New Mexico

Went on a work/pleasure trip to New Mexico. It was great to get out of town and see wide vistas plus nature writ large. And how beautiful the mountains were! John, my camping buddy (Grand Canyon, Zion, Bryce), who lives in Santa Fe, picked me up from the airport with his car already packed with dog/tent/firewood/et. al. One stop by the supermarket and a shuffle of the CDs, and we were off into the wild!

Camping, corn on the cob and beer by the fire, a killer hike (severely testing my cardiovascular fitness at 12,000 feet), washing off the sweat and the grime in the freezing creek, wandering through winter ski towns mid-summer in the Sangre de Cristo mountain range...

A drive back to the "city", through deserts and past clapboard Indian settlements, with a view of the Rio Grande gorge on the horizon, then spicy New Mexican food for dinner and sunset over the Old Spanish square...

Then it was on to my conference in Albuquerque - days in over-air-conditioned rooms listening to lectures, nights drinking at hip-hop bars with surfer/soccer boys riffing in Spanish :)