhood lies along famous Rt 66, and features a curious mix of historic buildings, shops and bars framed by a pair of neon arches. According to Albuquerque's travel website, both "new and old businesses share a commitment to the area's retro style," which wasn't retro when in the neighborhood's early days in the 40s and 50s. Fodor's went so far as to say it's Albuquerque's "hippest, funkiest retail and entertainment district".

From their neighborhood's own site, it looks like a sure bet for finding something to do on an Albuquerque evening.

The front of Gus Fring's empire – just in time for dinner.

With some music from Breaking Bad's first season piped in:

Guided by readers and the skills of @brbalocations, who's on hand with the team, Katie's seeing the places conquered by Walter White, Breaking Bad's kingpin of Albuquerque – such as 'The Crystal Palace':

The iconic car wash that is in no way whatsoever a money laundering operation … except on Breaking Bad.

Per @MolinaFacts: "the crack house where Jesse rescued the kid and the ATM falls on the guy."

For @chandio, the scene of fictional vehicular menace:

And some of the locations as seen on Breaking Bad, in a surprisingly cheery little meth-dealing montage: 

The first stop on our tour with Jaramillo was obviously Walter White's house. When we pulled up, there was already another car sitting outside. I noticed someone watching us from behind the blinds, so I knocked on the door.

Fran Padilla owns own of the most recognizable homes on television, and her experience with being a tourist destination has been mostly positive. Mostly.

"We've had a couple of jerks throw pizzas on the roof," Padilla said. "I don't mind people taking pictures, but now they're stealing rocks." 

But overall, Padilla and her neighbors enjoy the attention. Last month, she counted over 175 visitors. Sometimes, they put on a show. 

"My crazy neighbors came out in hazmat suits and dry ice when the trolley came by. It was hysterical." 

We're on our way to fill a few reader requests, starting with @molinafacts: "the crack house where Jesse rescued the kid and the ATM falls on the guy."

On the note, only on a Breaking Bad tour would you hear, "let's start at the crack house and work our way back."

We've reached the Breaking Bad segment of this live blog. We picked Miguel Jaramillo up from our hotel and we're currently driving around Albuquerque checking out filming locations.

Jaramillo, a native of Albuquerque, started his Instagram tracking film locations as a hobby, but since the account has bloomed to 5,800 followers, he's thinking about making guided tours a full time gig.

"I got into the show and I got hooked," he told us. "It's hard to imagine the show being anywhere else." 

We're still on the tour, but while we're driving, let me know if you have any location requests.

We've just finished up lunch at Duran Central Pharmacy, a no-frills diner in town that is known for some of the best Mexican food in Albuquerque, at least according to our readers. 

The food is delicious – Donna Garcia, our waitress, ordered for us and served up a Ruby Special of chicken, green chili, beans and cheese, plus a Mexican combination plate of red and green chili. On top of that, she served up some of the best chips and guac I've ever had. The total, plus John's chili cheeseburger, came to $18.

In addition to being well-known as one of few local restaurants to make its own flour tortillas, the staff is comprised of all women. When we were there during the lunch rush, it was like dinner plus a show; the crew was having fun with – and poking fun at – the diners and, in turn, they warmed up to us.

We asked Donna about New Mexico.

Known for: "Our red and green chilis"

Best thing: "It's the weather. And not to be partial but I think Duran's is one of the best restaurants in New Mexico. We don't have men in here. They can't handle us! We're all Hispanic women. Except Ruby, she's from Corpus Christi."

Props to our commenters for the latest in a string of excellent
recommendations.

Next up: We're meeting a local blogger at our hotel
for a tour of Breaking Bad filming locations.

Longwinded advice sighted while wandering Albuquerque:

To make up for Katie's woeful ignorance of Breaking Bad – the Albuquerque settings for which she's about to tour – we've assembled some of our own material on AMC's epic of chemistry and corruption.

Kathy Sweeney wrote 'Breaking Bad for beginners' for the Observer last fall, lays it out as simply as she can, praising Bryan Cranston as Walt, our hero/anti-hero, Aaron Paul as Jesse, his luckless, kindly partner in crime, and the bones of its premise:

"The hero learns in the first episode that he has terminal lung cancer and becomes a crystal meth "cook" in an effort to leave a nest egg for his family."

She doesn't fail to note the show's comedy, calling it "the perfect vehicle for pitch-black humour, whether it's irrepressible low-rent lawyer Saul Goodman". Right up against the dark laughs are

"Stunning scenes of the vast deserts of New Mexico are set alongside drab fast-food restaurants, building a disquieting mood of suspense reminiscent of a Coen brothers thriller."

Simply: "It simply doesn't look like anything else on TV."

The Guardian's Deborah Orr hammered home what you're missing if you've not seen Breaking Bad, that despite its darkness and drama,

"We can laugh, because we feel empowered. Breaking Bad's genius is in bringing us to the realisation that at its best, dramedy is a serious contemporary art form, and no laughing matter."

Anna Gunn, who plays Skyler (Walt's wife) on the show, is a Santa Fe native, told the Guardian that "New Mexico becomes a character in the show and I can't imagine it being set anywhere else." Of her hometown, she sides with readers on the matter of Cafe Pasqual's breakfast burrito. And if you're around Albuquerque in October, she says the balloon fiesta is not to be missed:

Hopefully Katie will learn the dark secrets of the award-winning show … whatever happened to that party pizza on the roof?

Katie's GPS has occasionally led the road trip team along circuitous highways and impractical backroads, but at least they haven't made any wrong turns in Albuquerque:

(Hat tip to the Guardian's own @KaylaEpstein)

Coming back from Turquoise Trail, we're feeling a little ragged, but we're also seeing the power of this #twitrips thing. We asked for a hotel and readers responded right away with a handful of suggestions. So thanks for helping a few sunburnt travelers out. 

We ended up going with Hotel Andaluz ($159 tonight), which received high marks from you and, apparently, from Conde Nast Traveler. As Zora O'Neill wrote for the Guardian in her Albuquerque hotel guide, this hotel has a bit of lore attached to it:

"Zsa Zsa Gabor slept here. Well, not when it was the Andaluz, but way back when it was husband Conrad Hilton's first hotel in his native New Mexico." 

The hotel is beautiful, clean and comfortable. We'll be sure to check out the patio bar later, but first things first: food. we've decided to go with Duran Central Pharmacy for lunch, as recommended by @MeganEaves ("my all-time favourite restaurant"). 

To come this afternoon after we recharge a bit: @BrBadLocations has helpfully sent along a list of Breaking Bad scene locations, which several of you requested we visit. On his list: Walter's condo, Denny's restaurant, Crossroads Motel, and A1A Car Wash. (I'm scared to expose myself as someone who doesn't watch this show, but is all gibberish to me. If you tell me which places are most crucial, we'll try to swing by.) 

That's two recommends for Marble Brewery ... one more source and we have a story.

We're very grateful to gratefulred78, who spared Katie and the team a night in the air-conditioned box with these hotel suggestions and watering holes. They booked into the Andaluz.

They remind us that gay pride weekend starts in ABQ tomorrow., so it should be lively for our lot who have been following white lines down the middle of the road for the past five days.

Any more drinking recommends most welcome

Lodging:
Los Pobanos Inn and Cultural Center is on a lavender farm in the bucolic north valley.
Hotel Andaluz is Conrad Hilton's first hotel and where he honeymooned with Zsa Zsa Gabor - has a wonderful Moorish-style lobby.
Hotel Parq Central is an old hospital converted to a boutique hotel with a medical theme. Check out the Apothecary Lounge with the rooftop deck's sunset views of downtown.

Downtown's Marble Brewery has a great beer garden with live music and food trucks. Always a lively place with an interesting and mixed crowd.
Anodyne and Sister Bar are worth seeing for their relaxed atmosphere and great beer selections, and then go across the street to Effex for some gay pride weekend dancing.

gratefulred7828 June 2013 6:52pm

We've just arrived back in Albuquerque after a morning spent along the Turquoise Trail. Our last stop was the much-recommended Tinkertown Museum, built over four decades by circus and carnival painter Ross J Ward. He has since passed away but his wife, Carla, was in the gift shop taking tickets.

"We started collecting bottles," Carla said. "We became the neighbourhood recycling centre. He'd come home and work on this."

The museum is full of painted wooden carvings Ross had-made over the years, and the walls are covered in glass mosaic. You can play with ancient carnival machines - discards the couple fixed up, according to Carla - and drop quarters into giant old accordion machines to play old time music.

We had our personalities tested by one machine - Sarah and I received a verdict of 'uncontrollable' while John got 'romantic'. Admission is only $3.50 per adult, but you'll want plenty of quarters to feed the assorted machines.

We pulled Carla aside to ask her about New Mexico.

Known for: "I hope it's the wide open spaces. It's just a very unique place to live. It feels like the Wild West out here."

Best thing: "The people. I think it's because of the wide open spaces."

We're in Albuquerque now, about ready to check into Hotel Andaluz at the recommendation of gratefulred78 (see above), and @muggle505, @dlwest65 and @foodloversnm. We need wifi and a lunch break, and we're running through our list of eatery suggestions now.

Katie and the team will be staying in Albuquerque tonight. Trouble is she hasn't had any lodging recommendations as yet. So, if you Albuquerquians want to avoid having a car full of people sleeping in your Old Town, please send any suggestions to @KatieRogers, #TwiTrips or below in the comments.

We asked Moon New Mexico author and blogger Zora O'Neill to give us some suggestions and she came up with these 10. The bizarrely named Monterey Non-Smokers Motel piqued our interest. Has anyone stayed there? Had a sneaky cigarette?

Also, Katie, photographer Sarah and driver John will be in need of a goldfish bowl of beer/wine/margeritas after a long, hot and dusty week of driving. What bars should they hit in ABQ? Oh come on, it is the weekend.

Reader Casadewhack, told us about the Santa Fe Brewery's birthday, but they've just left there. Are there similarly good breweries, brewpubs in ABQ?

It's the Santa Fe Brewery's birthday today, so make sure you have some - they brew good stuff, although the brewery itself is a less than inspiring factory unit in the outskirts (unlike the fabulous Spoetzle brewery in Texas, which you missed). Friendly people there though.

General store in Golden is closed. On to Tinkertown.

Since Java Junction in Madrid was highly recommended, we stopped in to refuel. I've only ever been to a few places that serve iced coffee with coffee ice cubes, and this shop gets high marks for being one of those places.

For being in such a laid-back art gallery town, this place appears to exist for coffee snobs of the highest order. Their motto is "Bad Coffee Sucks" and there's a prominent sign outside the store that reads, "proud to serve coffee brewed 18 miles away".

We went outside to the patio to talk to two men, Peter Bassin (above) and his friend Steve, a local gallery owner who goes by GhostRider. We asked them about New Mexico but stayed for a long chat.

"We are blessed here," said Bassin, a Manhattan native. "There's so much more personal freedom here than anywhere else. You can do what you want to do. Less cops, less everything."

"Don't paint too pretty a picture," GhostRider interrupted. "We like that you folks aren't here."

After learning more about Bassin - "We had a nude geezers' calendar, I was on the cover on my horse" - it was time to depart.

The mountain views here are beautiful and green. We're going to stop at the Tinkertown Museum at the recommendation of several readers including @Zialander, then we'll stop in Golden for the general store at the recommendation of Alwick.

So, here's our first playlist of the day to keep Katie's wheels spinning. Thanks to reader Chwilson for these Santa Fe inspired suggestions - and apologies to Chwilson for omitting two tracks that we couldn't find on Spotify, as well as adding a Doors song that another reader suggested, because Jim Morrison lived briefly in Albuquerque)...

And play!

Any other examples of Satanic works in natural landmarks you'd care to share in the comments below?

It turns out our reshuffled morning plans were a blessing in disguise; we're hours ahead of schedule for the first time this week.

Several of you, including @spinner59, @elaineliner, @foodloversnm and @sethgarden, heavily encouraged a ride through the beautiful Turquoise Trail through the towns of Cerrillos and Madrid.

But it was Rick Griego, owner of Santa Fe's The Shop: A Christmas Store, who told us to go to Cerrillos. (According to him, New Mexico is most known for its mix of Native American, Anglo and Spanish cultures.

The best thing? "The people."

We've just left the tiny old turquoise mining town of Cerrillos, but its most recent claim to fame was as the setting of the movie Young Guns (about a gunslinging gang led Billy the Kid) in the late 80s.

Not much activity here, but we visited the mining museum, which doubles as a trading post and petting zoo.

After feeding some plump goats, chickens and llamas, we're on our way to Java Junction, a reader-recommended coffeehouse in Madrid, for our third serving of coffee today.

[Reader DorianHawkmoon adds: "Cerrillos is a great old mining town where Lillie Langtry used to sing (there's still the old opera house) and Oscar Wilde visited. It's one of the nearest things you'll find to a proper old wild west town. Lots of history there."]

So the guys are cruising along NM14, a 54-mile stretch of blacktop that links Albuquerque and Santa Fe, and takes in most of the Turquoise Trail, a National Scenic Byway. Here's what the official Turquoise Trail website says:

The Scenic and Historic Area encompasses 15,000 square miles in the heart of central New Mexico... Enjoy a breathtaking view from atop Sandia Crest, then drive back into history through the mining towns of Golden, Madrid, and Cerrillos, now coming alive with art, crafts, theater, music, museums and restaurants.

The start of another beautiful day in New Mexico. Sandia Mountains near Albuquerque

A recurring theme during this road trip has been barbeque - specifically, visiting pits and stuffing ourselves with it. But if you readers are interested in making your own, global grilling authority Steven Raichlen, the best selling author and host of PBS's Primal Grill, will join Emma Keller and Guardian readers for an hour on today at 1pm ET/6pm BST to tackle all of your grilling challenges.

Raichlen will arrive bearing recipes, tips and solutions to meal problems. Thinking about purchasing your first grill? Wondering what to cook for your vegan friends or family? Want to create a delicious BBQ dessert? Raichlen - whose Barbecue Bible cookbook series has been translated into 17 languages and has sold more than 5 million copies - is here to help.

You can post your questions and BBQ tips in the Q&A

While Katie and the team are driving up the Turquoise Trail to Cerrillos, we thought we'd bring you this tribute to Albuquerque by the redoubtable Neil Young. As per the last four days, we'd like to bring you a playlist for ABQ/Santa Fe and New Mexico at some stage in the day, so do send us your requests in the comments below.

Now hit it, Neil - Aaa-aaa-aaa-aaaaa-aaaa-aaa-al-bu-quer-que!

After our hot air balloon plans were cancelled, we were feeling a bit aimless. Frontier restaurant was already on our list (as recommended by Katherine Klimt), but the flurry of tweets recommending we stop in earlier than planned for a New Mexican breakfast and sweet rolls gave us an extra nudge.

The restaurant is a classic, old school college diner; it's directly across the street from the University of New Mexico. It is adorned with a southwestern motif and is famous for walls covered in quirky art, including plenty of depictions of The Duke.

Sarah and John had the heuvos rancheros @nicholsong recommended, and I had a breakfast burrito. We tried the restaurant's famous sweet rolls, which are covered in sugar and butter. They are amazing.

We've basically had to roll ourselves down the street for more caffeine and wi-fi in order to send this post. Next stop: Since we have a few extra hours and more time with Albuquerque, we're going to drive up the Turquoise Trail to Cerrillos; known to be a ghost town, but as far as we can tell there are definite signs of life. More to come.

We've basically had to roll ourselves down the street for more caffeine and wifi in order to send this post.

Next stop: Since we have a few extra hours and more time with Albuquerque, we're going to drive up the Turquoise Trail to Cerrillos (as recommended by alderdice in Guardian Witness and many others); known to be a ghost town, but as far as we can tell there are definite signs of life. More to come.

Good morning and welcome to the final day of our epic, reader-fuelled adventure through the American southwest. We left Santa Fe and headed to Albuquerque before sunrise to take in one of the city's famed hot air balloon rides from World Balloon, but it was called off due to windy weather.

After an extremely early breakfast at the famous Frontier restaurant - more on that later, but it was where bestselling author Alisa Valdes, who wrote about Albuquerque for us used to work - we've posted up in a coffee shop right now to rework the day's plan. While we do that, let me tell you about last night in Santa Fe:

We enjoyed live music in the plaza bandstand at the recommendation of Nellie DeBruyn and then headed to Casa La Sena, a place several of you seem to enjoy, after sunset in Sante Fe. I had a lavender mojito and Sarah and I had a bacon-infused Manhattan. You readers weren't kidding about the place being beautiful; we enjoyed our drinks in an open-air restaurant with fairy lights and actual stars overhead. 

Afterwards, we returned to El Rey, an incredibly nice motel that is worth the money you'll save by not staying directly downtown. 

That brings us up to date. And even though our air balloon plans were dashed, we've still packed the day with activities. 

Here's our loose itinerary for the day:

Breakfast at Frontier in Albuquerque, recommended by @foodloversnm.

A drive down Highway 14 to the Turquoise Trail, recommended by Alwick and several others.

A stop in Golden and another in Madrid (Alwick again and alderdice on GuardianWitness), a place where several of you feel strongly about a detour.

Back to Albuquerque to eat dinner, walk around town and write a sad post/take sad photos about the trip being over. 

Speaking of the trip being over ... over the course of the week, we've really hustled - more than 1,400 miles at last count - to bring you a trip from Austin to Albuquerque that was largely on your terms. From hot springs on the side of the highway to breakfast tacos the size of our heads in Austin, we've considered each and every reader tip, and our only regret is that we couldn't follow them all. (But considering your enthusiasm for BBQ, chile burgers and cocktails, it's probably best we just stopped here.) We've really enjoyed the open road, but your ongoing tips truly kept us energised. 

So keep 'em coming. 

Usual places: @KatieRogers, #TwiTrips or in the comments below