Zora ONeill - Moon New Mexico

ZORA ONEILL

Theres a reason its called the Land of Enchantment. The smells alone would be entrancing enough: lilacs in spring, ozone after summer thunderstorms, green chiles roasting in supermarket parking lots in fall, and fragrant pion crackling in woodstoves and corner fireplaces. Listen, too, and youll hear what makes the state special: Western tanagers warble in the trees, coyotes yelp in the night, and the deep boom of drums and jingle of bells resound at pueblo ceremonies. And that green chile adds a distinct taste to everythingit finds its way onto hamburgers and pizzas and even into ice cream and beer.

But none of that matches the majesty of the view: across austere mesas, down narrow sandstone canyons, or up to snowcapped mountain peaks. Straight above is a cloudless dome the precise hue of the turquoise in the locally crafted jewelry. At night, stars clot the velvety sky, so close you can almost touch them. Many visitors to New Mexico feel disoriented by all this new sensory inputand perhaps by the dizzying altitude, which soars over 13,000 feet at its highest point. And on top of everything, they feel like Alice in Wonderland, ever shrinking, when compared with the vast landscape.

New Mexico is a sort of alternate world, one that lives by different rules. Santa Fe is an adobe-looking utopia where the economy seems to thrive magically on nothing but art and politics. Los Alamos is a hidden city on a hill with a secret that changed the world, and half of Roswell, it seems, is still obsessed with an alleged UFO crash there in 1947. There are settlements named Truth or Consequences and Pie Town.

Visitors might need time to adjustto the altitude, certainly, and maybe also to the laid-back attitude. But theres a point of entry for everyone. Outdoor adventurers can hike for an hour or a week, along mountainsides thick with yellow-leafed aspens, and camp on the surreal dunes of White Sands National Monument. Culture mavens thrive in Santa Fe, with its world-class art scene and an eclectic calendar of international film and music. History buffs can explore the ruined civilization at Chaco Canyon, spy ruts dug by thousands of passing wagon wheels on the Santa Fe Trail, or bunk down under a buzzing neon motel sign along Route 66.

At the end of the day, you can always pull yourself back into the present with a cold margarita and cuisine with a hot-chile kickbut thats no guarantee youll shake off New Mexicos spell.

A modern Western city, Albuquerque sprawls over more than 100 square miles at the base of the Sandia Mountains. Its proud of its Route 66 style, and its also preserving farmland along the Rio Grande and redesigning itself as a green city. Head north to Santa Fe via the ghost towns of the Turquoise Trail, the hot springs in the Jemez Mountains, or the solitary wilderness of the Valles Caldera.

New Mexicos picturesque capital has a human scale and a golden glow (partly from the loads of money spent here). Museums are a major drawfor state history, folk art, and moreas are the scores of galleries. Outside of town are the cliff dwellings at Bandelier National Monument; the scenery of Abiquiu, which inspired painter Georgia OKeeffe; and Los Alamos, birthplace of the A-bomb.

Taos melds artists, spiritual seekers, and ski bumsplus centuries-old Spanish and American Indian families. Make time to enjoy the atmosphere, cultivated in coffee shops and creative restaurants. A good day drive is the Enchanted Circle, a loop of two-lane roads with Wheeler Peak, the highest in New Mexico, at the center. Or head over the mountains to Chama, home to a historic steam train that forges the pass to Colorado.

sunset near Taos Mountain

Las Vegas and the Northeast

Past the Pecos Mountains, Las Vegas, a.k.a. Meadow City, is a well-preserved historic town, often used as a Western film set. From there, the terrain, where the Santa Fe Trail once ran, is all short-grass prairie, once the western edge of the Dust Bowl. To get a view, drive the spiral road up Capulin Volcano, then soar across gorgeous Johnson Mesa to the mountain burgs of Raton and Cimarron.

Navajo Nation and the Northwest

Stark volcanic landscape, lonesome roads, and tall mesasthis is some of the most dramatic desert terrain in the state, along with its oldest cultures. This quadrant (often called Four Corners, as it abuts three other states) is where the Ancestral Puebloans lived in Chaco Canyon, and where Gallup is the self-proclaimed American Indian capital. The city is surrounded by hiking and mountain biking trails.