New Mexico Trip - Towns

In December we finally made it down to Albuquerque New Mexico to visit my friend Kyle. For some reason I envisioned the state to be flat and desert-like, similar to Arizona, but the area has quite a few mountains. All the major towns we visited were higher in elevation than the "mile high" city of Denver. We were also lucky enough to experience snowfall in all the towns.

We spent most of our time in Albuquerque and got to see all kinds of holiday festivities. We visited Albuquerque's Old Town, which was decorated with hundreds of luminarias. These candle-lit bags were a common sight throughout all the towns. We also strolled through Albuquerque's Botanical Gardens one night to see their excellent holiday light display. Perhaps the best part of Albuquerque was the local New Mexican cuisine. Similar to Southwestern style cooking, the meals contained either red or green chilies and were very flavorful and a little spicy.

We took the hour-long drive north of Albuquerque to Santa Fe. At 6989' elevation it is the highest capital city in the US. The city is famous for its art and native architecture. Founded in 1607 by Spanish explorers, it is also one of the nation's oldest cities.

In an attempt to get some skiing in, Jamie and I drove a further two hours north to Taos. Snow started falling heavily as we approached the town. Unfortunately, we had to turn around in fear that we would get Kyle's car stuck in the snow. Still, it was nice to see snow for the holidays.