Anyone know

[bondgwendabond]

a weird town in New Mexico that is smallish and is NOT Roswell? (Although Roswell might be kind of fun for my purposes, but I want to see if there's anything else suitable and lesser known first.)

My characters will be wandering in from the desert.

Comments

[sallytuppence]

Pie Town? Is very small. Famous for its pies.

Socorro is pretty small. That's where the Very Large Array is (the radio telescopes from the movie Contact). Also New Mexico Tech, the highest teen pregnancy rate in the country, and the highest per-capita number of fast food restaurants. Plus ancient petroglyphs and cave paintings and southwestern culture. Weird place for sure.

[bondgwendabond]

Perfect -- thank you!

[gregvaneekhout]

Ah, Socorro. I had a really tasty red chili burrito there, at a place called El Sombrero, or, as the locals know it, "The hat."

Oh, and good pie in Pie Town.

New Mexico is a delicious state.

[sallytuppence]

I have eaten at the hat! (my aunt and uncle are locals). Had the best thingies there. Fried things you fill up with honey?

Damn, can't remember the name. Been away from the Southwest for too long!

[castellucci]

How about Rachel, Nevada. Home of the Lil' Alie'inn and also the Extraterrestial Highway. Also the closest town to Area 51

http://www.rachel-nevada.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rachel,_Nevada

[bondgwendabond]

Intriguing. It just might work.

[jamiam]

Oh, golly. What kind of weird are you looking for?

Reserve: According to the Lonely Planet Guide: "Founded in the 1870s, Reserve now has 600 residents and is the seat of Catron County, which only has some 3000 inhabitants itself -- mainly ranchers, cowboys and loggers who particularly loathe federal government interference and environmentalists. Recently, county officials passed a resolution urging every family to own a gun. This is about as close to the Old Wild West as you'll get."

Truchas -- an art colony tucked away against the Sangre de Cristo mountains, way off on the high road to Taos. Filming site of Robert Redford's Milagro Beanfield War. Lots of wacky art galleries. One bar, one general store. The crazy guy who ran our B&B once rode the entirety of the Santa Fe Trail on horseback, wrote a book about it, then settled down and built his big, eclectic adobe house by hand. His two arthritic old horses would let themselves into the entryway of the house on cold nights.

Mogollon -- an almost ghost-town in the Gila mountains,

[livia_llewellyn]

I totally want to move to New Mexico now. :D

[jamiam]

Oh gosh, yes. And please believe me when I say I'm only scratching the surface -- I haven't even mentioned the architecture, or the food... or the fact that Espanola claims to be the low-rider capitol of the world.

order of magnitude correction

[jamiam]

sorry: Los Alamos has only 40 churches for its 17000 people. And business hours are 2-8pm. I done been correcticated.