Musings on leaving Roswell and New Mexico in general

Roswell, in and of itself, really isn't that attractive. Once you get past the alien stuff it's pretty bland. No spectacular scenery, no fantastic waterfront...the landscape is pretty flat and boring. It can get beastly hot in the summer and pretty cold in the winter. We've eaten at quite a few different restuarants there over the years and none has proven remarkable enough to seperate itself from the pack. I suppose, now that Heather is done with school, I may have put Roswell in my rear view mirror for good. I may pass through there on the way to somewhere else but as a destination there's not much there.

I left there yesterday morning with a grandiose plan that included photographing some locations and scouting others and was partially successful but when 4pm found me sitting in Blake's Lotaburger in Santa Fe I realized I was dramatically behind schedule and the weather was closing in so I pointed my nose north and headed home. No wildflowers for me this year I guess. But I did have a lot of time to consider New Mexico and my travels there and here is the list:

Roswell...been there, done that, probably not going back.

Lotaburger is just another average burger (sorry Lorenzo, I know it's your favorite)

Taos-a nice place to visit...once or twice. I've been there 3 times and it's pretty much same old, same old now.

Santa Fe-Definitely holds some possibilities. The Old Town area looks fascinating for shopping and there is a well respected Photographic Arts training facility there. Might warrant a long weekend sometime.

Albuquerque-So far I've only been here on a "passing through" basis. It's a nice halfway stop on the trip to visit Erin in Phoenix. I recently learned that my Great Grannie Bean lived there the last part of her life and my cousin is there now. As soon as my sisters and I can coordinate our schedules we'll descend on Patsy for a lesson in family history.

So much for the cities. But there are a lot of locations I need to photograph more extensively and some I haven't visited at all. The images above are from yesterday's trip. I detoured to Three Rivers Petroglyph Area and later visited Gran Quivira Ruins. I was at both locations during the harsh light period of the day and would really like to be at both places during the magic hours.

I've never been to Bisti Badlands though it's near the top of my photographic bucket list and the same for Chaco Canyon and Canyon de Chelly. I spent one morning shooting at White Sands so some extended shooting time there would not be out of the question.

So while New Mexico has a lot to offer, Roswell....not so much.