Blog Archives
Breakfast
Breakfast was a big deal, I guess, judging from the size of this sign.
Santa Rosa, New Mexico
photographed 5.4.2013
Please pay
Meanwhile, back in Santa Rosa, the paint’s so faded on the sign that it’s hard to tell where, exactly, you’d go to pay for your gas. But it doesn’t matter: neither the gas station nor anything in the direction of that arrow are still in business.
Santa Rosa, New Mexico
photographed 5.4.2013
The swings don’t, anymore
Beside the old Route 66 is an old playground. It’s hard to imagine anyone playing here, with the hard ground littered with glittery bits of broken beer bottles, but maybe in the past someone did.
Maybe I did. Santa Rosa was on our family’s route from home to the mountains, where we camped each summer of my childhood. We didn’t stop often on these trips; Santa Rosa would have been the first stop since home, and I guess there’s a chance that my sister and I were shooed from the car to go use up some energy before the next part of the trip commenced. (I am almost positive that it was in Santa Rosa that my dad gave me, in the very early days of my literacy, a lesson on how to find the correct restroom. The one I wanted, he explained, said, “Whoa, men.”)
These days, the swing set and the rest of that playground don’t have any visitors. Except for a photographer or two, stopping by.
Santa Rosa, New Mexico
photographed 5.4.2013
Fresh, hot coffee
I am positive that there IS a place to get fresh, hot coffee in Santa Rosa. But I am just as positive that this isn’t it.
Santa Rosa, New Mexico
photographed 5.4.2013
Sale or trade
It’s really no secret to anyone who’s been around the blog for very long that I have a fondness for Santa Rosa, New Mexico…
Many years ago, I made quite a few trips between Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Lubbock, Texas; at that time all I knew about Santa Rosa was that was where to turn (right, heading to Lubbock; left, to Albuquerque). I never drove through town, a fact which is sort of embarrassing to admit. In recent years, my family have taken up scuba diving and (this doesn’t even sound right), there’s a place to dive in Santa Rosa. These days, I tag along on as many scuba trips as I can; while the divers are diving, I am exploring. The old Route 66 is a treasure of abandoned buildings (mostly gas stations, now usurped by big chain stations-with-convenience-stores over on the interstate.)
For the five years or so that I’ve been photographing Santa Rosa, the fluorescent lights inside the service bay at this old Exxon station have been on. I don’t know why. Maybe to illuminate that Sale or Trade sign. Just in case.
Santa Rosa, New Mexico
photographed 5.4.2013
One Day | One Image 