New Mexico
Most of these photos were taken on the last leg of our trip, back to Arizona, but there is a smattering of other randomness because I forgot to post a few fabulous photos somewhere along the way. I’m warning you… there are a lot of photos! Haha! It’s been amazing sorting through them. Normally, the editing process can be a bit tiring for me, but with every photo I opened, I relived the moment I captured. That’s the sign of a photo well taken.
We headed south from Taos and took the Turquoise Trail. We were told that we just HAD to stop in this little artist community called Madrid (pronounced MAD-rid). Absolutely adorable with a shocking amount of galleries and shops for such a small town.
We took the 40 home for a very short while and then turned off onto a smaller highway and for the life of me I can’t remember what it was. It was about an hour longer according to my maps program on my phone, though because of the stunning beauty we kept stumbling upon, it probably added an extra 4 hours. I think it was maybe 4 hours of driving and during that time we passed maybe 10 vehicles. That’s my kind of road.
The sandstone cliffs were remarkable. It was one of those random moments where we just turned down an unknown road. I almost turned back because I felt guilty about driving the Miata on a dirt road (you didn’t just read that John). I promise it was a VERY well kept dirt road and I drove VERY slow. We had many moments like that on this stretch. We just happened upon great turnout after great turnout. The best part of any trip is when you wander down a road you didn’t even know existed before that moment you saw the turn for it. I’m not one to really do too much in the way of self portraiture but when you’re in the presence of the self portrait queen it kinda rubs off. This was my first official test using the remote triggers and I’m fairly pleased with the results! I hope to work on this more in the future. I did need rescued at one point as I managed to get myself out onto one of the cliffs and couldn’t manage to get myself back. Jillian gladly helped and it’s beyond me how she just hops over the deep crevices without even flinching. It’s enough to make my stomach turn.
While driving we realized we were following the same storm west that we had photographed in Taos (remember that amazing lightning?!). This made for dramatic landscapes, colors and shadows and not to mention the odd burst of rain. It was breathtaking. As we crossed the border into Arizona the sunset was one of the most beautiful I’ve seen. It’s almost as if Arizona was welcoming me home.
This is the last of my New Mexico posts. It’s quite the doozy right? I hope you enjoyed following our adventures. I’m already trying to figure out what our next adventure will be.
“A journey is a person itself; no two are alike. And all plans, safeguards, policing, and coercion are fruitless. We find after years of struggle that we do not take a trip; a trip takes us.” – John Steinbeck, Travels with Charley in Search of America
Here’s to being taken again soon.
Random smatterings from our trip that either didn’t seem to fit anywhere else or someone I forgot! Haha! Forgive me… there were a LOT of photos to edit!
The entrance to the Carlsbad Caverns
Our brief stay in Taos was probably my favorite part of our trip. Well except for the White Sands… and the Sandstone Cliffs (coming up in the next post)… and Santa Fe… obviously I have issues choosing favorites. Taos was something special though. It’s the type of place you immediately feel at home and welcome in. Artsy, but not pretentious. My one wish is that we could’ve stayed just even another night here.
Upon reflection Taos and the days either side of that visit were definitely my favorite of the trip. For me it was different enough terrain to give me a permanent rubber neck while driving and trying to take everything in.
I also experience one of the most beautiful lightning storms ever! And that’s saying a lot since I’ve seen some stunners. It was right over the top of use though and the colors were just shocking. We had to abort our late night photo shoot due to hail but that made it even more of a memorable night.
After this I think I have one more New Mexico Road Trip post in me. It’s been difficult weeding through all the photos and having to choose favorites. And just LOOK at that storm! I was hiding beside the car while taking this, trying to keep my camera at least a little dry, but Jillian couldn’t help but run out and chase it.
I know it maybe seems like an excessive amount of old gas tanks but I just couldn’t get enough of the old rusty colors. Plus, when do you ever see so many together like this?!
This is what an abandoned Miata looks like after 2 photographers spot something they NEED to photograph on the side of the road. Haha! It’s a miracle the doors ever ended up closed on this trip. 
I had originally planned on splitting this post into two parts but I just didn’t want to break up the images! I lump my experiences together by region so it just seemed odd to try and separate these out.
Santa Fe is a kind of assault of colors on the eyes. It was a constant OH! Let’s go there! Let’s see THAT! We HAVE to stop there!
We stayed two nights in Santa Fe which is the longest of any area that week. Partly because we were just tired of driving for hours in that little car another day in a row but also, there was just SO much to see. Did I hear a statistic (I love stats) that Santa Fe has the most art galleries per square foot than any other area? I think that’s for real but I’ll double check that. It definitely felt like that!
Santa Fe is also home to my favorite thrift shop ever now. It was fantastic enough that upon seeing the storefront, we became so excited that we dashed out of the car without dropping some change in the meter. Yes, I received a parking ticket, and Jillian happily paid half the sum of $16. I think she just felt sorry for me though since I’d already incurred the speeding ticket a few days before. I indulged in a nice margarita directly after to help me forget!
Santa Fe felt like there was something around every corner that would be new and exciting to take photos of. And did I mention the colors?! Ha… I think I did.
I also heard some of the best DJ mixing ever. Walking along the streets we were drawn into the cutest little cafe by the rhythmic beat. Out on the veranda there were only a few patrons enjoying the music so we thought we’d stay awhile… or a few hours. The food was delicious and the atmosphere was perfect and I have one of the best margaritas I’ve ever tasted. Sublime.
We decided to try to boy race later that night, since they seemed to think we couldn’t hang, us in our cute little barbie car blasting Ace of Base. Okay okay- so I didn’t beat them. My excuse is that I genuinely thought an officer was pulling up behind me and I was going to do nothing but obey the law in the strictest sense as I didn’t want another ticket! So I lost them but it was fun nonetheless. Ellie Goulding sang us back to our hotel but not before coming to a screeching halt to take a photo of that beautiful Mary Sculpture in front of the old mission style church. She was something to behold at that time of night. She’s bigger than you think.. maybe 10 or 12 ft tall.
I had an amazing time in this lovely city and will definitely visit again sometime. Hopefully with a pocketful of cash, because it is rather pricy and there are so many beautiful things. I’d probably spend it all in a particular store and warehouse made up entirely of reclaimed materials. I nearly lost myself.
After typing Albuquerque into Google and my maps program a bazillion times I think I finally have the spelling down. Jillian and I arrived late to the city (as always because we would end up distracted by whatever we would find along the way) and although we were quite tired we made the decision to go find these famous neon Albuquerque lights. Let me preface this by saying it was probably around 1am and this was post- white sands, so my eyes were dying and I was in glasses. We had no idea what nightlife in Albuquerque was like but did notice groups of people walking the streets so we felt safe(ish) and we were tired to the bone, but we were here so – again – what the hell!
We walked a couple blocks and immediately realized we were slightly out of place. Raggedy pony tails, casual clothing and camera packs. We stuck out a bit. When we arrived, we were told they close down Central every Friday and Saturday night to stop the drive-by traffic. I’ve traveled quite a bit and experienced all different sorts of nightlife but Albuquerque… well, it felt a bit… aggressive. It wasn’t that I was made to feel uncomfortable in any way; no cat calls, no pestering by large groups of guys waiting to get into the various clubs. It was just an overall feeling that tangibly hit you when you walked along those few blocks. We wandered around a bit, taking photos along the way, and maybe stayed out an hour but arrived back at our hotel on edge and energized. It was a decidedly odd downtown area at night.
The next morning we woke up late to the sound of the banging on our door by housekeeping. It was 11am and it took a few minutes to figure out when checkout was. Thank goodness for 12pm checkouts! We tried walking to the historic district but aborted that decision about halfway there since it was SO HOT! I’m a desert dweller and handle quite extreme heat but we’re not stupid enough to do too much in it! Why I thought it was a good idea to walk a couple miles in 95 degree heat with humidity is beyond me, but I’m thankful we turned back. We experienced our second-worst Mexican food meal of the trip (and probably ever). It shouldn’t be this hard to find good tacos in New Mexico! Other than that, the historic district was lovely and quaint with lots of great shops to peruse. My goal for this trip was to purchase a hat and wallet. I succeeded in purchasing neither but thoroughly enjoyed myself nevertheless. I love how a conversation started every single time we entered into a new little shop. People were extremely friendly and enjoyed sharing travel stories.
The night before we had noticed a little coffee shop that we wanted to try the next day. We headed there right after we got some shopping out of our systems. Not only was the coffee pretty great but the owner was extremely sweet and helpful in recommending places to visit in both Santa Fe and Taos. We explained to him our Mexican food disappointment thus far and he listed a few restaurants where we could hopefully get our fix. He made an impression and was nice enough to let me photograph him. I forget him name (I’m sure Jillian has it jotted down on her handy dandy notebook somewhere) but no matter. I won’t forget the experience.
Breaking Bad friends will understand the significance of the Dog House!
