Turquoise Trail

Hundreds of tiny toy dolls and other figures fill the rooms and balconies (and even the roof!) of miniature buildings on display at Tinkertown Museum on the Turquoise Trail in New Mexico. Can you spot Snow White and the Seven Dwarves?

Madrid's Main Street is filled with cars, tourists, and bicyclists.

A truck and car approach the Turquoise Trail marked by a roadsign.

Buses wait for tourists outside one of the many shops and boutiques in Madrid.

An America's Byways sign decorates the Turquoise Trail roadsign.

The logo for America's Byways enhances the roadsign for the Turquoise Trail.

Tall trees shade a street in Madrid full of shops and boutiques.

When entering Madrid from the south, visitors can see how the hills shape the town, along with the beginnings of several blocks full of interesting shops.

Azure skies and green foliage highlight this view of the Turquoise Trail.

A white, adobe church stands out from the blue mountains on the Turquoise Trail.

A solitary white church completes the landscape of blue mountains, red earth, and green shrubs.

Plenty of cars line the streets on a weekend in Madrid.

A plank sidewalk and canopies provide comfortable walking and welcome shade to visitors to these town shops in Madrid, New Mexico.

A white church stands out against purple mountains and green brush.

The purples and golds of New Mexico are captured on this byway roadsign.

A flyer for an Turquoise Trail benefit auction is posted uniquely on a mailbox.

High up in the Sandia Mountains, a yellow sunflower stands out against an impeccably luminous view.

A gazebo in the middle of the plaza provides shade from the sun at Old Town Albuquerque.

Madrid was a company coal mining town. This is typical representation of a dozen company built row houses still standing. They were constructed in the 1930s. Notice the coal in the background.

A "modern" covered wagon can be found today one block from Main Street in Cerrillos. Sometimes you can see it in Madrid on along the Turquoise Trail.

View of the San Francisco church in Golden with the San Pedro Mountains in the background. The church was built in the 1820s. It is easily accessible for photos a minutes walk from NM 14, near Milepost 17.4.

A view of the Ortiz Mountains looking to the east a few miles north of Golden.

A local resident greets visitors in Cerrillos at the Casa Grande Trading Post Museum and Petting Zoo.

Madrid, New Mexico is the only known spot in the United States where veins of both bituminous (soft) and anthracite (hard) coal can be found. Tailings from the now closed coal mines can easily be seen from the Turquoise Trail.

Vertical beds of colorful sandstone and mudstore can be seen just a few feet off of Turquoise Trail. They are part of the Galisteo Foundation deposited in streams 70 million years ago.

Heading toward historic Madrid from the south, you can see the colorful old coal mines to the right of Turquoise Trail.

The New Mexico capitol building is shaped like the Zia sun symbol.

The Sandia Mountains serve as a lovely backdrop in this view of the Sandia Ski Area.

A man points out the right direction for a construction worker in this detail from a group of life-size statues found in Albuquerque.

A statue of a mother and father chat while holding their child in this detail from a cluster of life-size statues in Albuquerque.

A Native American woman smiles and holds her daughter's hand in this detail from a group of life-size statues in Albuquerque.

A businesswoman strides purposefully through the crowd in this detail from a cluster of life-size statues in Albuquerque.

Through gated entries, visitors can get a glimpse of Old Town's many hidden courtyards.

This carved and painted sign marks the entrance to the Tinkertown museum and gives visitors a taste of what they will see inside.

A flowerbed surrounded by walls of glass bottles is just one example of the delightful and surprising ways the natural and the man-made intersect at Tinkertown.

Necks and ends of multi-colored bottles glint in the sun at the Tinkertown Museum.

A Madonna stands on a moon held by a child on this painted door at the Tinkertown Museum.

Ninety percent of this diorama was made by the hand of the Tinkertown Museum's creator.

A hand-painted sign near the entrance of the Tinkertown Museum lists the exhibits for visitors.

A figurine of Princess Leia stands among both professionally-made and hand-made friends in the general store diorama.

A wooden tower rises above the bottle walls and metal carvings at Tinkertown.

A wheel makes a unique window, snugly fit into a wall made of bottles.

A door decorated with horseshoes and other metalwork nestles inside one of the museum's many bottle walls.

Many of the walls at the Tinkertown museum, like this, are made of glass bottles.

Bottle necks protrude like flower petals around the museum giftshop's spoke wheel window.

Hand-carved musicians play music at the Tinkertown Museum.

The animated circus diorama delights visitors to Tinkertown.

Hand-painted signs with inspirational sayings like this one adorn the walls of the Tinkertown Museum.

Everyday cast-offs become useful building materials at Tinkertown as demonstrated by this wheel window decorated with horseshoes and bottles and embedded in one of the museum's many bottle walls.

A visitor regards the handpainted signs and bottle walls prevalent at the Tinkertown Museum.

This organ is just one example of the old-fashioned, coin-operated novelties that can be seen at the Tinkertown Museum.

"Drink Sunsets," "Transform Negatives," and "Delight Someone" are just some suggestions on this Tinkertown Museum sign freely giving advice on "how to be really alive."

A carved wooden face watches visitors from its corner at the Tinkertown Museum.

This quirky portal is a portent of the fun to come for visitors to the Tinkertown Museum!

The ski lift at Sandia Peak stands out against the summer scenery.

The Turquoise Trail winds its way through the Sandia Mountains.

Quirky artwork like this sunflower sculpture made of New Mexico license plates abounds in the small, artistic community of Madrid.

Glass bottles and jugs make an unusual building material for many of the walls at Tinkertown Museum.

Madrid is a small, isolated community of artisans and craftspeople.

A madonna rests in its alcove in a shrine made of bottles at the Tinkertown museum.

Visitors come across many sayings designed to delight and inspire at the Tinkertown Museum.

Trees stand like sentinels along the lower ridge of Sandia Peak in mid-May.

Tourists decide to stop and visit The Old Coal Mine Museum on a sunny day in Madrid, New Mexico.

Old adobe walls stand as a reminder of the past in Madrid, New Mexico.

A visitor stands near a carved wooden figure of Christ near a historic church in Cerrillos, New Mexico.

An old cabin and a wagon sit along a rock wall inlaid with colored glass bottles.

Main Street in Madrid peeks around the corner, inviting visitors to follow the curve in the road to more adventures.

A large sculpture depicting several figures in flight welcomes visitors to Tinkertown. The sculpture represents the words of encouragement to live life to the fullest that are found throughout this handmade museum.

A small shop in Madrid expresses on the outside the variety of treasures found on the inside.

Visitors begin to explore Tinkertown after passing under the Sculpture of Flight.

Travelers visit the Sandia Peak Ski Resort on a beautiful spring day.

The Cerrillos Petting Zoo encourages interaction between the visitors and the animals.

A visitor enters the Turquoise Museum in Cerrillos, New Mexico.

The beautiful flowering Clematis can be seen along the Sandia Peak mountain bike trails on the Turquoise Trail.

The gazebo invites visitors to enjoy its shady covering in the town square of Old Town in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

The Turquoise Trail stretches ahead toward the rugged mountains of New Mexico.

A long road stretches southwest on NM 14 toward the Sandias in the distance.

Visitors have left their mark in the form of business cards stuck to nails in the museum's ceiling.

Visitors lean in for a closer look at the walls made completely of glass bottles at the Tinkertown Museum.

The Tinkertown Museum in Sandia Park is home to many pieces of interesting art such as wheels, bottles and more.

A panoramic view of the Sandia Mountains after a heavy snow storm.

St. Francis Cathedral in Santa Fe, New Mexico stands framed by two evergreen pines. Jean Baptiste Lamy, the First Archbishop of Santa Fe, built the cathedral.

The turquoise wash of Mount Chalchihuitl creates a beautiful desert landscape.

The surface of this rock had water poured on it to bring out the color of the turquoise.

Mina del Tiro is a mine located near Mount Chalchuhuitl in New Mexico.

The Museum of Archaeology and Material Culture contains information about the area's early inhabitants. It sits in Cedar Crest, 25 miles south of Madrid.

The entrance to the Sandia Cave invites visitors to explore it.