New Mexico 2016

Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument, Santa Fe, New Mexico

There's a saying on a tee shirt in New Mexico that "it's neither New nor in Mexico."  Try telling that to the 29% of Americans who believe that the state is actually a state of Mexico.  (Methinks they're Trump voters, so there's little hope.)  Two million people call New Mexico home; truth be told, New Mexico got its name 250 years before Mexico.

New Mexico has always been one of those 'I've been to that state' on my bucket list of states.  But that's always been a stretch.  Moving from Coronado to Washington DC in November 1961, New Mexico was likely a blur as we drove through (as in dad drove - he ALWAYS drove) in our 1957 Ford Fairlane 500, sans air conditioning.  Who knows, we might even have spent a night in some motor motel along the growing interstate system.

But with Santa Fe as our base of operations - steps from the odd state Capitol and old town SF...

Oh, and if you've travelled the west, especially in SW Colorado, you might have put a foot or hand in the state.  Although I'm told this iconic landmark is not exactly in the geographically correct spot.  

And that hardly counts any way.

So we made New Mexico a conscious part of our spring break trek this year.  After a few spring training games in the Phoenix area, of course.

Camelback Ranch, Glendale, AZ

Salt River Fields at Talking Stick, Scottsdale, AZ

We drove north to Holbrook, AZ in the northeast part of the state, giving us a headstart for our travels further east along I-40 to Albuquerque, then north to Santa Fe.  Holbrook is along the old Route 66, and it is loaded with classic 1950s/1960s motor motels, including this one, complete with vintage cars.

We figured four nights in Santa Fe would be sufficient to sate our appetite for this part of our country (the nation's 47th state, gaining statehood in 1912).  

We were wrong.

We did as much as we could in the four days we were there but left plenty to want to come back.

Not surprisingly, the state has the highest percentage of Hispanics - and the fourth most Native Americans by numbers, mostly Navajo, Pueblo and Apache peoples.

Taos was a bit of a disappointment because the Taos Pueblo does not open until late April.  We weren't even allowed in to take a picture like this one.  And you can only tourist shop in Taos for so long.

We spent a morning hiking in Bandelier National Monument and visited the museum in the atomic town of Las Alamos (home of the atomic bomb).  The museum (The Bradley Science Museum), though poorly organized, gave up tons of information about the secret Manhattan Project, which led to the development - then use - of the atomic bomb.  Less than a month after the first successful atomic test (above ground in southern New Mexico), Little Boy & Fat Man were dropped over Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945.

Bandelier was established by President Wilson in 1916; named not for the Native Americans who made it home, naturally, but for the Swiss-American anthroplogist who researched the area.  It's known for its unique Pueblo cave dwellings, and a short hike was all it took to see much of the valley floor.  Then, wait, it's only another half a mile of flat hiking to get back to the "Alcove House."  Although then it promised a "steep climb."  Hmm, let's go.  What we got at the end of that short hike was truly unique.

          Downtown Santa Fe                                          State Capitol!                                        Classic Santa Fe architecture

Old Town Santa Fe Plaza, filled with Navajo craftsmen/women

          Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi                            Downtown Hotel & Spa, complete with ready-to-dye Easter egg!