Northern New Mexico - American Southwest - page 276

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of uranium, and his find led to the biggest boom in the area. By the early 1980s, demand
for uranium had dropped, and so went the big wages and big spenders that the ore's
popularity had produced. However, recent demand may just revive that industry once
again. Today, the city on a segment of Route 66 is a jumping-off point for outdoor
adventures.
The city is the seat of expansive Cíbola County, which stretches from the Arizona
border nearly to Albuquerque. For more information, contact the Grants/Cíbola
County Chamber of Commerce at 100 N. Iron Ave. (P.O. Box 297), Grants, NM
87020 ( & 800/748-2142 or 505/287-4802; www.grants.org). It's in the same building
as the New Mexico Mining Museum.

WHAT TO SEE IN GRANTS
New Mexico Mining Museum Kids This enormously interesting little museum
primes you for the underground adventure of traveling into a re-creation of a mine shaft
by showing you, on ground level, some geology, such as a fossilized dinosaur leg bone
and a piece of Malpais lava. The world's only underground uranium-mining museum
also gives you a sense of the context within which uranium was mined, through photos
of the uranium-mining pioneers. Thus, the stage is set for your walk into a mine shaft-
like doorway adorned with rusty metal hats. An elevator takes you down into a spooky,
low-lit place with stone walls. You begin in the station where uranium was loaded and
unloaded and travel through the earth to places defined on wall plaques. While explor-
ing, you get a sense of the dark and dirty work that mining can be. Those with claustro-
phobia may have to content themselves with visiting the exhibits above ground.
100 N. Iron Ave., at Santa Fe Ave. & 800/748-2142 or 505/287-4802. www.grants.org. Admission $3
adults, $2 seniors 60 and over and children 7-18; free for children 6 and under. Mon-Sat 9am-4pm.
Northwest New Mexico Visitor Center East of Grants, this center sits within
an expansive pueblo-style building with a broad atrium showing off views of the Malpais.
It offers fliers and films on the region's parks, forests, and Indian country. A real treat here
is a series of suggested driving tours displayed with large color photos and free cards
describing the routes. One tour takes visitors along the volcanoes of the Malpais, another
through the abandoned logging communities of the Zuni Mountains Historical Loop,
and another to the stunning geologic formations of the Cabezon and Rio Puerco area. A
fun shelf of Southwest book titles is worth perusing.
1900 Santa Fe Ave. & 505/876-2783. Free admission. Daily 9am-6pm during daylight saving time;
8am-5pm during Mountain Standard Time.
WHERE TO STAY IN GRANTS
Grants hotels are all on or near Route 66, with major properties near I-40 interchanges,
and smaller or older motels nearer downtown. Lodger's tax is 5%, which is added to the
gross receipts tax of 7.50%, for a total room tax of 12.5%. Parking is usually free.
Holiday Inn Express This two-story motel, just off the interstate, provides large,
well-conceived rooms with a comfortable atmosphere. Ground-floor rooms open both
off an inner corridor and from an outside door where your car is parked. Rooms are spa-
cious, with high ceilings, comfortable beds, and large bathrooms.
1496 E. Santa Fe Ave., Grants, NM 87020. & 800/HOLIDAY [465-4329] or 505/285-4676. Fax 505/285-
6998. www.hiexpress.com. 58 units. $119 double. Rates include hot breakfast. AE, DC, DISC, MC, V. Pets
welcome. Amenities: Jacuzzi; small indoor pool. In room: A/C, TV, hair dryer, Wi-Fi.

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