I spent a month in New Mexico, and on my last day, I walked around enjoying the ever-present perfect weather and frequently stopping to smell the flowers. Those were the biggest surprise in this place I’d never been to before—the flowers. But they weren’t the only things I loved.

Here are images of 10 things I loved about New Mexico.

1 Flowers in New Mexico

It’s springtime, but I didn’t expect it to be so grand in New Mexico. I pictured cactus blooms if I thought of them at all. But, as I walk along the streets, lilacs and wisteria permeate the entire town. Flowers pop up everywhere. Nearly every bush has a bloom of some sort, yes, even the cactus. Their blooms are so bright they’re startling.

I sigh and inhale and keep walking.

2 Rustic Fences

Then I noticed the fences. Again and again I notice the fences. They’re made of small trees strung together. Uneven at the top. It’s charming. Each one is unique and of this place.

3 Ristras

Everywhere I go, I’m welcomed with open arms, a cheerful smile and a red chili pepper ristra. Traditionally, a ristra is an arrangement of drying chile pepper, garlic, or other vegetables intended for later consumption, but they’re also used just as decoration.

3 Sun, Moon and Stars

The sun shined down on me and I remembered the previous night when the moon was full. It was so bright it shined like the sun. In the morning, just before sunrise, I looked out my window and the moon still hung brightly. Then, combined with the rising sun, it turned the sky into a rainbow of purple, blue, pink, orange, and yellow.

I spent most mornings watching the sunrise from behind the mountains. As that great orb moves across the landscape, the colors shift like a kaleidoscope. New Mexico is a more colorful place than you might imagine. More than I did.

4 Adobe Dwellings

As I walk down these picturesque adobe-lined streets, the houses are colored like the earth. Like red velvet cake. I haven’t seen two houses the same. I’ve never seen dirt before that I’d call pretty. But here I am and it is.

Adobe is Spanish for mudbrick and it’s made of organic material from earth.

5 The Mountains are Calling

Behind them, the mountains are black as coal and red like a wound or white like a ghost. Sometimes they are every shade of brown. Sometimes they are green.

There are rivers and waterfalls and snow; yes, snow makes the white caps of the tall mountains in the Taos Ski Valley. When the sun shines brightly, it transforms and comes down from its lofty perch up high. It floods the creeks and makes the rivers flow.

6 Caves and Caverns

Some mountains have secrets too, things hidden underneath if you care to look and explore. The Carlsbad Caverns formed from sulfuric acid from complex systems in the Guadalupe Mountains. The acids dissolved the limestone and left massive gypsum deposits, clay, and silt. 

7 Rio Grande River and Gorge

The river flows through the Rio Grande Gorge. A lifeforce of its own. A million years in the making. The gorge quietly demands your attention as it follows you around New Mexico. Its walls are lined with many kinds of granite rock and lava rock and sandstone. Their colors, too, are shifting. Layers and layers of history. It receives your attention.

8 Bighorn Sheep

The bighorn sheep live in and around the gorge. They are the rowdy cousins of this state. Running and prancing and climbing and strutting around. At the same time, big birds swoop by, free and happy in the crystal clean air.

9 Petroglyphs

They say that the petroglyphs at Petroglyph National Monument may be hard to see at certain times of the day because of the glare from the sun. But Pueblo elders believe it’s more than that. They believe the petroglyphs choose when and to whom they will reveal themselves.

10 Art

Taos, Sante Fe, Albuquerque, Roswell … the cities here don’t shout but have a quiet but creative—way of being. New Mexico is a place where ideas can be born from the colors. Art is part of the soul here.

I walk along with the setting sun. Wild sage grows for miles. The smell mingles with the scent of hot mesquite. I am filled with easy vibes and quiet comfort. I am filled with New Mexico.

Read more stories about New Mexico here.

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