The Southwest
Once we had left San Antonio, Texas we drove through the Southwest, speeding on some of the longest, straightest drives we’d had yet. We passed through the deserts of West Texas with its armadillos, ranched longhorns and roadrunners; the parched hills and softening artists’ light of New Mexico; and the red mesas, buttes and cliffs of eastern Arizona.
Given the speeds of our car the scenery tended to blur but still we noticed that the southwest is a dramatic, intense and colorful experience unlike anything else we’d seen. We were awed by rock strong Native American history and culture on the still active Zuni pueblo and in the ancient canyon ruins of the four corners region. We were calmed by charcoal blue, pink and gold desert sunsets and the wind we heard on the top of Canyon d Chelley. We filled our stomachs with tableside guacamole, Navajo Indian fry bread, and real Mexican margaritas from a menu of over a hundred choices. In the southwest we saw so much we nearly couldn’t appreciate any of it and below are a few of the things we took away with us:
Our drive from San Antonio on I-10 took us first through Texas hill country. As we passed gates to numerous ranches we imagined that here was a lot of Texas wealth. After the hill country, the landscape changed dramatically with the appearance of buttes, mesas and brushy western land. It was as if we passed an unmistakable boundary from the south directly to the “Wild West” and no one posted any welcome signs.
This was underscored as eventually we passed into Pecos, Texas. There we found a museum dedicated to Judge Roy Bean, known as “The law west of the Pecos”. Jeff is a fan of the judge and his crazy and eccentric frontier law keeping, which was brought to life by Paul Newman onscreen. We stayed briefly and took pictures, noting a gunman’s gravestone with the epithet “Never shot a man who didn’t need shooting”.
Through our travels, we’ve found that the U.S. is riddled with cave systems that underscore much of the landscape. Carlsbad Caverns, in the southeastern corner of New Mexico, are some of the deepest. Famed for their size and for a unique showing of Mexican freetail bats that exit the caves most evenings from May to September, they are a crowded tourist destination.
On our visit in early March we missed both the crowds and the bats but enjoyed the easy walk through the formations. There were times when we were almost alone, hearing the echoes of cave drips and viewing stalactites and stalagmites that created fairytale and fantasy landscapes. Most impressive of all were the views from the natural entrance where new and beautiful scenery presented itself with each step down from the surface.
We expected Roswell to be a dusty, small and eccentric desert town consumed with the rumors of an extraterrestrial spacecraft that landed there in the 1940′s. Instead, we found a small city with big businesses, a strong downtown section, plenty of hotels and a thriving air force academy. The section of downtown dedicated to the search for UFO’s was entertaining. Streetlamps are painted with alien eyes and UFO museums are bright and fun.
But what we liked best about Roswell was its museum of fine arts. The entrance was free and the museum held a collection of New Mexican art, including a Georgia O’Keefe, and an extensive grouping of frontier artifacts. In this museum we could imagine the Wild West we’d seen at the Alamo and in Pecos, Texas. And viewing the way painters interpret the southwest on their canvasses helped us appreciate everything we’d seen so far.
White Sands National Monument, in New Mexico, is one of the most unique national parks we’d seen yet. Located near White Sands Missile Range, the park needs to be closed down periodically when the military conducts testing of the latest artillery. When open, visitors can see the massive and beautiful piles of white gypsum sands and intermittent clumps of hearty desert plants. We were lucky enough to catch the park on a good day and photographed the dunes against a vivid blue sky. We drove through to the back of the park, where the largest dunes are with our car radio playing Maceo Parker and the dunes curving and shifting, almost in time with the jazz. Intermittently we passed some 1950′s picnic tables and sun shelters, a whimsical note that blended in seamlessly with the pure white and blue landscape.
In TV and in science fiction movies like Contact we’d seen pictures of the VLA. They depicted fields of oversized radio telescopes in the middle of flat barren fields, the telescope hard at work using radio waves to map a picture of space and learn more about our galaxy. The potential of what such a system can do captures our imagination and we wanted to see it in person while we had the chance.
Unlike our past visit to the Houston Space Center, we were thrilled with what we saw and our visit exceeded our expectations. We were amazed by the large fields of machinery, walked up close to the radio telescopes, and took our time in an indoor exhibit that thoroughly explained how the telescopes worked and some of what we had learned so far. We were fascinated by our visit and glad we took the time to stop.
We spent a lot of our time exploring what we could of Native American culture. On drives we passed through stretches of reservation land belonging to the Navajo, Ute, Zuni, and Hopi nations. They were often placed among the most beautiful and interesting land in the area and contained modern day Native American settlements, museums and stately parks with excavated ruins of ancient settlements.
Zuni Pueblo
When we visited the Zuni pueblo, we felt as if we were stepping into another world. Zuni continue to inhabit homes their ancestors lived in when they first arrived on the reservation and just off the main road we found these dwellings. They were located next to religious mission still in use today for Zuni ceremonies. In the heart of the pueblo, the main road is lined with shops selling Zuni crafts and artwork, sales from which constitute much of the tribe’s present day income. Putting the whole scene in perspective is a beautiful red rock mesa behind the settlement, used in the past for ceremony and warfare.
Native American Trading Posts
As we drove through reservations we passed many Indian trading posts. These were set up in the last century and provided a basis for buying things while acting as a vehicle through which tribal craftsmen could sell their work. In the Navajo reservation was the Hubble Trading Post, preserved as it looked in the last century by the Navajos and the U.S. Parks Service. There was a large selection of Native American crafts for sale, including Ganado Red Navajo woven by Navajo park service employees. Some of the weavers demonstrated the craft in a small museum on the premises.
Ancient Ruins and Archeological Sites
The Southwest, particularly the four corners region, is known for archeological sites where ancient Indian ruins are excavated and preserved. On our trip we explored many of the best of these. The Gila Cliff Dwellings, in southeastern Arizona, were the first extensive ruins we’d toured and among our favorites. Our visit began with an unexpectedly long but beautiful drive to the site – four hours of winding, mountain roads. But the ruins were worth the effort and we were thrilled to be able to stand where an ancient civilization had lived over 800 years ago.
Following the Gila Cliff Dwellings, we also visited Mesa Verde, mostly closed in the off season; the Anazazi center in Cortez, Colorado, with excavated Ute ruins and one of the best museums on ancient native American culture in the area; Canyon de Chelley, with sweeping canyon views that rivaled the Grand Canyon but were more intimate; and the Aztec Ruins, some of the most extensive ruins we’d come across with one of the largest Kivas in the area.
Throughout all our visits we were most impressed with our ability to step into an ancient Native American Culture and try to understand their life. The views from all the sites were among the most impressive we’d seen, underscoring their respect for nature and harmony with their environment.
We loved Truth or Consequences and our stay at Riverbend was the hostel experience we’d been searching for since we started our trip. For over 2,000 years Truth or Consequences has been a place to come for relaxation, healing, spiritual rest and recovery. In fact, the legendary Apache Warrior Geronimo spent the most peaceful year of his adult life in this area. Nowadays it is a destination for the distracted, the lost and everyone who just needs a break from modern life. Some people come for a few days but end up staying.
Riverbend Hostel is located on the outskirts of Truth or Consequences at a bend in the Rio Grande River. It offers lodging in dorm style rooms, private rooms, tipis and trailers as well as free access to hot springs located in the hostel.
Each morning and evening, water from the area’s hot springs fill three cascading pools of gradually lessening temperature as well as a cold plunge and a giant rock tub with a daytime view of the river and an evening view of the stars. A completely natural mix of 37 different minerals and hot pure water make a soak a magical and addictive experience while relaxing or getting to know the other guests. Whether your mood is to sit and soak in silence or to debate the future of humanity, to talk books or read a novel in the tub you can find space and a warm spot in the pool.
We were there on a night when staff lit an outside fire pit right next to the pools. We shared it with the other guests and continued the important conversations begun in the pools. Later on, a couple of guests began to play guitar and we relaxed and listened, even joining in a bit to sing. Throughout the evening and throughout our stay at Truth or Consequences we found that friendships developed easily and cares dropped away unnoticed.
Northwest from where we were staying in Truth or Consequences, were a handful of old frontier ghost towns, including sites where Billy the Kid created some of the West’s most enduring lore. Mixed among these are some of the most scenic mountain driving we did in New Mexico.
Ghost towns
Ghost towns in New Mexico were not what we had been expecting. Many of them were small to non-existent or repopulated with little sense of the frontier left.
Lincoln, New Mexico, Home of Billy the Kid
We were eager to visit Lincoln, New Mexico, home to Billy the Kid and site of the Lincoln County Wars of the 1870′s. These wars, like others fought in frontier towns across the west, erupted as citizens fought bloody battles with cattle barons and big businessmen over the future of the area. Billy the Kid fought with a group of organized gunmen known as the Regulators and was eventually captured by lawman Pat Garrett. In the center of the town visitors can still see the jail from which Billy made his most famous escape. Unfortunately, aside from a few beautiful weathered buildings and a small museum, there’s not much else there. We imagine that the city will get much busier in the summer and during a frontier reenactment week called “Lincoln County Days” held each August.
Billy the Kid Scenic Trail
Just beyond the city of Lincoln is a mountain loop drive with stunning alpine views and a few surprises. We were charmed to find a town famed as the birthplace of the original “Smoky the Bear” and home to the bear’s grave. Further on down the road we stopped at the skiing town of Ruidoso, full of shops and galleries. Ruidoso has a small town feel, good restaurants, and a large Native American resort and casino called Inn of the Mountain Gods.
As Santa Fe is one of the most well known cities in the southwest we took four days to stay there. On this stop we saw multiple examples of its famed pueblo architecture, viewed Georgia O’Keefe’s art at her museum, and walked through downtown hotels and galleries. We also ate at two of its best restaurants: Caf� Santa Fe, which we thought was overrated, and Geronimo, with some of the best food we’d ever had. We also went to a Mexican restaurant called Maria’s. The owner of this bar wrote the book on Margaritas, called “The Great Margarita Book” and provides a menu of over 100 of the drinks ranging from $5.95 to $45.00.
We finished our tour of the Southwest tired but amazed at all that we had seen. We know that there are many things we’ll need to return to on future vacations, spend more time at and explore more deeply. For now, we are glad to have been able to see a little and appreciate some of this region that was new to us.
Antarctica, South Georgia & the Falklands - Shackleton Odyssey
Starting Price: 10500 USD
Duration: 20 days
