Wednesday, May 15, 2013

New Mexico 2013 - Another Chance to Hunt for the Real America

This was my second trip to New Mexico, but this time I was looking at it from much wiser, more-traveled eyes.  After all my travels I know how to find the road less traveled and the quirky special places that are a little hidden.  I pick between the more touristy places and decide which are a must see and which can be passed to make time for a more local real neighborhood that might give me a little more insight into what lies below the surface.  Now when I go to a city like Santa Fe, I want to see where people really live more than the main square or seeing every museum.  I'd rather wile away an hour in a local coffee shop watching people then wander through endless galleries the city is famous for, though I try to travel at a pace where I can do a little of both.

The purpose of this trip was to go visit my brother in the north eastern corner of the state in Mora County, a poor, rural farming valley tucked in the
soaring, stunning Sangre de Cristo Mountains.  My brother and his family have relocated here to live a different kind of life.  They bought a plot of land and have begun homesteading there.  They are building a yurt to live in and collecting water from two streams on the property.  Until the systems are better set up, they spend short periods of time on their land, and also have been lucky enough to stay at a local farm on other nights in exchange for work there.  

Photos from Arizona and New Mexico


Click HERE for pictures from my trip to Arizona and New Mexico