New Mexico

I'm going to be traveling this summer and have a couple extra days planned around when I'll be passing through New Mexico. I'd like to spend a day or two in the state; where should I stay (city, not lodging) and what should I do while there? I've heard it's beautiful and I've always wanted to try the food.

Albuquerque or Santa Fe, depending on what's nearer your travel route.
Eat green chili stew, burgers with green chilis, chili rellenos, tamales, enchiladas etc.
Most of the "cool" touristy things are sort of out of the way, I think--I'm talkin' Roswell, Alamogordo, White Sanda...

I was born in NM but have only been back sporadically since I was very small. The food is the main draw.

Coming from Austin, would you recommend (in terms of scenery):

Taking I-10 West through El Paso and then Taking I-25 up through Las Cruces, Albuquerque, etc.

or

Taking I-35 to Forth Worth and then taking I-40 West to Santa Fe?

From Santa Fe, I'll be taking I-40 west to Sedona.

Take a (film) camera and lots of velvia.

Sedona is awesomely beautiful. Just avoid "downtown" as much as possible.

Las Cruces is pretty nice. There's a good used bookstore there.

Taking I-35 to Forth Worth and then taking I-40 West to Santa Fe?

^this

haha no i meant the other way. gotta stop at white sands if you do go up I25

Bobcat Bite outside of santa fe. Awesome Green Chile Cheeseburger. Prices went up recently but you can still get one w/homefries for about $8. Lots of lolbobcat pics on walls. Will never stop repping for this place.

want green chile cheeseburgers asap. my cultural heritage.

my cousin R is thinking abt moving to Sante Fe to go to school, if she is accepted.
It would give me a great excuse to go visit. Also my grandparents live out in Las Cruces half the year, and I'm often tempted to go stay in their condo when they aren't around.

Taking I-10 West through El Paso and then Taking I-25 up through Las Cruces, Albuquerque, etc.

I've made this drive myself and it's dope as hell imo

Eat green chili stew, burgers with green chilis, chili rellenos, tamales, enchiladas etc.

no posole, no sopaipillas, no cred

oh gimme a break, i stopped living in NM before i turned 2.

Straight up Sopapillas = no cred <br>
Sopapillas w/honey = cred

damn

line break tag is unnecessary, welcome to ILX!

Ahh the conveniences of the modern internet
a line break just like that!
my roots are showing

Btw ian if you are really joensing you can buy hatch brand canned green chile in most USA supermarkets. It has the Zia symbol on the can so you know its the real deal.

haha yeah, i know, they're great! not that any of the supermarkets in my hood are open right now, but maybe this week i'll do somethin.

I've become very anti-suggest-banning these days, but today with this thread, I'm glad the dude on the upper east side wasn't allowed to commentate.

Bed Sty will have to be the last word in NM matters then

i just got back from new mexico today! it is wonderful there, fuck minnesota :(

was supposed to go to the bobcat on the way back from the hot springs, but we forgot. still, i think i put green chile on pretty much everything. also: camping in the desert, a bar fight, skiing at taos w/fresh snow, couple day hikes, beerz, and homeys. i have literally spent the last hour or so scheming on how to live down there this summer

Guys, I recommend Socorro. Who'd have thought, right? I got stuck there for two days when my car died there this weekend and I still like it! Really chill town, wildlife preserve, a great brewery, all those classic '50s signs, no light pollution, etc etc.

I recommend Chope's outside Las Cruces for rellenos.

I am sad no one said, "Hey Abbott, resident of southern NM, plz to note a thing" here. </Eeyore>

omg sopapillas please -- still working up to trying to make these myself

two of the many things Ian is OTM about: Mercury Rev, New Mexican food

Do you want me to mail you some sopapilla mix, nabisco?

They aren't hard to make if you are not afraid of deep frying things.

guys i am not kidding i love new mexico so much right now

had a really interesting discussion with my friend (who used to teach elementary school in the traditional village of aqua fria, where the student pop is like 95% mexican) about new mexican history and racial tensions and so on. that is, there are those who will very pointedly inform you that they are not "mexican," they are "spanish," and their families have lived in new mexico since the 1600s. tho i guess this happens in mexico mexico, too, right? anyway, she is in law school and i gather that ancient spanish land grants make property law down there very complex and interesting

I would like to go back to NM one day. I've only been to Gallup and to some small towns on the Navajo res but I'd love to see more. p.s. Don't go to Gallup.

also, weirdly, there is a holiday celebrated (mostly by "native" new mexicans ie hispanics there for generations) that commemorates the like wholesale slaughter of native american pueblos and the reclamation of lands lost during a N.A. revolt years before. so, like columbus day but even more explicitly :-/

and then there's the water laws...
this guy i was hooping with the other day made me jealous by saying he's moving to NM in a few days. I asked what part of NM exactly, and he said T or C, and the jealousy melted away.
xp's

btw the statewide karaoke championships are in T or C

also, protip: do not EVER pick Golden Brown as a karaoke song

jesus what a mistake that was

Bahaha, lack of T or C jealousy OTM.

i wanna go backpacking in the pecos ASAP

I will trade you places for 6 mos, gbx.

that is, there are those who will very pointedly inform you that they are not "mexican," they are "spanish," and their families have lived in new mexico since the 1600s

Oh, geez, yeah -- plenty of this throughout the southwest. I had a high-school English teacher who'd get mega-pissy about reminding you that she was Iberian, which just created its own tensions, since the 40% of the class that was chicano/mestizo would pretty reasonably take mild offense to this.

Abbott, I didn't know there were mixes -- it's it a pretty simple combination? Just, like, flour and baking soda and something like lard?

aw, but i wanna be in No. New Mexico cuz that's where my pals are xps

I just have some sitting around that a friend gave me, is why, nabisco.

gbx I can dig.

statewide karaoke championships are in T or C

Wait, were you actually in said championships?!

oh wait, nm. I was confused.

omg btw the drive to taos is fucking mindblowingly beautiful

haha, no, but my friend maggie was trying to recruit ppl to go qualify for the state champs in some shitty town like 3 hours away (better chances), and mentioned it. we were at karaoke in Santa Fe, which was interrupted by my friend's roommate getting into a bar fight

wait, not actual roommate, but friend all the same.

I think 90% of drives in NM are mindblowingly beautiful, but I have child-nostalgia issues; lately I've been reduced to watching movies shot in Albuquerque just to look at the scenery. (I can't remember what happens in The Tao of Steve but it's full of that low wet dark-blue sky that comes leaking over the mountains, and I absolutely cannot get enough of that.)

oh dang

i was driving to taos as a storm brewed in the mountains and i came nearly to tears, esp looking out over the mesa. weirdly, CO and MT, though similarly spectacular, don't seem to evoke the same kind of reaction

!!!

White Sands brings out a secret weirdness in people. Have you been there, R? I found it very crazy and beautiful!

I personally find the state to be a bit boring and entirely devoid of any culture aside from the inherent (adobe shacks and all that pseudo-historical stuff)but it was particularly cool driving outside Albuquerque one time and hitting a THICK sand-storm on the interstate. Basically we put our brights on and sped thru it fast as we could, fingers crossed that we didn't hit anyone in the bumper. Our logic was p much that it was better to rush thru than slow down and risk getting hit in the behind, or maintaing a presence long enough that sand starts to interfere with your car's actual functioning. Kinda exhilarating... not sure if thats a common thing?

Abbbottt, Unfortunately, I haven't been there yet. I haven't been many places here. I have finally bought a car for the first time in my life, but until my allergies are under control (if that ever happens, which is starting to seem pretty doubtful) I'm probably not going to be into day-trips.

Also, let me use this as an excuse to recommend that you try some Shiina Ringo if you haven't already, though you'd be better off asking for recommendations rather than randomly finding things.

Our logic was p much that it was better to rush thru than slow down and risk getting hit in the behind

Unfortunately, given the way people driven here, this was probably a smart approach, kelpolaris.

How are things in NM these days?

I lived in AZ for years and always felt like I was passing into purgatory when entering NM.

Really?

I can only assume he got it backwards

Yeah, I wanted to say that what I saw of Arizona did not enthuse.

But I'm sure it's nice

somewhere

If NM has a city as awesome as Tucson, I did not encounter it on my dozens of crossing through the state.

That creeping toward Texas feeling probably didn't help.

http://www.nmchili.com/images/roastedhatchgreen.jpg

miss you boo!

driving through an area as rich in natural beauty and cultural history as NM, it'd take a million years before the thought "this place needs a nice city!" would occur to me.

I lived in AZ for years and always felt like I was passing into purgatory when entering NM.

― President Keyes, Sunday, June 26, 2011 8:18 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Really?

― Pompoussin (admrl), Sunday, June 26, 2011 8:18 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

The comment makes sense, if Arizona is considered hell.

But I was going to say. . . What a year.

http://www.sfreporter.com/santafe/blog-2859-las-conchas-fire-mandatory-evac-for-los-alamos.html

I hope they know what they're doing with all that radioactive material (and whatever else they have up there).

I want to take "The Man Who Fell to Earth" tour of N.M.: Fenton Lake, Artesia, White Sands, Albuquerque.

White Sands is so crazy!

I've got my goofy tumblr and this picture of the borderline between New Mexico and Oklahoma is my favorite.

http://closetotheborderline.tumblr.com/photo/1280/468239206/1/tumblr_kzqv1jGX9Z1qbsv4z

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mY65Ci2vYs

http://www.futuromediagroup.org/lusa/2012/10/05/planet-new-mexico/

In New Mexico right now! Got into ABQ Friday, went straight to Tito & Mary's for a green chile-smothered burrito, took a hot air balloon flight early Saturday morning, then drove to Santa Fe (via Tent Rocks), where I'm currently hanging. Plan is to hit up Taos in a bit.

Sweeeeet, enjoy! !st time?

Yup!

But Mary & Tito's is all about their red!

http://amarillo.com/blog-post/ricky-treon/2013-07-03/report-eastern-nm-town-gets-two-feet-hail

i am moving to new mexico

land of enchantment

congrats!

mildly concerned about being able to hack the heat of abq in the summer, but otoh minnesota gets ~almost~ as hot and is way more humid so there is that

currently looking forward to lots and lots of sunshine after years in new england, hoping that it doesn't actually drive me crazy

New Mexico! Excellent! It seems like one of those USA places, like Louisiana or Hawaii, where there is an older, deeper culture underlying the giddy superficiality of modern America. Great mountains, too! I'm pretty sure you can hack it, gbx.

hope u like chiles

congrats!

new mexico is an amazing place

love chiles, tbh

thx guys!

looking for abq recs as far as housing/food/doing stuff is concerned. will probably be sorta boring and look at living in nob hill because it's equidistant between my two work sites (UNM/VA hospitals) but i'm open to other suggestions if anyone's got em

New Mexico! Excellent! It seems like one of those USA places, like Louisiana or Hawaii, where there is an older, deeper culture underlying the giddy superficiality of modern America.

there is something kind of mythical about it, for me, at least. my uncle was a printmaker who lived in albuquerque for 30 years, created about 5,000 prints that are mostly new mexican landscapes. my house and my family's houses are filled w/ his work so i feel like i've been thinking about new mexico my whole life. my wife and i talk about retiring there.

i like it here

https://scontent.fsnc1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/19894703_10101072532063946_1634277802344738348_n.jpg?oh=d38784dae5f05366d8453b8e89c5e2b3&oe=59C49A71

yeah. if I could figure out how to make a living there I'd move in a heartbeat

the heat ain't so bad, right? As I typed that, monsoon thundered outside ahhhh; has cooled things off here, hopefully you get some of it in ABQ.

There are some really good breweries in ABQ! Been pleasantly surprised.

the heat is surprisingly tolerable! its a cliche but a dry heat really makes a difference, especially coming from the Midwest and New England

totally. plus it's high desert so the nights are still generally cool. plus monsoon season is awesome.

glad to hear you like living there gbx! permanently moving to new mexico is one of my longstanding vague plans that i think will actually someday

cool nights make all the difference -- camping up on the rio chama this past weekend it was shorts and a t-shirt all day, light pants and a hoody at night. perfect sleeping weather, too.

karl, come on down

https://scontent-lax3-2.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/20429980_10101091931217886_2954291688776660035_n.jpg?oh=841f1386a33d45a2c3fc748316624895&oe=59F170AD

spiderland redux

Repeating this from an apartment thread: friend is helping her brother with an apartment move in New Mexico and as she said, "all the big apartment-finding sites barely have any listings not in major metro areas." Anyone have any suggestions?

I mean, there is only one major metro area in all of New Mexico, and there aren't that many apartments as such to list in e.g. Santa Fe or Taos

Noted — an apartment was found!

the heat is surprisingly tolerable! its a cliche but a dry heat really makes a difference, especially coming from the Midwest and New England

― gbx, Monday, July 10, 2017 2:28 PM (eight years ago) bookmarkflaglink

totally. plus it's high desert so the nights are still generally cool. plus monsoon season is awesome.

― Larry Elleison (rogermexico.), Monday, July 10, 2017 2:48 PM (eight years ago) bookmarkflaglink

glad to hear you like living there gbx! permanently moving to new mexico is one of my longstanding vague plans that i think will actually someday

― Karl Malone, Monday, July 10, 2017 3:08 PM (eight years ago) bookmarkflaglink

this is exactly why i've never understood people retiring to the humid swamp heap of florida.

today i learned that "ee i know huhh" is an idiomatic saying common in northern new mexico that means "i know, right?"