new mexico
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Visiting the lesser-known parks and monuments in the Four Corners area
As you’ve been reading about for the last month, this summer’s eight-day roadtrip took us on a loop from Colorado to northwestern New Mexico and then across the border into northeastern Arizona. The largest chunks of time were spent in the four parks and monuments I’ve already covered, but we also made a few shorter Continue reading
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A guide to visiting Chaco Culture National Historical Park, New Mexico
Never go to New Mexico and Arizona in July. This isn’t a lesson we’ve just learned. After previous family summer vacations to southern Utah and the Grand Canyon, we weren’t at all unfamiliar with the unpleasantly high temperatures and dehydratingly low humidities of the southwestern US in the middle of summer. In fact, we initially Continue reading
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Snapshots from the sky: spring 2024 edition
In retrospect, flying to Seattle for 3 days, Austin for 5 days, and Dallas for 4 days – all in a 5 week period – was overly ambitious. I definitely overbooked myself, and in the aftermath I very much paid the price. I don’t regret it, per se, because all three trips were fun. But Continue reading
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Nuclear science & history at Manhattan Project National Historical Park – Los Alamos, New Mexico
Well, we’ve finally reached the end of Thanksgiving in New Mexico. After four nights in Albuquerque and one night in Santa Fe, we headed north to Los Alamos for the final three days of our trip. The first two were spent visiting Bandelier and Valles Caldera, leaving the final day to hang around town. Like Continue reading
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Life inside a volcano – Valles Caldera National Preserve, New Mexico
Last week, I wrote all about Bandelier National Monument, which protects the cliffs, canyons, and Ancestral Puebloan ruins south of Los Alamos, New Mexico. This landscape was created by the two massive eruptions of a nearby volcano more than 1 million years ago. After the final eruption the volcano collapsed, leaving behind a caldera 14 Continue reading
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Pueblos and petroglyphs – Bandelier National Monument, New Mexico
“The grandest thing I ever saw” – Adolph Bandelier, archaeologist Nestled in Frijoles Canyon, which has been carved into the Pajarito Plateau, is an 800-year-old pueblo called Tyuonyi. Tyuonyi (pronounced KYU-weh-nee, and no, that’s not a typo; it’s been three months, and my brain still struggles with seeing a T and having to make a Continue reading
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24 hours in Santa Fe, New Mexico
Pretty much everyone we talked to prior to our New Mexico road trip assured us we would really enjoy Santa Fe. It’s such a cool place, they said. Quirky and artsy and historic. And it definitely is all of those things. But honestly, I didn’t love it as much as I felt like I should Continue reading
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Indigenous inscriptions – Petroglyph National Monument, New Mexico
Located on the western edge of Albuquerque, New Mexico, hidden amongst the jumbled landscape, are more than 20,000 (not a typo!) historic rock carvings called petroglyphs. This area is part of the Rio Grande rift, formed over millions of years by the movement of tectonic plates. This rift stretches from central Colorado to central New Continue reading
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48 hours in Albuquerque, New Mexico
When we told people we were headed to New Mexico for Thanksgiving, they all assured us we would really enjoy our time in Santa Fe and Los Alamos. And we did. But when we mentioned we were also spending time in Albuquerque, the universal response was: why? Well, I’ll tell you why… because there’s quite Continue reading
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Bad country – El Malpais National Monument, New Mexico
Day 2 of our New Mexico road trip was somewhat of a failure in planning. I did plan. I planned a lot. Too much, in fact. And had it been July, with 14 hours of daylight and the endless motivation that can only be found during summer, we might have pulled it off. But in Continue reading
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A smattering of New Mexico history
Thanksgiving road trip has become somewhat of a tradition for us. We can both usually get some time off work, and it turns out November is a pretty good time of year to travel around the southwestern US. After spending the previous two Thanksgivings in Utah, we decided to mix things up a little this Continue reading
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Big river of the north – Rio Grande del Norte National Monument, New Mexico
With one day remaining of our Labor Day weekend getaway to Taos, we headed out of town to the west. Today, instead of climbing to the highest point, we would be descending to the lowest elevation area in the Taos Valley region: the gorge cut by the Rio Grande. Actually, we’d be descending and then Continue reading
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Driving New Mexico’s Enchanted Circle Scenic Byway
Wheeler Peak, located in the southern reaches of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, is the highest point in New Mexico. We summited it over Labor Day weekend, which I wrote all about last week. Encircling Wheeler Peak is the Enchanted Circle Scenic Byway, connecting the towns of Taos, Red River, and Angel Fire, and passing Continue reading
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On Top of New Mexico: Wheeler Peak
Summer out here in the west has become very unpredictable. Afternoon thunderstorms used to be the main concern, but in the last couple years forest fires and air quality have become the two main factors that influence our travel plans. Colorado was lucky this year to receive adequate rain and avoid a repeat of our Continue reading
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In the crater of a volcano – Capulin Volcano National Monument, New Mexico
My fiance has been wanting to visit New Mexico since the day we arrived in Colorado. He didn’t really know anything about the state and, as a result, I think there was an aura of mystery surrounding it. So we headed off for our first camping trip of the year, about 30 minutes south of Continue reading
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A Year in Review: #52HikeChallenge 2019
In 2019, for the first time ever, I participated in the 52 Hike Challenge. This is exactly what it sounds like: the challenge of completing 52 hikes in 52 weeks. The only guidelines are that the hike should be at least 1 mile (1.6 km) long, you can complete a maximum of 1 hike per Continue reading
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A world underground – Carlsbad Caverns National Park, New Mexico
Carlsbad Caverns is a depiction of two very different worlds: the one above the ground, and the one below. Up above the sun is hot, the air is dry, and every plant and animal has to be very resilient and adaptable to survive in this niche where the Guadalupe Mountains meet the Chihuahuan Desert. And Continue reading
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Left Foot New Mexico – Four Corners Monument
If you’ve been following me for a while, you may remember our failed attempt to visit Four Corners Monument (and if not, you can read about it here). Well as it happened, we found ourselves in the area once again the very next summer. And so this time – after calling ahead to confirm that they Continue reading
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The place where 4 states don’t quite meet
(The posts about our previous stops on this summer roadtrip have been updated to reflect my more recent visits to these parks.) After Canyonlands National Park, our next destination was Mesa Verde National Park in southwestern Colorado. The two parks are only about 3 hours apart by car, but we drove at least an hour out of Continue reading
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