Door Number 8: More on Santa Fe

Art Gallery, Canyon Road, Santa Fe, New Mexico

Let it be said: this New England where I live is one of the most beautiful parts of an already beautiful country. Think May when it is a rich vibrant green with long gorgeous vistas and flowering trees to perk up any soul ... and then October with its stunning colors that vibrate across the land. But then there are too many gloomy days the rest of the year, too much cold, sleet, ice, freezing rain, or heat and humidity for me to put an A+ on its report card. An A+ for May and October but the rest of the year, you'll have to judge for yourself.

Spring time

Residence along Camino del Monte Sol

New Mexico has its "lesser" times of year, too, but it tends to be sunnier, dryer, better temperatures (both summer and winter), less gloomy, all of which attracts me and makes me want to return for longer periods. So, why do I keep returning to New Mexico? (Though I missed going this past winter.)

Okay, here goes:

It has pizzazz
Sunshine
An interesting altitude (7,000 feet)
A dry, non-humid climate
Gorgeous landscapes
High mountains
Wide vistas
Sunsets to die for
A fabulous combination of three cultures: Native American,
Spanish, Anglo (as everyone else is called)
Innovative art
Kiva fireplaces
Fabulous restaurants, great diversity of food
A highly interesting architecture, much of it pueblo style
Thunderstorms in the summer
Sunshine in the winter (with snow on the mountains) (most years)
Color everywhere you look
The magical incense-like aroma of local piñon pine and cedar
burning in fireplaces
People in silver belts and cowboy boots
Bathrooms, kitchens, stairways designed with tiles from Mexico
A Japanese style spa called 10,000 Waves
A climate that is neither too hot nor too cold
A climate that does justice to all four seasons
A place that inspired Georgia O'Keeffe
A place that feels as if you are in a totally different country
Pink and orange earth colors, blue blue skies

One of the town's favorite restaurants

On up Hyde Park Road

Same scene a few months later

Conversely:

The altitude of 7,000 feet can make having more than one margarita totally
     unwise ... and necessary to catch your breath if going upstairs
Juniper pollen season (early spring) can do a number on you
The skies are rarely the blue blue of old but often have a whitened haze
     over them, as most geoengineered skies nowadays
The chile, whether red or green (and, yes, they spell it that way), can be a bit
     spicy and is now found in more and more dishes
Escalating costs have made it necessary for several of my favorite shops and
     eateries to move to a less charming part of town or go out of business
There seems to be a tax on everything including massage treatments. Once
     some years back when I went to a lecture, it had a tax on it, too

**

I first saw New Mexico, northern New Mexico, when I was seven and my family and I took a camping trip there just after the war ended. My father, an Easterner, had driven through around 1921 on his way west in his old "flivver" (as he called it) and had fallen in love with the place. So when gasoline became available after the war, when we no longer needed coupons to buy it, we headed out for the Land of Enchantment. Once in all that melange of childhood, my parents considered moving there. But we stayed in Southern California, instead. Another lovely part of the world in that less crowded day.