 | A WRITER'S WIT |  B. Sáenz |
MY JOURNEY OF STATES is a series in which I relate my sixty-year quest to visit all fifty states in the U.S. In each post I tell of my relationship to that state, whether brief or long, highlighting personal events. I include the year of each state's entry into the union and related celebrations. I hope you enjoy my journey as much as I have. This is the twenty-second post of fifty.
New Mexico (1972-2018)
L to R, T to B: B&W images, Santa Fe | Ken and Friend Naomi in Taos | Larry & Deb, Cloudcroft | Larry, White Sands
The first time I visited New Mexico was during the Christmas holidays in 1972, when M, my then wife, and I rented a crude little cabin in the skiing village of Cloudcroft. Thirty months into our wedded bliss, she and I were experiencing problems. I was in therapy and had given myself permission to sleep in a separate bed. Such a policy did not make for a very felicitous first Christmas vacation away from the folks, but I made the best of it. We both took a morning of skiing lessons. Every time I encountered M, her legs were splayed, still trying to master the snowplow—so unlike the graceful woman who handled water skis as if they were duck’s feet (not a comment on their size). I wasn’t magnificent, but I was able to come down one of the minor paths without stopping, falling, or tumbling—all afternoon long. And . . . I met a nineteen-year-old young un who thought I was pretty swell and struck up a recurring conversation as he and I met at the bottom of the run.
Making my home in West Texas for over forty years, I’ve sojourned to New Mexico innumerable times: Albuquerque and Taos for writing workshops and to visit friends; Santa Fe for Thanksgivings at the La Fonda Hotel; visits to Roswell, Cloudcroft, Ruidoso, Carlsbad, and more. Ken and I might have moved there at any time, save for one factor: $$. New Mexico is a very expensive state in which to live, particularly Santa Fe and Taos.
New Mexico has a history more ancient than the length of its statehood would indicate. The Spanish intersected with the indigenous people about 1598. The French in the 1700s. The Texans in the 1800s. No wonder those with Texas tags on their cars still get dirty looks (or worse) when they pass over the state line. At any rate, New Mexico is the site of more art, more poetry, and more novels than one can name in one breath. To visit the Land of Enchantment is to visit gentle people and gorgeous scenery.
As the forty-seventh state, New Mexico celebrated its centennial in 2012.
Making my home in West Texas for over forty years, I’ve sojourned to New Mexico innumerable times: Albuquerque and Taos for writing workshops and to visit friends; Santa Fe for Thanksgivings at the La Fonda Hotel; visits to Roswell, Cloudcroft, Ruidoso, Carlsbad, and more. Ken and I might have moved there at any time, save for one factor: $$. New Mexico is a very expensive state in which to live, particularly Santa Fe and Taos.
New Mexico has a history more ancient than the length of its statehood would indicate. The Spanish intersected with the indigenous people about 1598. The French in the 1700s. The Texans in the 1800s. No wonder those with Texas tags on their cars still get dirty looks (or worse) when they pass over the state line. At any rate, New Mexico is the site of more art, more poetry, and more novels than one can name in one breath. To visit the Land of Enchantment is to visit gentle people and gorgeous scenery.
As the forty-seventh state, New Mexico celebrated its centennial in 2012.
HISTORICAL POSTCARDS
If you missed earlier My Journey of States posts, please click on a link:
1-Kansas 13. New Jersey
2-Oklahoma 14. Delaware
3-Texas 15. New York
4-Louisiana 16. Connecticut
5-Missouri 17. Colorado
6-Illinois 18. Arkansas
7-Indiana 19. California
8-Ohio 20. Florida
9-Pennsylvania 21-Mississippi
10-West VA
11-Maryland
12. Virginia
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