this enchanted land
Spring break: New Mexico. I don't think many people know much about this state, which is a bit of a shame because it has so much to offer: natural gorgeousness just about everywhere, artsy communes like Santa Fe and Taos, tiny near-derelict towns, long desert drives, great Mexican food, giant caves, nuclear missiles, cowboys, Route 66, and much much more.
J and I spent one week driving around the state: from Albuquerque to Santa Fe and Taos in the north; back down from Taos to Las Cruces in the south in a long, long 400+ mile, full-day drive (with a detour to see the Very Large Array satellites); across the state from Las Cruces to Carlsbad to see the magnificent gigantic underground caves, and then back up towards Albuquerque again. New Mexico is a great place for a roadtrip. The state has plenty of mountain ranges, mesas, and other interesting rock formations to drive by, and for a born-and-bred city girl like me, looking at some of the tiny little towns we drove through was really an eye-opener. It is unfortunate that so many of these towns are economically depressed, and it gets even worse when you drive through their main street and see nothing much apart from motel chains, McDonald's, and the omnipresent Wal-Mart. There are pockets of local activity here and there, of course, but it is also clear that many local businesses struggle to survive.
But beauty and natural wonders New Mexico has in spades. 360 days of sunshine, wide open skies, and colours that glow.
Albuquerque
1: Old Town Plaza; San Felipe de Neri church
2: ridiculously prehistoric park-and-pay system
3: tram up Sandia Peak; ski in the desert
1: Lucy the cat with red chiles; silvercraft for sale; no snow cones in spring
2: the National Atomic Museum; quesadillas for lunch; public art discussions
I had quesadillas for lunch at a wonderfully quaint little diner located inside a pharmacy. From the outside you'd never expect there to be a busy eatery located inside, but thanks to our helpful guidebook we found it. The moment you enter the pharmacy, it's easy to find the diner - just follow your nose! My quesadillas were all cheesy carby chile goodness.
Santa Fe
1: Wooden sculptures along the river; San Miguel Mission, the oldest church in the US; San Miguel interior
2: Oscar the Irish Wolfhound still needs to grow more!; yay porky goodness; R2D2 disguised as a postbox
1: Supposedly the oldest house in America; bridge over Santa Fe River
2: yummy lunch at The Compound; Canyon Drive, where all the art galleries are located
I much preferred Santa Fe to Albuquerque: it felt cosier, more intimate, and more cosmopolitan. I really liked Canyon Drive, where many art galleries are located. Most of these are in small adobe houses and many have bronze sculptures in their gardens, and people walk up and down the road, popping in and out of the galleries. I wasn't as impressed by the shopping on offer, though. Maybe I was just visiting the wrong places, but if you weren't looking for touristy souvenirs, Native Americans crafts, or paintings, there was very little else on offer. My guidebook recommended a mall and warned that it would seem 'provincial' to city-folk. 'Provincial' doesn't even begin to describe it. After some wide-eyed wandering through Western Warehouse (yes! the actual store name!) my pulse began to flatline in the mall - all Payless and Sears and ValueDollar with hardly anyone else in sight. Perhaps they were all shopping at a much hipper place.
Perhaps they were all at Wal-Mart. Frankly, Wal-Mart both repulses and fascinates me. Guns and ammo for sale, aisles that stretch on forever, generic clothes, and toys you never knew existed, all housed in a mammoth complex where you lose all sense of time. And for some reason, it is impossible to walk out empty-handed. I bought a chew toy for Tobey, mascara, and dark chocolate sticks. Incredible, and frightening.
Bandelier National Monument
1: view from White Rock; archaeological remains of Native American dwellings
2: huge cliffs of soft volcanic rock - ancient people used to live in the holes in the rocks
3: the vertiginous 140ft climb up to Alcove House at the top of the cliffs
1: the view makes the climb all worth it
2: ceremonial space at the top; tiny caveroom peekaboo
Bandelier literally takes your breath away (incidentally, I had my breath taken away several more times throughout this trip, that's how amazing New Mexico is). As you hike through it you get to see the (restored) ruins of the ancient people who once lived on this land. The highlight of it all is a long climb on wooden ladders up to the top of the cliff, where there used to be a ceremonial cave. Once you get up there and see the view, you immediately understand why it was chosen to be a sacred spot for religious ceremonies. The big open sky, the forests stretching out infinitely before you - perfect. The climb down though, was not so perfect! I clung on tight and descended gingerly. My legs felt like jelly afterwards.
Small town New Mexico
What kept me going as we drove from town to town, in long unending stretches, was watching the small towns go by. A lot of them sprung up during the mining boom, but once that ended, they fell into a state of desolation. Still, they have a strange beauty to them. One of these towns, Cerrillos, has not changed much since 1879, and the buildings there still have posts that were meant for you to tie your horse to, the roads remain unpaved, and no one seems to be around. It was a bit like a ghost town.
One afternoon we had lunch at this place called The Hill Diner in Los Alamos (Nuke City! says the sign outside). It is located right next to the highway and looks a bit like a shack from the outside. However, when you enter, you see that the rooms are filled with light and decorated with a Wild West theme - the curtains have a cowgirl print, they serve burgers as big as both your palms placed together, and the teenaged boy serving you has a cute drawl as he takes your order. It was all so charming, and the food was pretty good, too. I only wish I had left some space for their desserts: funeral cake (big moist chocolate cake), banana creme pie, and the like.
The Very Large Array
This complex, run by the National Science Foundation, was made famous in that movie Contact, starring Jodie Foster and her ridiculous drawl. (I really hated that movie, by the way - it made astronomy look like sci-fi Tinkertoys.) When you see a place with a name like that on the map, how can you resist not visiting it? (Incidentally, there was another town with the intriguing name of Truth and Consequences, but we didn't have time to take a look at it.) It proved to be a very long, 100 mile detour, but it was also worth it. To see these huge satellite dishes up close out in the middle of nowhere, with dramatic clouds and the mountains surrounding us, and hardly another soul in sight: totally, totally worth that drive.
White Sands National Monument
Incredibly, these landscapes of pure white (my dinky camera's white balance doesn't do it any justice) are not of snow, but of gypsum, a very fine white mineral that has been eroded from the surrounding mountains, resulting in a huge desert of pure white. It is glaringly hot there, and the brightness is everywhere, reflected off the sand and into your eyes. The heat and light made a short walk through the dunes exhausting. Even the roads were covered with sand. People brought sleds and had fun sliding down the dunes as if they were on a ski run. To add to the overall surrealism, there is a huge missile testing facility located right next (or within?) the park itself. Everywhere you go, you see signs warning you never to touch any pieces of metal you might come across.
And then there was Roswell (bizarre!) and the Carlsbad Caverns (mindblowingly amazing, 750ft underground) and the many interesting and delish meals we had on the trip, but this post is already so long and enough of a visual overload, so I'll just hold it off for now. I think that awful American Airlines flight I had to endure home squashed amidst overweight exuberant teenagers gave me a bug - my throat's all scratchy and my back's all achy and I'm all whiny and well, that's the score.
But New Mexico! That 'Land of Enchantment' motto it gives itself? Very well-deserved.
J and I spent one week driving around the state: from Albuquerque to Santa Fe and Taos in the north; back down from Taos to Las Cruces in the south in a long, long 400+ mile, full-day drive (with a detour to see the Very Large Array satellites); across the state from Las Cruces to Carlsbad to see the magnificent gigantic underground caves, and then back up towards Albuquerque again. New Mexico is a great place for a roadtrip. The state has plenty of mountain ranges, mesas, and other interesting rock formations to drive by, and for a born-and-bred city girl like me, looking at some of the tiny little towns we drove through was really an eye-opener. It is unfortunate that so many of these towns are economically depressed, and it gets even worse when you drive through their main street and see nothing much apart from motel chains, McDonald's, and the omnipresent Wal-Mart. There are pockets of local activity here and there, of course, but it is also clear that many local businesses struggle to survive.
But beauty and natural wonders New Mexico has in spades. 360 days of sunshine, wide open skies, and colours that glow.
Albuquerque
1: Old Town Plaza; San Felipe de Neri church
2: ridiculously prehistoric park-and-pay system
3: tram up Sandia Peak; ski in the desert
1: Lucy the cat with red chiles; silvercraft for sale; no snow cones in spring
2: the National Atomic Museum; quesadillas for lunch; public art discussions
I had quesadillas for lunch at a wonderfully quaint little diner located inside a pharmacy. From the outside you'd never expect there to be a busy eatery located inside, but thanks to our helpful guidebook we found it. The moment you enter the pharmacy, it's easy to find the diner - just follow your nose! My quesadillas were all cheesy carby chile goodness.
Santa Fe
1: Wooden sculptures along the river; San Miguel Mission, the oldest church in the US; San Miguel interior
2: Oscar the Irish Wolfhound still needs to grow more!; yay porky goodness; R2D2 disguised as a postbox
1: Supposedly the oldest house in America; bridge over Santa Fe River
2: yummy lunch at The Compound; Canyon Drive, where all the art galleries are located
I much preferred Santa Fe to Albuquerque: it felt cosier, more intimate, and more cosmopolitan. I really liked Canyon Drive, where many art galleries are located. Most of these are in small adobe houses and many have bronze sculptures in their gardens, and people walk up and down the road, popping in and out of the galleries. I wasn't as impressed by the shopping on offer, though. Maybe I was just visiting the wrong places, but if you weren't looking for touristy souvenirs, Native Americans crafts, or paintings, there was very little else on offer. My guidebook recommended a mall and warned that it would seem 'provincial' to city-folk. 'Provincial' doesn't even begin to describe it. After some wide-eyed wandering through Western Warehouse (yes! the actual store name!) my pulse began to flatline in the mall - all Payless and Sears and ValueDollar with hardly anyone else in sight. Perhaps they were all shopping at a much hipper place.
Perhaps they were all at Wal-Mart. Frankly, Wal-Mart both repulses and fascinates me. Guns and ammo for sale, aisles that stretch on forever, generic clothes, and toys you never knew existed, all housed in a mammoth complex where you lose all sense of time. And for some reason, it is impossible to walk out empty-handed. I bought a chew toy for Tobey, mascara, and dark chocolate sticks. Incredible, and frightening.
Bandelier National Monument
1: view from White Rock; archaeological remains of Native American dwellings
2: huge cliffs of soft volcanic rock - ancient people used to live in the holes in the rocks
3: the vertiginous 140ft climb up to Alcove House at the top of the cliffs
1: the view makes the climb all worth it
2: ceremonial space at the top; tiny caveroom peekaboo
Bandelier literally takes your breath away (incidentally, I had my breath taken away several more times throughout this trip, that's how amazing New Mexico is). As you hike through it you get to see the (restored) ruins of the ancient people who once lived on this land. The highlight of it all is a long climb on wooden ladders up to the top of the cliff, where there used to be a ceremonial cave. Once you get up there and see the view, you immediately understand why it was chosen to be a sacred spot for religious ceremonies. The big open sky, the forests stretching out infinitely before you - perfect. The climb down though, was not so perfect! I clung on tight and descended gingerly. My legs felt like jelly afterwards.
Small town New Mexico
What kept me going as we drove from town to town, in long unending stretches, was watching the small towns go by. A lot of them sprung up during the mining boom, but once that ended, they fell into a state of desolation. Still, they have a strange beauty to them. One of these towns, Cerrillos, has not changed much since 1879, and the buildings there still have posts that were meant for you to tie your horse to, the roads remain unpaved, and no one seems to be around. It was a bit like a ghost town.
One afternoon we had lunch at this place called The Hill Diner in Los Alamos (Nuke City! says the sign outside). It is located right next to the highway and looks a bit like a shack from the outside. However, when you enter, you see that the rooms are filled with light and decorated with a Wild West theme - the curtains have a cowgirl print, they serve burgers as big as both your palms placed together, and the teenaged boy serving you has a cute drawl as he takes your order. It was all so charming, and the food was pretty good, too. I only wish I had left some space for their desserts: funeral cake (big moist chocolate cake), banana creme pie, and the like.
The Very Large Array
This complex, run by the National Science Foundation, was made famous in that movie Contact, starring Jodie Foster and her ridiculous drawl. (I really hated that movie, by the way - it made astronomy look like sci-fi Tinkertoys.) When you see a place with a name like that on the map, how can you resist not visiting it? (Incidentally, there was another town with the intriguing name of Truth and Consequences, but we didn't have time to take a look at it.) It proved to be a very long, 100 mile detour, but it was also worth it. To see these huge satellite dishes up close out in the middle of nowhere, with dramatic clouds and the mountains surrounding us, and hardly another soul in sight: totally, totally worth that drive.
White Sands National Monument
Incredibly, these landscapes of pure white (my dinky camera's white balance doesn't do it any justice) are not of snow, but of gypsum, a very fine white mineral that has been eroded from the surrounding mountains, resulting in a huge desert of pure white. It is glaringly hot there, and the brightness is everywhere, reflected off the sand and into your eyes. The heat and light made a short walk through the dunes exhausting. Even the roads were covered with sand. People brought sleds and had fun sliding down the dunes as if they were on a ski run. To add to the overall surrealism, there is a huge missile testing facility located right next (or within?) the park itself. Everywhere you go, you see signs warning you never to touch any pieces of metal you might come across.
And then there was Roswell (bizarre!) and the Carlsbad Caverns (mindblowingly amazing, 750ft underground) and the many interesting and delish meals we had on the trip, but this post is already so long and enough of a visual overload, so I'll just hold it off for now. I think that awful American Airlines flight I had to endure home squashed amidst overweight exuberant teenagers gave me a bug - my throat's all scratchy and my back's all achy and I'm all whiny and well, that's the score.
But New Mexico! That 'Land of Enchantment' motto it gives itself? Very well-deserved.