New Mexico??

I really don't like New Mexico.  I've been forced, at gunpoint (just kidding about the gunpoint) to drive through NM several times, and I think I'd rather go to the dentist.  So, what would prompt me to go there voluntarily?  Well, its the love of my oldest brother, Norbert.  Norbert lives in El Paso, TX, but he has built a beautiful retirement home above Cloudcroft, NM, in the mountains east of Alamogordo.  We wanted to visit Norbert, so we went to NM.

We saw a giant pistachio,

and the sunset was pretty good,

so it wasn't a terrible trip.  We ultimately arrived at Norb's mountain chalet and it is a beautiful home in a beautiful location, high up in the mountains with a 200 mile view to the north!

The house is built so that it is very open and airy, and you can see right through it!  We took a nice walk to Norb's favorite elk meadow,

and had a wonderful dinner at the Lodge at Cloudcroft.  It apparently is haunted by a naughty chambermaid, but I didn't see her.  We had a nice visit with Norbert and are looking forward to him coming to see us in January.

So, what else does one do in NM?  Well, my intrepid wife is always finding things to do!  On Sunday evening we went to watch the sun set on White Sands National Monument.  I have to admit, this was really cool!  The sand is not silicate, but gypsum, and is really fine and soft.  So soft in fact that these dunes were packed and hard.  We took the advice of the park pamphlet and went barefoot, and it was neat!

But, is that all?  Of course not.  You're probably asking, "well, aren't you going to mention the Very Large Array?"  As a matter of fact, I am (btw, how did you know about that, anyway?)  Sue found out that the Very Large Array, a series of radiotelemetryimaging discs, (huge satellite looking thingys) were not so very far out of the way, so we went to see them.  There's a lot of science involved, but it boils down to the fact that these things can see out into space pretty much forever...and take pictures.  It think Sue was jealous because of the pictures part.

If you have seen the movie Contact (Jodi Foster), you have seen the Very Large Array.  One of them even moved while we were standing there!  You can see that the Array encourages silliness, like two grown people doing the Vulcan wave, only mine is the Modified Cause My Fingers Wont' Do This Vulcan Wave.  We had fun!