From Abó the drive to the quiet town of Mountainar, New Mexico is just a few minutes on US-60. Make sure to get fuel if you can before heading out to this remote area, you’ll pay a premium at the local station if you forget. In a town of about 900 residents it’s fairly hard to get lost, and if you look for the sign you won’t miss the Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument visitor center.
The outside of the building has artwork that brings together elements of Pueblo pottery shards and ancient petroglyphs.
Inside is a small but substantial collection of educational signs with more text than I can recap on this blog. Logn story short it covers the history from the start of the Franciscan missions until the time where settlers of this area migrated away in the mid 1800s.
If you have the time and opportunity, watch the short film about the Puebloan people and missionaries, and read as many of the signs as you can. They will help understand for when you visit the mission sites.
