Route 66 - New Mexico

From 1926 to 1937, Route 66 took the long way through New Mexico, swinging north from Albuquerque up to Santa Fe before heading west again. This tour follows that original alignment. Start in downtown Albuquerque at a cut-to-order cheese counter a block off Central Avenue, then stop at UNM's anthropology museum, which is currently running an exhibit on how humans and microbes built civilization through fermentation. Head up the Rio Grande to a small goat farm in Corrales, then drive the old road to Santa Fe for green chile pimento cheese inside Chomp Food Hall. End in the hills near Española at a school farm where teenagers help make the cheese. New Mexico's cheese scene is small, young, and fiercely local. It is supported by the New Mexico Cheese Guild, the country's only 501(c)3 nonprofit cheese guild.

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The Mouse Hole Cheese Shop: Start in downtown Albuquerque at the city’s only cut-to-order cheese shop, a block off Central Avenue. Ask the cheesemongers for samples from a case of 40 to 50 small-batch cheeses.

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Maxwell Museum of Anthropology: On the UNM campus, the trail’s only museum stop is running Entangled Cultures, an exhibit on how humans and microbes built civilization through fermentation. Admission is free.

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Brown’s Micro-Creamery: Head up the Rio Grande to Corrales, where Amanda Brown raises fifteen Nubian goats and turns their raw milk into handmade chèvre. Visits by appointment only.

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Picnic NM Cheese & Charcuterie: Drive the old road to Santa Fe for the city’s only cut-to-order cheese counter, tucked inside Chomp Food Hall. Don’t leave without the green chile pimento cheese.

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Camino de Paz School & Farm: End near Española at a school farm where students in grades 7–12 help make goat and cow milk cheese. Visits by appointment, or find them Saturdays at the Santa Fe Farmers’ Market.