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Area Attractions : New Mexico Santa Rosa City of Lakes with Santa Rosa Lake State Park, Route 66, Lodging Santa Rosa Scuba Diving Restaurants
Useful Area Links : New Mexico Santa Rosa City of Lakes with Santa Rosa Lake State Park, Route 66, Lodging Santa Rosa Scuba Diving Restaurants

New Mexico Santa Rosa City of Lakes with Santa Rosa Lake State Park, Route 66, Lodging Santa Rosa Scuba Diving RestaurantsWater lovers have other choices besides scuba diving.  Among 12 spring fed lakes in the area you can head for any one of the watering holes including Park Lake, the Southwest's largest swimming pool featuring a 32-foot waterslide.  Rent pedal boats, canoes, swim, hike down El Rito Creek or walk along improved paths and sidealkes connecting Historic Route 66 to Old Route 66 along Blue Hole Road.  Kids and seniors can fish in two specially-stocked ponds nearby. 

Santa Rosa Lake is the largest of several area lakes, and was created to tame the wild Pecos River. Though the Pecos floods no more, it once gave cowboys a tough day trying to "git their little dogies" across it. These days Santa Rosa Lake gives urban cowboys and locals alike some exciting days of waterskiing, fishing, windsurfing, or jet skiing. Another option is to just kick back at the lake's New Mexico State Parks campsites, either with bare-bones camping or RV spots in the surrounding piñon and juniper-covered hills.

GOLF COURSE
Open 7 days a week/365 days a year

Green Fees - $15.00 for 18 holes
Cart Rental - $14.00 for 18 holes

WATER FUN AT A GLANCE

  • Blue Hole-diving, limited recreation swimming
  • Janes-Wallace Park & Dam Lake-fishing
  • Park Lake-family swimming, water park, fishing
  • Park Lake Ponds-stocked with trout; for kids and seniors only
  • Perch Lake-diving, swimming
  • Rock Lake State Fish Hatchery
  • Santa Rosa Lake State Park-boating, skiing, camping, fishing

 


Route 66 Era : New Mexico Santa Rosa City of Lakes with Santa Rosa Lake State Park, Route 66, Lodging Santa Rosa Scuba Diving Restaurants

Route 66 Era : New Mexico Santa Rosa City of Lakes with Santa Rosa Lake State Park, Route 66, Lodging Santa Rosa Scuba Diving RestaurantsThe grand dream of moving people by car westward was realized in 1927 with the opening of Route 66. Motorists flocked onto the massive new highway system known as America's "New Main Street." Within eight years, the Santa Rosa section was open. Besides offering a delightful watering hole to weary travelers, Santa Rosa provided additional comforts in an era of tough traveling. Families heading west in hopes of a better life, sightseers, truckers hauling goods from coast to coast, all found respite in Santa Rosa's motels and cafés which lined the highway through town.

Fortunately, reliving the golden era of Route 66 is not too hard. Look for signs of the good ol' days at the Comet Drive In, Silver Moon, Sun and Sand, and in the still-grinning faces of Fat Man billboards outside of town. Be warned: You can experience the flavor of Route 66 by eating your way across town, starting with good 'n greasy Heritage Fries to Cherry Dump Cake-but it'll take a few days. Loosen your belt and open your eyes-great neon still lights up the night. And don't miss Bozo and Anna's car collection and memorabilia at the Route 66 Auto Museum.

HISTORY IN A NUTSHELL

  • 1930 Route 66 comes to Santa Rosa.
  • 1937 Route 66 changes lanes.
  • 1972 I-40 opens, but beloved Santa Rosa remains a busy off-ramp.
  • 1982 Santa Rosa Lake is birthed with the damming of the once-wild Pecos.

Santa Rosa's stretch of Route 66 is part of film history. When Steinbeck's epic novel, Grapes of Wrath, was made into a movie, director John Ford used Santa Rosa for the memorable train scene. Tom Joad (Henry Fonda) watches a freight train steam over the Pecos River railroad bridge, into the sunset.

Other Route 66 landmarks still visible today include "billboards" painted on huge roadside boulders. This part of the highway was decommissioned in 1937 and later became part of the Santa Rosa airport runway.

A particularly scenic stretch of Route 66 parallels Interstate 40 and can be accessed from the three exits east of town. See picturesque stone ruins in Cuervo and the ghost service stations of Newkirk and Montoya. If you have a couple of hours, drive on to Tucumcari where more 66-era relics can be found.

Route 66 Auto Museum
2411 Historic Route 66
Santa Rosa, NM 88435
Phone: 575-472-1966
Website : www.route66automuseum.com

Puerto de Luna : New Mexico Santa Rosa City of Lakes with Santa Rosa Lake State Park, Route 66, Lodging Santa Rosa Scuba Diving Restaurants

Puerto de Luna : New Mexico Santa Rosa City of Lakes with Santa Rosa Lake State Park, Route 66, Lodging Santa Rosa Scuba Diving RestaurantsAn ancient adobe village in a hauntingly beautiful landscape, Puerto de Luna (10 miles south of Santa Rosa) was once the most thriving village in the area. According to one legend, Coronado's conquistadores built a bridge across the Pecos here and watched the moon come up behind rock outcroppings. The area was not permanently settled until Civil War times, relatively late by Southwestern standards. Early settlers found a beautiful, fertile valley with soft sweet drinking water from nearby springs and sufficient acequia water to irrigate their fields.

The coming of the railroad signaled the beginning of the end for Puerto de Luna when it was bypassed. Instead, the citizens of Santa Rosa were the ones to cheer the first train steaming into their town on Christmas Day of 1901.

Special sites in "PDL," as the locals call it, include the Nuestro Señora del Refugio Church, the original County Courthouse, and the nearby Grzelachowski House, home to one of the town's most colorful entrepreneurs. "Grezla," as the retired Civil War chaplain was nicknamed, was a business partner to Charles Ilfeld, pioneer merchant, and also friend to outlaw Billy the Kid. Billy is said to have eaten his last Christmas dinner in Grezla's home in PDL.

Puerto de Luna is also famous for "PDL Chile" a unique strain of chile that has been cultivated here for over 100 years. Look for specials on local restaurant marquees or menus boasting PDL Chile.

Puerto de Luna : New Mexico Santa Rosa City of Lakes with Santa Rosa Lake State Park, Route 66, Lodging Santa Rosa Scuba Diving RestaurantsIn Santa Rosa, head for the railroad-era Fourth Street Business District and the Ilfeld Warehouse. Check out the old storefronts! The remains of Saint Rose Chapel, erected in 1879 by builder Don Celso Baca, are right across from his hacienda about a mile from the town center on Highway 91.

HISTORY IN A NUTSHELL

  • 1541 Coronado passes through on his search for gold.
  • 1824 Republic of Mexico gives Agua Negra Land Grant to Don Antonio Sandoval.
  • 1842 The first settlers arrive in Puerto de Luna.
  • 1863 The federal government forcibly relocates Navajos to nearby Bosque Redondo on what is known as "The Long Walk."
  • 1901 The Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad steams into Santa Rosa.
  • 1903 Santa Rosa becomes Guadalupe county seat, and fate bypasses Puerto de Luna.


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