","publish_start":"2014-02-05T12:00:00.000Z","enable_comments":true,"categories_ids":["58b4b2404c2774661570f2a4","58b4b2404c2774661570f2a5"],"tags_ids":["59090cb6e1efff4c9916fa28","59090cbbe1efff4c9916fa2b"],"cms_tags_ids":["58b061ec6a2b0936c34a23ea"],"enabled":true,"custom_tagline":"A look inside the archives at one of our classic issues from 91 years of New Mexico Magazine.","created":"2014-02-05T12:36:30.000Z","legacy_id":"84918","blog":"magazine","_title_sort":"our back pages","updated":"2017-05-05T05:18:06.373Z","active":true,"author":{"_id":"58b4b2404c2774661570f249","name":"The Staff","created":"2017-02-27T23:12:00.420Z","blog":"magazine","_name_sort":"the staff","updated":"2017-03-15T20:35:50.490Z","_totalPosts":75,"id":"58b4b2404c2774661570f249","title":"The Staff","slug":"the-staff","url":"/nmmagazine/articles/author/the-staff/58b4b2404c2774661570f249/","commentsUrl":"/nmmagazine/articles/author/the-staff/58b4b2404c2774661570f249/#comments","createdMoment":"2017-02-27T23:12:00.420Z","totalPosts":75},"categories":[{"_id":"58b4b2404c2774661570f2a4","blog":"magazine","title":"February 1964","_title_sort":"february 1964","updated":"2017-02-27T23:12:00.492Z","created":"2017-02-27T23:12:00.504Z","_totalPosts":1,"id":"58b4b2404c2774661570f2a4","slug":"february-1964","url":"/nmmagazine/articles/category/february-1964/58b4b2404c2774661570f2a4/","commentsUrl":"/nmmagazine/articles/category/february-1964/58b4b2404c2774661570f2a4/#comments","createdMoment":"2017-02-27T23:12:00.504Z","totalPosts":1},{"_id":"58b4b2404c2774661570f2a5","blog":"magazine","title":"February 2014","_title_sort":"february 2014","updated":"2017-02-27T23:12:00.492Z","created":"2017-02-27T23:12:00.504Z","_totalPosts":15,"id":"58b4b2404c2774661570f2a5","slug":"february-2014","url":"/nmmagazine/articles/category/february-2014/58b4b2404c2774661570f2a5/","commentsUrl":"/nmmagazine/articles/category/february-2014/58b4b2404c2774661570f2a5/#comments","createdMoment":"2017-02-27T23:12:00.504Z","totalPosts":15}],"id":"58b4b2804c2774661570f94b","url":"/nmmagazine/articles/post/our-back-pages-84918/","commentsUrl":"/nmmagazine/articles/post/our-back-pages-84918/#comments","absoluteUrl":"https://www.newmexico.org/nmmagazine/articles/post/our-back-pages-84918/","metaTitle":"Our Back Pages","metaDescription":"\r\n","teaser":"\r\n","cleanDescription":"\r\n","publish_start_moment":"2014-02-05T12:00:00.000Z","publish_end_moment":"2017-09-23T00:23:18.686Z"},{"_id":"58b4b2804c2774661570f947","author_id":"58b4b2404c2774661570f240","title":"Rattle and Drum","slug":"artscapes-rattle-and-drum-84867","image_id":"58b4b2484c2774661570f4a4","description":"

“Beat the drum once to enter a world of music as spirit.” So reads a sign on a gallery wall at the Museum of Indian Arts & Culture in Santa Fe, above a large wooden drum with a taut animal-hide top and two wooden strikers. The invitation is sincere—and the world that awaits the visitor is one worth exploring. Heartbeat: Music of the Native Southwest is an exhibition that not only honors the traditions of song and dance that link today’s Southwest Native peoples to their ancient past, but also underscores the need to preserve those traditions at a time when more and more indigenous oral traditions are being lost.

\r\n\r\n

Grammy Award–winning Taos Pueblo musician, composer, and instrument craftsman Robert Mirabal, who contributed one of his handmade flutes to the exhibition, stresses that music may be one of the only ways to ensure that future generations of Native Americans can hold on to some of their most time-honored traditions. “Music was always the life force of Native society, our expression of trauma, process, love, and beauty—everything,” Mirabal says. “It was like food for the spirit. And it still is. Our music and dance through the ages conveys this better than any sort of linear academic writing or simple visual display. Our music has to be experienced, not studied, to appreciate our ancient connection to it.

\r\n\r\n

“In most exhibitions,” Mirabal continues, “curators dwell on history, and they don’t bother with where that history leads us today.”

\r\n\r\n

Heartbeat curator Tony Chavarria (Santa Clara Pueblo), who has assembled more than 100 items in the main gallery from MIAC’s permanent collection as well as loaned items from other institutions, has taken pains to implement both the experiential and contemporary elements Mirabal espouses.

\r\n\r\n

Ranging in age of manufacture from around AD 900 to the present day, the objects on exhibit include rattles, drums, flutes, rasps, regalia, and figurines from numerous tribes and Pueblos. Drums, the cornerstone of traditional Native American instrumental music in the Southwest, dominate the gallery entry, and each one has a story. A small ceramic drum with a rawhide top made by Acoma potter Lucy M. Lewis expresses a decorative impulse, while a double-sided drum crafted from the oblong base of an aspen tree by Cochiti Pueblo artist Glenn Chalan shows musical innovation by creating a percussive instrument that makes five distinct tones.

\r\n\r\n

Mirabal began crafting wooden flutes at the age of 19, in the mid-eighties, when very few people in the U.S. were still making them by hand. He bought his first flute as a young adult with money he borrowed from his grandmother, and after a musical encounter with Navajo-Ute flute player R. Carlos Nakai, he knew that music would be central to his creative life. “My people literally planted and hunted their instruments,” Mirabal says. “Take the rattle: We planted the seed that became the gourd that we filled with more seeds to become the rattle. In terms of tradition, today I come from this place: I’m a Taos Pueblo musician on a mission of cultural survival, from seed to song.”

\r\n\r\n

Flutes and whistles made of eagle bone dating as far back to the Pueblo III Era (AD 1150–1350) make a fine showing in the Heartbeat exhibit, but Mirabal points out that in the history of recorded Native American music, there is a gap in the popularity of flute making and playing. “Today the flute stands again as a distinguished instrument, but it’s still abused in some contemporary music circles,” he says. “But that kind of appropriation isn’t necessarily all bad. At least people are hearing and using the instrument. Making flutes for me is learning how to receive knowledge, to compose internally, to do things differently but within the framework of Pueblo tradition. And isn’t that really one of the main things this exhibition is about—that you can’t give knowledge until you receive it? When you enter a Pueblo home, you’ll see flutes, drums, and rattles, many handed down from generation to generation. They’re part of our families, not just objects. You’re not going to get to know my family by staring at it from the other side of a case.”

\r\n\r\n

Chavarria and the Heartbeat design team knew that interactivity would be crucial in helping museumgoers scratch below the surface of Native American music. While Jemez Pueblo artist Lucy Yepa Lowden’s intricately detailed figurative sculptures of Pueblo dancers and non-Native onlookers mirror what visitors to a static exhibit might look like, Heartbeat takes things far beyond the glass display, creating a dynamic, handson experience.

\r\n\r\n

Listening stations with headphones allow visitors to hear samples of music and many of the instruments included in the exhibition. New samples will be added throughout Heartbeat’s run. Two screens project still and moving archival images of Pueblo and tribal dancers, while carefully positioned speakers broadcast traditional Native American songs without drowning out the gallery. A bulletin board allows guests to post questions or comments about the exhibit, which musicians, curators, and others will answer in writing.

\r\n\r\n

Visitors can also create their own music in the exhibition’s on-site recording studio. “You can record a piece of music using vocals, hands, or some instruments that we provide,” says Chavarria. The museum also invites you to bring an instrument from home. The museum will post some of the songs online (soundcloud.com/Heartbeatnm).

\r\n\r\n

Heartbeat also exhibits two stunning examples of dance regalia, positioned under a Tewa sun symbol near the gallery entrance. Still used in ceremonies today, the outfits will intermittently be whisked away from their mannequin stands and returned to their respective Pueblos to be used in time-honored dance rituals. Chavarria adds that Native American musicians, dancers, instrument makers, and other invited guests are offering performances and demonstrations over the course of the exhibition.

\r\n\r\n

“I think these interactive exchanges are what make this all worthwhile,” Mirabal says. “To not have them would be like going to an exhibition about food and then not being able to taste anything.” It’s important, he says, to incorporate more indigenous language into contemporary music as a way of preserving oral traditions for younger generations.

\r\n\r\n

Still, he worries: “How do we retain the pulses of our people and language without watering them down in more contemporary musical forms?” It’s a question that lingers on Mirabal’s tongue, although he believes that exhibitions like Heartbeat are an increasingly important piece of the puzzle.

\r\n\r\n

NEED TO KNOW
\r\nHeartbeat: Music of the Native Southwest remains on exhibit through September 8, 2015, at the Museum of Indian Arts & Culture. 10 a.m.–5 p.m. Tues.–Sun. New Mexico residents $6, nonresidents $9, under 17 no charge, students with ID $1 discount. School groups no charge, New Mexico residents no charge on Sunday, New Mexico residents over 60 no charge on Wednesday. 710 Camino Lejo, Santa Fe. (505) 476-1250; indianartsandculture.org

","publish_start":"2014-01-28T16:00:00.000Z","enable_comments":true,"categories_ids":["58b4b2404c2774661570f27b","58c839601f16f9392cf09a98","58ed168096df945d13d07701","58b4b2404c2774661570f2a5"],"tags_ids":["59090c53e1efff4c9916f9ec","59090c80e1efff4c9916fa05","59090c49e1efff4c9916f9e6","59090cbbe1efff4c9916fa2b"],"cms_tags_ids":["58b061ec6a2b0936c34a23ea"],"enabled":true,"custom_photo_credit":"KATE RUSSELL; OBJECT PHOTOS BY BLAIR CLARK","custom_tagline":"A museum exhibition cracks open the doors of perception to Native American music in the Southwest; Taos Pueblo flutist Robert Mirabal furnishes a key.","created":"2014-01-28T16:24:12.000Z","legacy_id":"84867","blog":"magazine","_title_sort":"rattle and drum","updated":"2017-05-05T05:13:59.935Z","active":true,"author":{"_id":"58b4b2404c2774661570f240","blog":"magazine","name":"Rob DeWalt","_name_sort":"rob dewalt","updated":"2017-02-27T23:12:00.394Z","created":"2017-02-27T23:12:00.405Z","_totalPosts":22,"id":"58b4b2404c2774661570f240","title":"Rob DeWalt","slug":"rob-dewalt","url":"/nmmagazine/articles/author/rob-dewalt/58b4b2404c2774661570f240/","commentsUrl":"/nmmagazine/articles/author/rob-dewalt/58b4b2404c2774661570f240/#comments","createdMoment":"2017-02-27T23:12:00.405Z","totalPosts":22},"categories":[{"_id":"58b4b2404c2774661570f27b","blog":"magazine","title":"Artscapes","_title_sort":"artscapes","updated":"2017-02-27T23:12:00.491Z","created":"2017-02-27T23:12:00.499Z","_totalPosts":30,"id":"58b4b2404c2774661570f27b","slug":"artscapes","url":"/nmmagazine/articles/category/artscapes/58b4b2404c2774661570f27b/","commentsUrl":"/nmmagazine/articles/category/artscapes/58b4b2404c2774661570f27b/#comments","createdMoment":"2017-02-27T23:12:00.499Z","totalPosts":30},{"_id":"58c839601f16f9392cf09a98","title":"Culture","blog":"magazine","_title_sort":"culture","updated":"2017-03-14T18:41:36.747Z","created":"2017-03-14T18:41:36.748Z","_totalPosts":208,"id":"58c839601f16f9392cf09a98","slug":"culture","url":"/nmmagazine/articles/category/culture/58c839601f16f9392cf09a98/","commentsUrl":"/nmmagazine/articles/category/culture/58c839601f16f9392cf09a98/#comments","createdMoment":"2017-03-14T18:41:36.748Z","totalPosts":208},{"_id":"58b4b2404c2774661570f2a5","blog":"magazine","title":"February 2014","_title_sort":"february 2014","updated":"2017-02-27T23:12:00.492Z","created":"2017-02-27T23:12:00.504Z","_totalPosts":15,"id":"58b4b2404c2774661570f2a5","slug":"february-2014","url":"/nmmagazine/articles/category/february-2014/58b4b2404c2774661570f2a5/","commentsUrl":"/nmmagazine/articles/category/february-2014/58b4b2404c2774661570f2a5/#comments","createdMoment":"2017-02-27T23:12:00.504Z","totalPosts":15}],"image":{"_id":"58b4b2484c2774661570f4a4","legacy_id":"84876","title":"Main -artscapes","created":"2014-01-29T16:53:28.000Z","updated":"2017-02-27T23:12:07.621Z","credits":"Henry Lopez","content_owner":"magazine","tags_ids":["58b061ec6a2b0936c34a23ea"],"title_sort":"main -artscapes","resource_raw":{"public_id":"clients/newmexico/main_artscapes_2d0eba41-5f3a-4e2a-9700-56f22611210f","version":1488237128,"signature":"0ceda49d8ab02ddc306b900f426865b77696724a","width":490,"height":259,"format":"jpg","resource_type":"image","created_at":"2017-02-27T23:12:08.000Z","bytes":14599,"type":"upload","etag":"79592be2439a9ac0bf8f129a0cd301aa","url":"http://res.cloudinary.com/simpleview/image/upload/v1488237128/clients/newmexico/main_artscapes_2d0eba41-5f3a-4e2a-9700-56f22611210f.jpg","secure_url":"https://res.cloudinary.com/simpleview/image/upload/v1488237128/clients/newmexico/main_artscapes_2d0eba41-5f3a-4e2a-9700-56f22611210f.jpg","original_filename":"main-artscapes"},"deleted":false,"id":"58b4b2484c2774661570f4a4","type":"image","resource":{"raw":{"resource_type":"image","format":"jpg","public_id":"clients/newmexico/main_artscapes_2d0eba41-5f3a-4e2a-9700-56f22611210f"}},"inAssetRequest":false,"alt_text":"Main -artscapes"},"tags":[{"_id":"59090c49e1efff4c9916f9e6","title":"Art","blog":"magazine","_title_sort":"art","updated":"2017-05-02T22:46:33.341Z","created":"2017-05-02T22:46:33.341Z","_totalPosts":56,"id":"59090c49e1efff4c9916f9e6","slug":"art","url":"/nmmagazine/articles/tag/art/59090c49e1efff4c9916f9e6/","commentsUrl":"/nmmagazine/articles/tag/art/59090c49e1efff4c9916f9e6/#comments","createdMoment":"2017-05-02T22:46:33.341Z","totalPosts":56}],"id":"58b4b2804c2774661570f947","url":"/nmmagazine/articles/post/artscapes-rattle-and-drum-84867/","commentsUrl":"/nmmagazine/articles/post/artscapes-rattle-and-drum-84867/#comments","absoluteUrl":"https://www.newmexico.org/nmmagazine/articles/post/artscapes-rattle-and-drum-84867/","metaTitle":"Rattle and Drum","metaDescription":"

“Beat the drum once to enter a world of music as spirit.” So reads a sign on a gallery wall at the Museum of Indian Arts & Culture in Santa Fe, above a large wooden drum with a taut animal-hide top

","teaser":"

“Beat the drum once to enter a world of music as spirit.” So reads a sign on a gallery wall at the Museum of Indian Arts & Culture in Santa Fe, above a large wooden drum with a taut animal-hide top

","cleanDescription":"

“Beat the drum once to enter a world of music as spirit.” So reads a sign on a gallery wall at the Museum of Indian Arts & Culture in Santa Fe, above a large wooden drum with a taut animal-hide top and two wooden strikers. The invitation is sincere—and the world that awaits the visitor is one worth exploring. Heartbeat: Music of the Native Southwest is an exhibition that not only honors the traditions of song and dance that link today’s Southwest Native peoples to their ancient past, but also underscores the need to preserve those traditions at a time when more and more indigenous oral traditions are being lost.

\r\n\r\n

Grammy Award–winning Taos Pueblo musician, composer, and instrument craftsman Robert Mirabal, who contributed one of his handmade flutes to the exhibition, stresses that music may be one of the only ways to ensure that future generations of Native Americans can hold on to some of their most time-honored traditions. “Music was always the life force of Native society, our expression of trauma, process, love, and beauty—everything,” Mirabal says. “It was like food for the spirit. And it still is. Our music and dance through the ages conveys this better than any sort of linear academic writing or simple visual display. Our music has to be experienced, not studied, to appreciate our ancient connection to it.

\r\n\r\n

“In most exhibitions,” Mirabal continues, “curators dwell on history, and they don’t bother with where that history leads us today.”

\r\n\r\n

Heartbeat curator Tony Chavarria (Santa Clara Pueblo), who has assembled more than 100 items in the main gallery from MIAC’s permanent collection as well as loaned items from other institutions, has taken pains to implement both the experiential and contemporary elements Mirabal espouses.

\r\n\r\n

Ranging in age of manufacture from around AD 900 to the present day, the objects on exhibit include rattles, drums, flutes, rasps, regalia, and figurines from numerous tribes and Pueblos. Drums, the cornerstone of traditional Native American instrumental music in the Southwest, dominate the gallery entry, and each one has a story. A small ceramic drum with a rawhide top made by Acoma potter Lucy M. Lewis expresses a decorative impulse, while a double-sided drum crafted from the oblong base of an aspen tree by Cochiti Pueblo artist Glenn Chalan shows musical innovation by creating a percussive instrument that makes five distinct tones.

\r\n\r\n

Mirabal began crafting wooden flutes at the age of 19, in the mid-eighties, when very few people in the U.S. were still making them by hand. He bought his first flute as a young adult with money he borrowed from his grandmother, and after a musical encounter with Navajo-Ute flute player R. Carlos Nakai, he knew that music would be central to his creative life. “My people literally planted and hunted their instruments,” Mirabal says. “Take the rattle: We planted the seed that became the gourd that we filled with more seeds to become the rattle. In terms of tradition, today I come from this place: I’m a Taos Pueblo musician on a mission of cultural survival, from seed to song.”

\r\n\r\n

Flutes and whistles made of eagle bone dating as far back to the Pueblo III Era (AD 1150–1350) make a fine showing in the Heartbeat exhibit, but Mirabal points out that in the history of recorded Native American music, there is a gap in the popularity of flute making and playing. “Today the flute stands again as a distinguished instrument, but it’s still abused in some contemporary music circles,” he says. “But that kind of appropriation isn’t necessarily all bad. At least people are hearing and using the instrument. Making flutes for me is learning how to receive knowledge, to compose internally, to do things differently but within the framework of Pueblo tradition. And isn’t that really one of the main things this exhibition is about—that you can’t give knowledge until you receive it? When you enter a Pueblo home, you’ll see flutes, drums, and rattles, many handed down from generation to generation. They’re part of our families, not just objects. You’re not going to get to know my family by staring at it from the other side of a case.”

\r\n\r\n

Chavarria and the Heartbeat design team knew that interactivity would be crucial in helping museumgoers scratch below the surface of Native American music. While Jemez Pueblo artist Lucy Yepa Lowden’s intricately detailed figurative sculptures of Pueblo dancers and non-Native onlookers mirror what visitors to a static exhibit might look like, Heartbeat takes things far beyond the glass display, creating a dynamic, handson experience.

\r\n\r\n

Listening stations with headphones allow visitors to hear samples of music and many of the instruments included in the exhibition. New samples will be added throughout Heartbeat’s run. Two screens project still and moving archival images of Pueblo and tribal dancers, while carefully positioned speakers broadcast traditional Native American songs without drowning out the gallery. A bulletin board allows guests to post questions or comments about the exhibit, which musicians, curators, and others will answer in writing.

\r\n\r\n

Visitors can also create their own music in the exhibition’s on-site recording studio. “You can record a piece of music using vocals, hands, or some instruments that we provide,” says Chavarria. The museum also invites you to bring an instrument from home. The museum will post some of the songs online (soundcloud.com/Heartbeatnm).

\r\n\r\n

Heartbeat also exhibits two stunning examples of dance regalia, positioned under a Tewa sun symbol near the gallery entrance. Still used in ceremonies today, the outfits will intermittently be whisked away from their mannequin stands and returned to their respective Pueblos to be used in time-honored dance rituals. Chavarria adds that Native American musicians, dancers, instrument makers, and other invited guests are offering performances and demonstrations over the course of the exhibition.

\r\n\r\n

“I think these interactive exchanges are what make this all worthwhile,” Mirabal says. “To not have them would be like going to an exhibition about food and then not being able to taste anything.” It’s important, he says, to incorporate more indigenous language into contemporary music as a way of preserving oral traditions for younger generations.

\r\n\r\n

Still, he worries: “How do we retain the pulses of our people and language without watering them down in more contemporary musical forms?” It’s a question that lingers on Mirabal’s tongue, although he believes that exhibitions like Heartbeat are an increasingly important piece of the puzzle.

\r\n\r\n

NEED TO KNOW
\r\nHeartbeat: Music of the Native Southwest remains on exhibit through September 8, 2015, at the Museum of Indian Arts & Culture. 10 a.m.–5 p.m. Tues.–Sun. New Mexico residents $6, nonresidents $9, under 17 no charge, students with ID $1 discount. School groups no charge, New Mexico residents no charge on Sunday, New Mexico residents over 60 no charge on Wednesday. 710 Camino Lejo, Santa Fe. (505) 476-1250; indianartsandculture.org

","publish_start_moment":"2014-01-28T16:00:00.000Z","publish_end_moment":"2017-09-23T00:23:18.688Z"},{"_id":"58b4b2804c2774661570f946","author_id":"58b4b2404c2774661570f251","title":"Best New Mexico Weddings 2014","slug":"love-saves-the-day-84650","description":"\r\n\r\n

 

\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

 

\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\r\n\r\n

Remotely nestled in the foothills eight miles south of Santa Fe, Bonanza Creek Ranch’s Movie Town set hosted the wedding of Turner Ross and Sarah Wolters, who live in Talpa. Bonanza Creek, where westerns like Lonesome Dove and Young Guns were filmed, was the perfect backdrop for their “1920s traveling circus ghost town theme.”

\r\n\r\n

Creating the Moment

\r\n\r\n

Turner (a documentary filmmaker) and Sarah (a nonprofit consultant) asked their guests to create an ontheme identity and dress the part: a Wild West outlaw, circus performer, or saloon girl. Sarah sewed red and white curtains and created a giant banner with paper pinwheels. Sarah’s mother scoured thrift stores in central Texas, amassing a large collection of hobnail milk glass in which they placed red chrysanthemums, faux succulents, and more. For the reception, guests were encouraged to participate in a dance-off.

\r\n\r\n

Sarah wore a 1950s silk chiffon debutante’s dress from Off Broadway Vintage Clothing and Costumes, in Albuquerque. Susan, the owner, was such a pro to work with that Sarah tried on only two dresses before finding the one she chose.

\r\n\r\n

The Menu

\r\n\r\n

The couple wanted to share fresh, flavorful New Mexican food with their guests. Appetizers included tostaditos with mole negro, avocado, and asadero, and empanaditas with local lamb picadillo.

\r\n\r\n

Turner and Sarah both love Santa Fe Brewing Company; they secured kegs of its pale ale, nut brown, and porter brews, perfect for pairing with red-chile-dusted peanuts and buttered popcorn with greenchile salt in the saloon.

\r\n\r\n

In lieu of traditional wedding cake, for dessert they served the bride’s three favorite desserts: Mexican chocolate brownie sundaes, Nutella s’mores, and Mexican wedding cookies.

\r\n\r\n

Advice from the Bride

\r\n\r\n

“Our photographer, Anne Staveley, took stunning portraits of all our wedding guests. These served as our party favors. Your wedding is not just one day, it’s a pinnacle moment in your legacy. Use it to honor each other, and everyone in your lives who has supported and loved you both.”

\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

With its historic 1930s landmark architecture by John Gaw Meem, majestic views of the Sandía Mountains, and winding garden pathways, J.J. and Sara Mancini felt Los Poblanos Historic Inn and Organic Farm, in Los Ranchos de Albuquerque, was the ideal setting for their intimate, colorful October wedding. And even better: it was close to their home in Albuquerque, where Sara works for the city as a policy analyst and J.J. is the owner of Desert Fuels.

\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Creating the Moment

\r\n\r\n

The bride and groom wanted their marriage to be “a light for others,” so the décor included lots of candles. Loving the contrast of fun colors against white and vice versa, Sara opted for a big, colorful bouquet that would pop against her lacy white Vera Wang wedding dress. The 12 bridesmaids were encouraged to choose any dress they wanted to wear, as long as it was made of non-shiny cotton material in a solid color; they each carried a single white hydrangea. J.J. and Sara also had four of their nephews form a bubble brigade; they walked down the aisle blowing bubbles at guests. The couple wrote their own vows, and read them to each other for the first time at the wedding ceremony.

\r\n\r\n

The Menu

\r\n\r\n

Los Poblanos was recently named one of the “Top 10 Food Lover’s Hotels in the United States” by Bon Appétit magazine. Served family style, dinner included locally grown quinoa-stuffed bell peppers and roasted chicken wrapped in bacon. J.J. recalls, “And those tomatoes ... oh, those tomatoes. Could you call them candy?”

\r\n\r\n

For dessert, J.J. and Sara served an assortment of cupcakes from Cake Fetish, an Albuquerque cupcake bakery. Cupcakes were decorated with hand-inscribed flags describing a memory associated with each type of cupcake. The s’moresflavored cupcakes included a tidbit about how they loved camping and making s’mores; the snowball cupcake flags told a story about how the couple once trekked up a snowy mountain to find their Christmas tree. The women of the bride’s family made their favorite kinds of cookies, and guests were invited to take home a selection as a wedding favor.

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Advice from the Bride

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“Don’t be afraid to limit your guest list for whatever reason if you want or need to. We wanted an intimate wedding and kept our guest list small, but the day after, we invited all of our friends, family, and co-workers to celebrate our first day of marriage at a backyard barbecue.”

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Sara and J.J.'s Wedding at Los Poblanos Historic Inn and Organic Farm

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Jay Barron and Corrie Plant, lawyers from Santa Monica, California, had visited Santa Fe twice before, and found it to be a very romantic, unique city. They especially fell in love with the art, food, and historic character.

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They chose the Santa Fe landmark hotel La Fonda on the Plaza to host their wedding, because they liked its Pueblo Deco style. They also appreciated that the ceremony amargin-top:5px;nd reception could take place in the same space, and serve as lodging for their guests. And they knew that friends and family from out of town would enjoy exploring all of the downtown shops, galleries, and restaurants on foot.

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Creating the Moment

\r\n\r\n

Corrie had a personalized stamp made with the word “love,” their names, and their wedding date, then set about stamping the paper items: napkins, menus, welcome-bag items, and programs. Their florist, Margaret Bost, incorporated coordinating shades of peonies into all of the bouquets and table arrangements. Corrie wore a strapless, draped-bodice Monique Lhuillier gown with hand-bustled trumpet skirt.

\r\n\r\n

To welcome guests, they assembled and gave out goodie bags packed with snacks, treats, and information about Santa Fe. They also included blank cards in which they asked guests to write a little something about what inspires them in life and bring their card to the wedding to be placed in the card box for Jay and Corrie to enjoy after the wedding day.

\r\n\r\n

After the wedding ceremony, the couple and their guests enjoyed a festive mariachi-led musical procession known as la marcha. Though it is typically done at Hispanic weddings, this New Mexico wedding tradition is being incorporated by people of all cultural backgrounds. This procession travels through the streets, traditionally from the church to the wedding reception space, and leads the bride and groom to their first dance.

\r\n\r\n

The Menu

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For dessert, the couple decided to offer guests a bar stocked with pink candy instead of a traditional wedding cake. They thought it was one of the areas they could save on cost while adding something fun and personal. The bride made a sign for the table that read “love, sweet love.”

\r\n\r\n

Advice from the Bride

\r\n\r\n

“We definitely recommend including the local tradition of la marcha musical escort and dance. One of the greatest memories we have is of the mariachi band leading all of our friends and family in a parade around the Plaza right after the wedding ceremony. The guests lined up on the sidewalk outside La Fonda shaking their maracas as the mariachi band led us through the crowd. We felt such joy in that moment.”

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Roderick and Jenae Mendoza, of Las Cruces, dreamed of getting married near the bride’s childhood home in southern New Mexico. Jenae, a musician who also works in accounts payable, and Roderick, a barista who also works with a production company, soon realized that the Rio Grande Winery was the perfect setting for their “vintage meets rustic” wedding. Set in the Mesilla Valley, it also offered gorgeous views of the Organ Mountains.

\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Creating the Moment

\r\n\r\n

Full of do-it-yourself details, Roderick and Jenae’s wedding day became a collaborative effort among family and friends. From the boutonnieres and bouquets made by the bride and her bridesmaids using hydrangeas, wildflowers, and mustard yarrow for pops of color, to the centerpieces (mason jars wrapped in burlap as candleholders), the wedding decor was kept simple to harmonize with the pastoral theme. At the reception, there was not a dry eye in the house when Roderick and Jenae, both very musically inclined, performed songs they had written for the occasion as special gifts to each other.

\r\n\r\n

The Menu

\r\n\r\n

To share their love of New Mexican food, Roderick and Jenae chose Las Cruces restaurant !Ándele! as their caterer. Dinner included red and green enchiladas, flautas, beans, and rice, as well as an appetizer of chips and fresh salsa. The couple served a four-tiered wedding cake with vanilla, chocolate, and red velvet layers covered in almond buttercream frosting. They chose to give their guests handmade chocolate truffle favors from the Chocolate Lady, in Old Mesilla, custom-wrapped with ribbon matching their color scheme of mustard yellow and navy. The winery’s muscat and port were also available to guests.

\r\n\r\n

Advice from the Bride

\r\n\r\n

“We had two couples that we love and respect give us advice and a blessing at the reception. This meant so much to us.”

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Albuquerque couple Don and Melissa Ortega knew they had to consider Taos’s El Monte Sagrado Resort when a friend described it to them as “the garden of Eden.” Melissa, a project manager, and Don, the owner of a jujitsu studio, were charmed by sunlit streams, tropical flora, and the sounds of calming waterfalls. Views of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains from the Taos Mountain Lawn ceremony site sealed the deal.

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Creating moment

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For her June wedding bouquet, ceremony, and reception decor, Melissa chose roses in colors of peach, apricot, and cream with gold accents to create a warm and summery feel. The bride’s bright blue jewel-studded shoes added a pop of color, as well as doubling as her “something blue.” Mark McKenzie, the minister from their church in Albuquerque, served as officiant, and read from love letters that the bride and groom had written to each other.

\r\n\r\n

The Menu

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Melissa and Don made New Mexico–themed gift baskets and delivered them to their guests’ rooms. They contained candied pecans from Las Cruces’ Stahmann Farms, bottles of St. Clair Winery’s red and green chile wines, and El Pinto salsa, all nestled into Native woven baskets. The couple chose a cupcake tower, plus a cake for the traditional cutting of the cake. The cupcake frosting was piped to look like roses, then decorated with fresh flowers by Taos florist Simply Shelia. As a parting gift, guests received a locally sourced honey-chipotle spice mix.

\r\n\r\n

Advice from the Bride

\r\n\r\n

“Each year on our anniversary, we’re going to make a trip back to El Monte Sagrado. We recommend every other couple visit their wedding site, too.”

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Although Jasmine and Nick Firchau live in Brooklyn, where they are Web editors, they were born in Santa Fe, and decided to celebrate their wedding in this beloved Southwest setting. Nestled in the Ortiz Mountains, with courtyard views of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains in the distance, the just-remote-enough Hacienda Doña Andrea (in Los Cerrillos, an hour’s drive from the Albuquerque airport) set the scene for Jasmine and Nick’s gorgeous Southwestmeets- Gatsby-inspired wedding.

\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Creating the Moment

\r\n\r\n

Echoing the desert’s palette, Jasmine chose a color scheme of cream, copper, peach, and pale gray. The bride’s friends decorated the ceremony arch by wrapping a fabric sash around it and accenting the top with large paper flowers. The Hacienda staff hung papel picado, intricately punched paper that is traditionally made in Mexico but used throughout New Mexico, across the Hacienda’s courtyard, along with string lights. Other handmade details included carefully embellishing each wedding invitation with a single feather. For place cards, Jasmine attached kraft paper cards to sage sticks and dried flowers sourced from the Santa Fe Farmers’ Market.

\r\n\r\n

The Menu

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Marja Catering provided a light, seasonally driven Southwestern menu with chicken mole appetizers, a make-your-own flank steak taco bar, veggie enchiladas, and chilled gazpacho.

\r\n\r\n

Advice from the Bride

\r\n\r\n

“Don’t be afraid to ask for help. I tried to do so much of it myself and finally realized I needed someone besides my fiancé to help me work through all of the tiny decisions, because we were beginning to stress out and lose perspective.”

\r\n\r\n

For more NM weddings, visit NewMexicoWeddingMagazine.com, edited by Susana Lucero.

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Remotely nestled in the foothills eight miles south of Santa Fe, Bonanza Creek Ranch’s Movie Town set hosted the wedding of Turner Ross and Sarah Wolters, who live in Talpa. Bonanza Creek, where westerns like Lonesome Dove and Young Guns were filmed, was the perfect backdrop for their “1920s traveling circus ghost town theme.”

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Creating the Moment

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Turner (a documentary filmmaker) and Sarah (a nonprofit consultant) asked their guests to create an ontheme identity and dress the part: a Wild West outlaw, circus performer, or saloon girl. Sarah sewed red and white curtains and created a giant banner with paper pinwheels. Sarah’s mother scoured thrift stores in central Texas, amassing a large collection of hobnail milk glass in which they placed red chrysanthemums, faux succulents, and more. For the reception, guests were encouraged to participate in a dance-off.

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Sarah wore a 1950s silk chiffon debutante’s dress from Off Broadway Vintage Clothing and Costumes, in Albuquerque. Susan, the owner, was such a pro to work with that Sarah tried on only two dresses before finding the one she chose.

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The Menu

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The couple wanted to share fresh, flavorful New Mexican food with their guests. Appetizers included tostaditos with mole negro, avocado, and asadero, and empanaditas with local lamb picadillo.

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Turner and Sarah both love Santa Fe Brewing Company; they secured kegs of its pale ale, nut brown, and porter brews, perfect for pairing with red-chile-dusted peanuts and buttered popcorn with greenchile salt in the saloon.

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In lieu of traditional wedding cake, for dessert they served the bride’s three favorite desserts: Mexican chocolate brownie sundaes, Nutella s’mores, and Mexican wedding cookies.

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Advice from the Bride

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“Our photographer, Anne Staveley, took stunning portraits of all our wedding guests. These served as our party favors. Your wedding is not just one day, it’s a pinnacle moment in your legacy. Use it to honor each other, and everyone in your lives who has supported and loved you both.”

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With its historic 1930s landmark architecture by John Gaw Meem, majestic views of the Sandía Mountains, and winding garden pathways, J.J. and Sara Mancini felt Los Poblanos Historic Inn and Organic Farm, in Los Ranchos de Albuquerque, was the ideal setting for their intimate, colorful October wedding. And even better: it was close to their home in Albuquerque, where Sara works for the city as a policy analyst and J.J. is the owner of Desert Fuels.

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Creating the Moment

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The bride and groom wanted their marriage to be “a light for others,” so the décor included lots of candles. Loving the contrast of fun colors against white and vice versa, Sara opted for a big, colorful bouquet that would pop against her lacy white Vera Wang wedding dress. The 12 bridesmaids were encouraged to choose any dress they wanted to wear, as long as it was made of non-shiny cotton material in a solid color; they each carried a single white hydrangea. J.J. and Sara also had four of their nephews form a bubble brigade; they walked down the aisle blowing bubbles at guests. The couple wrote their own vows, and read them to each other for the first time at the wedding ceremony.

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The Menu

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Los Poblanos was recently named one of the “Top 10 Food Lover’s Hotels in the United States” by Bon Appétit magazine. Served family style, dinner included locally grown quinoa-stuffed bell peppers and roasted chicken wrapped in bacon. J.J. recalls, “And those tomatoes ... oh, those tomatoes. Could you call them candy?”

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For dessert, J.J. and Sara served an assortment of cupcakes from Cake Fetish, an Albuquerque cupcake bakery. Cupcakes were decorated with hand-inscribed flags describing a memory associated with each type of cupcake. The s’moresflavored cupcakes included a tidbit about how they loved camping and making s’mores; the snowball cupcake flags told a story about how the couple once trekked up a snowy mountain to find their Christmas tree. The women of the bride’s family made their favorite kinds of cookies, and guests were invited to take home a selection as a wedding favor.

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Advice from the Bride

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“Don’t be afraid to limit your guest list for whatever reason if you want or need to. We wanted an intimate wedding and kept our guest list small, but the day after, we invited all of our friends, family, and co-workers to celebrate our first day of marriage at a backyard barbecue.”

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Sara and J.J.'s Wedding at Los Poblanos Historic Inn and Organic Farm

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Jay Barron and Corrie Plant, lawyers from Santa Monica, California, had visited Santa Fe twice before, and found it to be a very romantic, unique city. They especially fell in love with the art, food, and historic character.

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They chose the Santa Fe landmark hotel La Fonda on the Plaza to host their wedding, because they liked its Pueblo Deco style. They also appreciated that the ceremony amargin-top:5px;nd reception could take place in the same space, and serve as lodging for their guests. And they knew that friends and family from out of town would enjoy exploring all of the downtown shops, galleries, and restaurants on foot.

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Creating the Moment

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Corrie had a personalized stamp made with the word “love,” their names, and their wedding date, then set about stamping the paper items: napkins, menus, welcome-bag items, and programs. Their florist, Margaret Bost, incorporated coordinating shades of peonies into all of the bouquets and table arrangements. Corrie wore a strapless, draped-bodice Monique Lhuillier gown with hand-bustled trumpet skirt.

\r\n\r\n

To welcome guests, they assembled and gave out goodie bags packed with snacks, treats, and information about Santa Fe. They also included blank cards in which they asked guests to write a little something about what inspires them in life and bring their card to the wedding to be placed in the card box for Jay and Corrie to enjoy after the wedding day.

\r\n\r\n

After the wedding ceremony, the couple and their guests enjoyed a festive mariachi-led musical procession known as la marcha. Though it is typically done at Hispanic weddings, this New Mexico wedding tradition is being incorporated by people of all cultural backgrounds. This procession travels through the streets, traditionally from the church to the wedding reception space, and leads the bride and groom to their first dance.

\r\n\r\n

The Menu

\r\n\r\n

For dessert, the couple decided to offer guests a bar stocked with pink candy instead of a traditional wedding cake. They thought it was one of the areas they could save on cost while adding something fun and personal. The bride made a sign for the table that read “love, sweet love.”

\r\n\r\n

Advice from the Bride

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“We definitely recommend including the local tradition of la marcha musical escort and dance. One of the greatest memories we have is of the mariachi band leading all of our friends and family in a parade around the Plaza right after the wedding ceremony. The guests lined up on the sidewalk outside La Fonda shaking their maracas as the mariachi band led us through the crowd. We felt such joy in that moment.”

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Roderick and Jenae Mendoza, of Las Cruces, dreamed of getting married near the bride’s childhood home in southern New Mexico. Jenae, a musician who also works in accounts payable, and Roderick, a barista who also works with a production company, soon realized that the Rio Grande Winery was the perfect setting for their “vintage meets rustic” wedding. Set in the Mesilla Valley, it also offered gorgeous views of the Organ Mountains.

\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Creating the Moment

\r\n\r\n

Full of do-it-yourself details, Roderick and Jenae’s wedding day became a collaborative effort among family and friends. From the boutonnieres and bouquets made by the bride and her bridesmaids using hydrangeas, wildflowers, and mustard yarrow for pops of color, to the centerpieces (mason jars wrapped in burlap as candleholders), the wedding decor was kept simple to harmonize with the pastoral theme. At the reception, there was not a dry eye in the house when Roderick and Jenae, both very musically inclined, performed songs they had written for the occasion as special gifts to each other.

\r\n\r\n

The Menu

\r\n\r\n

To share their love of New Mexican food, Roderick and Jenae chose Las Cruces restaurant !Ándele! as their caterer. Dinner included red and green enchiladas, flautas, beans, and rice, as well as an appetizer of chips and fresh salsa. The couple served a four-tiered wedding cake with vanilla, chocolate, and red velvet layers covered in almond buttercream frosting. They chose to give their guests handmade chocolate truffle favors from the Chocolate Lady, in Old Mesilla, custom-wrapped with ribbon matching their color scheme of mustard yellow and navy. The winery’s muscat and port were also available to guests.

\r\n\r\n

Advice from the Bride

\r\n\r\n

“We had two couples that we love and respect give us advice and a blessing at the reception. This meant so much to us.”

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Albuquerque couple Don and Melissa Ortega knew they had to consider Taos’s El Monte Sagrado Resort when a friend described it to them as “the garden of Eden.” Melissa, a project manager, and Don, the owner of a jujitsu studio, were charmed by sunlit streams, tropical flora, and the sounds of calming waterfalls. Views of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains from the Taos Mountain Lawn ceremony site sealed the deal.

\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Creating moment

\r\n\r\n

For her June wedding bouquet, ceremony, and reception decor, Melissa chose roses in colors of peach, apricot, and cream with gold accents to create a warm and summery feel. The bride’s bright blue jewel-studded shoes added a pop of color, as well as doubling as her “something blue.” Mark McKenzie, the minister from their church in Albuquerque, served as officiant, and read from love letters that the bride and groom had written to each other.

\r\n\r\n

The Menu

\r\n\r\n

Melissa and Don made New Mexico–themed gift baskets and delivered them to their guests’ rooms. They contained candied pecans from Las Cruces’ Stahmann Farms, bottles of St. Clair Winery’s red and green chile wines, and El Pinto salsa, all nestled into Native woven baskets. The couple chose a cupcake tower, plus a cake for the traditional cutting of the cake. The cupcake frosting was piped to look like roses, then decorated with fresh flowers by Taos florist Simply Shelia. As a parting gift, guests received a locally sourced honey-chipotle spice mix.

\r\n\r\n

Advice from the Bride

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“Each year on our anniversary, we’re going to make a trip back to El Monte Sagrado. We recommend every other couple visit their wedding site, too.”

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Although Jasmine and Nick Firchau live in Brooklyn, where they are Web editors, they were born in Santa Fe, and decided to celebrate their wedding in this beloved Southwest setting. Nestled in the Ortiz Mountains, with courtyard views of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains in the distance, the just-remote-enough Hacienda Doña Andrea (in Los Cerrillos, an hour’s drive from the Albuquerque airport) set the scene for Jasmine and Nick’s gorgeous Southwestmeets- Gatsby-inspired wedding.

\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Creating the Moment

\r\n\r\n

Echoing the desert’s palette, Jasmine chose a color scheme of cream, copper, peach, and pale gray. The bride’s friends decorated the ceremony arch by wrapping a fabric sash around it and accenting the top with large paper flowers. The Hacienda staff hung papel picado, intricately punched paper that is traditionally made in Mexico but used throughout New Mexico, across the Hacienda’s courtyard, along with string lights. Other handmade details included carefully embellishing each wedding invitation with a single feather. For place cards, Jasmine attached kraft paper cards to sage sticks and dried flowers sourced from the Santa Fe Farmers’ Market.

\r\n\r\n

The Menu

\r\n\r\n

Marja Catering provided a light, seasonally driven Southwestern menu with chicken mole appetizers, a make-your-own flank steak taco bar, veggie enchiladas, and chilled gazpacho.

\r\n\r\n

Advice from the Bride

\r\n\r\n

“Don’t be afraid to ask for help. I tried to do so much of it myself and finally realized I needed someone besides my fiancé to help me work through all of the tiny decisions, because we were beginning to stress out and lose perspective.”

\r\n\r\n

For more NM weddings, visit NewMexicoWeddingMagazine.com, edited by Susana Lucero.

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\r\n\r\n

 

\r\n\r\n

Unlike most skiers in New Mexico, I like to slide horizontally, not vertically. I also prefer groomed trails where no dogs, snowshoes, or snowmobiles are allowed, preferably through tall trees. That’s because I grew up in Minnesota with cross-country ski trails at the end of my street. My parents, descendants of Swedes, had a regular Saturday morning ritual: They would bundle up their five kids in triple layers and bribe them into the sub-zero-degree day with a few hours of cross-country skiing followed by a giant breakfast at the local greasy spoon.

\r\n\r\n

 

\r\n\r\n

While I still remember the misery of frostbitten toes, the frozen slime mask that formed around my face from breathing through a scarf, and never being able to catch my dad no matter how hard I skied, I’m more grateful to my parents for teaching me how to cross-country ski than just about anything else they taught me. I’ve found that there’s no better way to clear my head and reset my default mode to “joy” than a few hours in the winter wilderness gliding on snow, feeling my appendages work in harmony while working up a good sweat. I change my style and ski-and-boot setup depending on snow conditions—electing either classical (the traditional method of cross-country, skiing in a parallel groomed track) or skate skiing (which looks like ice skating on groomed corduroy)—but the feeling I get with either is nothing short of phenomenal. Plus, it’s a cheap high: At most groomed cross-country areas, skiing is generally $10 to $20 per day, or roughly one-fifth the cost of a downhill lift ticket.

\r\n\r\n

The only change from my childhood ritual, now that four decades have passed and I live in New Mexico, is that I eat breakfast first (a green-chile-and-bacon breakfast burrito from El Parasol in Española) and travel a lot farther to find groomed cross-country trails. It’s a challenge in a state tectonically designed for downhill skiing. To improvise, I sometimes wake before dawn to skate-ski loops around the beginner Magic Carpet run of Ski Santa Fe. Or I’ll drive an hour west to the seven-kilometer Pajarito Nordic Ski Trail, near Los Alamos, possibly the only place on the planet that requires showing an ID at a nuclear-site checkpoint en route to the area. These small hits of corduroy mildly satiate the junkie in me. But for a real fix, I need the Enchanted Forest Cross Country Ski Area, three miles east of Red River.

\r\n\r\n

My once-husband turned me on to this spidery 33K trail network, shrouded by aspen and ponderosa, when we moved to New Mexico in 1995. A competitive biathlete, that rarefied Nordic skier who also fires guns at targets along the way, he had heard about the legendary mom-and-pop operation from a Russian skier, who heard about it from the University of New Mexico Nordic ski team coach. The Lobos host an annual ski meet there, and definitely have the home-court advantage: The Enchanted Forest covers six hundred acres and tops out at 10,040 feet, which makes it arguably the highest Nordic ski area in the U.S.

\r\n\r\n

“It doesn’t matter if it’s a record or not,” says Geoff Goins, the co-owner since 2010. “You still have to breathe hard.”

\r\n\r\n

I’m meeting Goins for a pre-ski chat inside the Enchanted Forest’s “Day Lodge.” The 1,500-square-foot building is an ever-expanding maze packed with wooden tables surrounded by orange pleather benches, rental skis, communal coffee cups, and a very large array of Nordic nostalgia. On the “Snow Shrine,” a shelf of trinkets above the wood-burning stove, there’s a stuffed squirrel, a skiing Santa Claus, and a yellowed newspaper article about how beer is the best workout fuel.

\r\n\r\n

Goins, 44, is an ebullient, blue-eyed astronomer who works summers in Bryce Canyon National Park. He and his wife, Ellen, bought the business from her parents, John and Judy Miller, in 2010. The Millers opened Enchanted Forest in 1985 after running another Red River institution, Powder Puff Mountain downhill area (now closed). They sold it after they skied California’s Royal Gorge, the largest Nordic ski area in the country, for the first time. So enamored were they with the aerobic joy of groomed trails, they decided to carve out a similar playground in the Carson National Forest, and worked out a deal to lease a few hundred acres from the U.S. Forest Service.

\r\n\r\n

“When we bought the place from John and Judy three years ago, we put in the contract that they don’t have any input in the day-to-day operations,” Goins laughs, “but that doesn’t mean Judy doesn’t still give us hers.”

\r\n\r\n

The Millers, who are now both pushing 80, still ski almost every winter day. As does their daughter, Mary, who happens to walk in the door as Goins is telling me how trail names like Face Flop Drop, Peter Pan, Little John, and Malaboggen (Mary’s childhood nickname) came to be.

\r\n\r\n

“It’s a nickname I despise,” Mary tells me as she laces up her ski boots. But the name lives on in trail maps and on painstakingly carved trailhead signs, all 235 of which Goins recently re-carved by hand.

\r\n\r\n

“This place has been a labor of love for 27 years,” Mary tells me as she walks out the door and grabs her skis.

\r\n\r\n

It’s late winter and the snow is melting into slush. But both the skating and classical tracks are still fresh, thanks to Goins’ early-morning pass with the groomer. I classical-ski the outermost loop, Jabberwocky to Sherwood Forest to Northwest Passage, a roughly 8K trail that snakes through the woods with steep climbs and fast, curvy downhills. This first loop is always painful—I’ll feel like my lungs are bursting for the next 45 minutes—but it’s always worth it. When I finally top out at 10,040 feet, the panorama of Wheeler Peak, Gold Hill, and the Upper Red River Valley sprawls out in the sunshine. This is the most coveted stop on my tour, where I take time out to breathe, let the sun warm my body, and thank the universe that New Mexico has far fewer sub-zero days than Minnesota. Some of my friends tell me I’m a little nuts to drive five hours round-trip from Santa Fe for a cross-country skiing fix. But there could be plenty worse addictions, I think as I fly through pine and aspen, gathering speed on the downhill and dreaming of hot cocoa back at the lodge. ✜

\r\n\r\n

Need to Know

\r\n\r\n

Depending on the snow and how fanatical you are about grooming, there are four excellent spots in New Mexico to find regularly groomed ski trails, both classical (skiing in parallel groomed tracks) and skating (skiing that looks almost like ice skating on groomed trails). Most ski areas groom the same trail for both skating and classical, with four to five feet for skating in the center and a parallel track on the side for classical skiing.

\r\n\r\n

ENCHANTED FOREST CROSS COUNTRY SKI AREA
\r\nA day pass is $16 for adults, $8–$13 for kids. Ski lessons and full rentals are available. (575) 754-6112; enchantedforestxc.com The most convenient accommodations are at the Golden Eagle Lodge, just a few miles down the mountain in Red River. Reserve Room 18, a brand-new, two-bedroom suite with a wood-burning fireplace, full kitchen, and room to sleep eight. Bonus: Owner Jerry Vowell brews his own small-batch-roasted Fire Mountain Coffee. From $130 per night. (800) 621-4046; redriverlodges.com

\r\n\r\n

ANGEL FIRE RESORT
\r\nFor beginner skate skiers, there’s no better place to start than Angel Fire. The new 13K trail system on the Angel Fire Resort Country Club golf course, 1.5 miles from the downhill area, is roughly 1,000 feet lower than the Enchanted Forest and offers level, open terrain. Adult day pass, $10; kids 13 and under ski free. Full rental and lessons available. (575) 377-4320; bit.ly/angelfirexc

\r\n\r\n

SOUTHWEST NORDIC SKI CLUB TRAILS
\r\nThis nearly 7K network of skating and classical trails is tucked into a forested canyon northeast of Pajarito Mountain Ski Area. Southwest Nordic Ski Club volunteers groom and maintain the trails. Trail access is free, but donations are welcome. For trail maps and information on how to join, visit swnordicski.org.

\r\n\r\n

VALLES CALDERA NATIONAL PRESERVE
\r\nIt’s tricky to hit the Caldera, just west of Los Alamos, on a day when the trails in this wide-open crater are well groomed and the sun hasn’t baked them to slush. But more than 80 percent of the 60K trail system is groomed, so when the snow flies, call the automated snow line (505- 216-2690) or check the snow report at skinewmexico.com. Adult day pass, $10; kids 5–15, $5. No ski rental or lessons available. (866) 382-5537; vallescaldera.gov

","publish_start":"2014-01-21T10:00:00.000Z","enable_comments":true,"categories_ids":["58c834b11f16f9392cf0992a","58b4b2404c2774661570f2b4","58f5533b46da1c146c0fc752","58b4b2404c2774661570f2a5"],"tags_ids":["59090e46e1efff4c9916fb37","59090ce8e1efff4c9916fa49","59090ca9e1efff4c9916fa20","59090cbbe1efff4c9916fa2b"],"cms_tags_ids":["58b061ec6a2b0936c34a23ea"],"enabled":true,"custom_photo_credit":"Michael Clark","custom_tagline":"One skier’s quest for perfectly groomed cross-country trails.","created":"2014-01-21T10:37:31.000Z","legacy_id":"84632","blog":"magazine","_title_sort":"slip-sliding away","updated":"2017-05-05T05:11:13.210Z","active":true,"author":{"_id":"58b4b2404c2774661570f24b","blog":"magazine","name":"Stephanie Pearson","_name_sort":"stephanie pearson","updated":"2017-02-27T23:12:00.412Z","created":"2017-02-27T23:12:00.420Z","_totalPosts":2,"id":"58b4b2404c2774661570f24b","title":"Stephanie Pearson","slug":"stephanie-pearson","url":"/nmmagazine/articles/author/stephanie-pearson/58b4b2404c2774661570f24b/","commentsUrl":"/nmmagazine/articles/author/stephanie-pearson/58b4b2404c2774661570f24b/#comments","createdMoment":"2017-02-27T23:12:00.420Z","totalPosts":2},"categories":[{"_id":"58c834b11f16f9392cf0992a","title":"Travel","blog":"magazine","_title_sort":"travel","updated":"2017-03-14T18:21:37.155Z","created":"2017-03-14T18:21:37.156Z","_totalPosts":179,"id":"58c834b11f16f9392cf0992a","slug":"travel","url":"/nmmagazine/articles/category/travel/58c834b11f16f9392cf0992a/","commentsUrl":"/nmmagazine/articles/category/travel/58c834b11f16f9392cf0992a/#comments","createdMoment":"2017-03-14T18:21:37.156Z","totalPosts":179},{"_id":"58b4b2404c2774661570f2b4","blog":"magazine","title":"Going Places","_title_sort":"going places","updated":"2017-02-27T23:12:00.493Z","created":"2017-02-27T23:12:00.506Z","_totalPosts":78,"id":"58b4b2404c2774661570f2b4","slug":"going-places","url":"/nmmagazine/articles/category/going-places/58b4b2404c2774661570f2b4/","commentsUrl":"/nmmagazine/articles/category/going-places/58b4b2404c2774661570f2b4/#comments","createdMoment":"2017-02-27T23:12:00.506Z","totalPosts":78},{"_id":"58b4b2404c2774661570f2a5","blog":"magazine","title":"February 2014","_title_sort":"february 2014","updated":"2017-02-27T23:12:00.492Z","created":"2017-02-27T23:12:00.504Z","_totalPosts":15,"id":"58b4b2404c2774661570f2a5","slug":"february-2014","url":"/nmmagazine/articles/category/february-2014/58b4b2404c2774661570f2a5/","commentsUrl":"/nmmagazine/articles/category/february-2014/58b4b2404c2774661570f2a5/#comments","createdMoment":"2017-02-27T23:12:00.504Z","totalPosts":15}],"tags":[{"_id":"59090ca9e1efff4c9916fa20","title":"Events","blog":"magazine","_title_sort":"events","updated":"2017-05-02T22:48:09.170Z","created":"2017-05-02T22:48:09.171Z","_totalPosts":57,"id":"59090ca9e1efff4c9916fa20","slug":"events","url":"/nmmagazine/articles/tag/events/59090ca9e1efff4c9916fa20/","commentsUrl":"/nmmagazine/articles/tag/events/59090ca9e1efff4c9916fa20/#comments","createdMoment":"2017-05-02T22:48:09.171Z","totalPosts":57}],"id":"58b4b2804c2774661570f943","url":"/nmmagazine/articles/post/slip-sliding-away-84632/","commentsUrl":"/nmmagazine/articles/post/slip-sliding-away-84632/#comments","absoluteUrl":"https://www.newmexico.org/nmmagazine/articles/post/slip-sliding-away-84632/","metaTitle":"Slip-Sliding Away","metaDescription":"

Unlike most skiers in New Mexico, I like to slide horizontally, not vertically. I also prefer groomed trails where no dogs, snowshoes, or snowmobiles are allowed, preferably through tall trees.

","teaser":"

Unlike most skiers in New Mexico, I like to slide horizontally, not vertically. I also prefer groomed trails where no dogs, snowshoes, or snowmobiles are allowed, preferably through tall trees.

","cleanDescription":"

\r\n\r\n

 

\r\n\r\n

Unlike most skiers in New Mexico, I like to slide horizontally, not vertically. I also prefer groomed trails where no dogs, snowshoes, or snowmobiles are allowed, preferably through tall trees. That’s because I grew up in Minnesota with cross-country ski trails at the end of my street. My parents, descendants of Swedes, had a regular Saturday morning ritual: They would bundle up their five kids in triple layers and bribe them into the sub-zero-degree day with a few hours of cross-country skiing followed by a giant breakfast at the local greasy spoon.

\r\n\r\n

 

\r\n\r\n

While I still remember the misery of frostbitten toes, the frozen slime mask that formed around my face from breathing through a scarf, and never being able to catch my dad no matter how hard I skied, I’m more grateful to my parents for teaching me how to cross-country ski than just about anything else they taught me. I’ve found that there’s no better way to clear my head and reset my default mode to “joy” than a few hours in the winter wilderness gliding on snow, feeling my appendages work in harmony while working up a good sweat. I change my style and ski-and-boot setup depending on snow conditions—electing either classical (the traditional method of cross-country, skiing in a parallel groomed track) or skate skiing (which looks like ice skating on groomed corduroy)—but the feeling I get with either is nothing short of phenomenal. Plus, it’s a cheap high: At most groomed cross-country areas, skiing is generally $10 to $20 per day, or roughly one-fifth the cost of a downhill lift ticket.

\r\n\r\n

The only change from my childhood ritual, now that four decades have passed and I live in New Mexico, is that I eat breakfast first (a green-chile-and-bacon breakfast burrito from El Parasol in Española) and travel a lot farther to find groomed cross-country trails. It’s a challenge in a state tectonically designed for downhill skiing. To improvise, I sometimes wake before dawn to skate-ski loops around the beginner Magic Carpet run of Ski Santa Fe. Or I’ll drive an hour west to the seven-kilometer Pajarito Nordic Ski Trail, near Los Alamos, possibly the only place on the planet that requires showing an ID at a nuclear-site checkpoint en route to the area. These small hits of corduroy mildly satiate the junkie in me. But for a real fix, I need the Enchanted Forest Cross Country Ski Area, three miles east of Red River.

\r\n\r\n

My once-husband turned me on to this spidery 33K trail network, shrouded by aspen and ponderosa, when we moved to New Mexico in 1995. A competitive biathlete, that rarefied Nordic skier who also fires guns at targets along the way, he had heard about the legendary mom-and-pop operation from a Russian skier, who heard about it from the University of New Mexico Nordic ski team coach. The Lobos host an annual ski meet there, and definitely have the home-court advantage: The Enchanted Forest covers six hundred acres and tops out at 10,040 feet, which makes it arguably the highest Nordic ski area in the U.S.

\r\n\r\n

“It doesn’t matter if it’s a record or not,” says Geoff Goins, the co-owner since 2010. “You still have to breathe hard.”

\r\n\r\n

I’m meeting Goins for a pre-ski chat inside the Enchanted Forest’s “Day Lodge.” The 1,500-square-foot building is an ever-expanding maze packed with wooden tables surrounded by orange pleather benches, rental skis, communal coffee cups, and a very large array of Nordic nostalgia. On the “Snow Shrine,” a shelf of trinkets above the wood-burning stove, there’s a stuffed squirrel, a skiing Santa Claus, and a yellowed newspaper article about how beer is the best workout fuel.

\r\n\r\n

Goins, 44, is an ebullient, blue-eyed astronomer who works summers in Bryce Canyon National Park. He and his wife, Ellen, bought the business from her parents, John and Judy Miller, in 2010. The Millers opened Enchanted Forest in 1985 after running another Red River institution, Powder Puff Mountain downhill area (now closed). They sold it after they skied California’s Royal Gorge, the largest Nordic ski area in the country, for the first time. So enamored were they with the aerobic joy of groomed trails, they decided to carve out a similar playground in the Carson National Forest, and worked out a deal to lease a few hundred acres from the U.S. Forest Service.

\r\n\r\n

“When we bought the place from John and Judy three years ago, we put in the contract that they don’t have any input in the day-to-day operations,” Goins laughs, “but that doesn’t mean Judy doesn’t still give us hers.”

\r\n\r\n

The Millers, who are now both pushing 80, still ski almost every winter day. As does their daughter, Mary, who happens to walk in the door as Goins is telling me how trail names like Face Flop Drop, Peter Pan, Little John, and Malaboggen (Mary’s childhood nickname) came to be.

\r\n\r\n

“It’s a nickname I despise,” Mary tells me as she laces up her ski boots. But the name lives on in trail maps and on painstakingly carved trailhead signs, all 235 of which Goins recently re-carved by hand.

\r\n\r\n

“This place has been a labor of love for 27 years,” Mary tells me as she walks out the door and grabs her skis.

\r\n\r\n

It’s late winter and the snow is melting into slush. But both the skating and classical tracks are still fresh, thanks to Goins’ early-morning pass with the groomer. I classical-ski the outermost loop, Jabberwocky to Sherwood Forest to Northwest Passage, a roughly 8K trail that snakes through the woods with steep climbs and fast, curvy downhills. This first loop is always painful—I’ll feel like my lungs are bursting for the next 45 minutes—but it’s always worth it. When I finally top out at 10,040 feet, the panorama of Wheeler Peak, Gold Hill, and the Upper Red River Valley sprawls out in the sunshine. This is the most coveted stop on my tour, where I take time out to breathe, let the sun warm my body, and thank the universe that New Mexico has far fewer sub-zero days than Minnesota. Some of my friends tell me I’m a little nuts to drive five hours round-trip from Santa Fe for a cross-country skiing fix. But there could be plenty worse addictions, I think as I fly through pine and aspen, gathering speed on the downhill and dreaming of hot cocoa back at the lodge. ✜

\r\n\r\n

Need to Know

\r\n\r\n

Depending on the snow and how fanatical you are about grooming, there are four excellent spots in New Mexico to find regularly groomed ski trails, both classical (skiing in parallel groomed tracks) and skating (skiing that looks almost like ice skating on groomed trails). Most ski areas groom the same trail for both skating and classical, with four to five feet for skating in the center and a parallel track on the side for classical skiing.

\r\n\r\n

ENCHANTED FOREST CROSS COUNTRY SKI AREA
\r\nA day pass is $16 for adults, $8–$13 for kids. Ski lessons and full rentals are available. (575) 754-6112; enchantedforestxc.com The most convenient accommodations are at the Golden Eagle Lodge, just a few miles down the mountain in Red River. Reserve Room 18, a brand-new, two-bedroom suite with a wood-burning fireplace, full kitchen, and room to sleep eight. Bonus: Owner Jerry Vowell brews his own small-batch-roasted Fire Mountain Coffee. From $130 per night. (800) 621-4046; redriverlodges.com

\r\n\r\n

ANGEL FIRE RESORT
\r\nFor beginner skate skiers, there’s no better place to start than Angel Fire. The new 13K trail system on the Angel Fire Resort Country Club golf course, 1.5 miles from the downhill area, is roughly 1,000 feet lower than the Enchanted Forest and offers level, open terrain. Adult day pass, $10; kids 13 and under ski free. Full rental and lessons available. (575) 377-4320; bit.ly/angelfirexc

\r\n\r\n

SOUTHWEST NORDIC SKI CLUB TRAILS
\r\nThis nearly 7K network of skating and classical trails is tucked into a forested canyon northeast of Pajarito Mountain Ski Area. Southwest Nordic Ski Club volunteers groom and maintain the trails. Trail access is free, but donations are welcome. For trail maps and information on how to join, visit swnordicski.org.

\r\n\r\n

VALLES CALDERA NATIONAL PRESERVE
\r\nIt’s tricky to hit the Caldera, just west of Los Alamos, on a day when the trails in this wide-open crater are well groomed and the sun hasn’t baked them to slush. But more than 80 percent of the 60K trail system is groomed, so when the snow flies, call the automated snow line (505- 216-2690) or check the snow report at skinewmexico.com. Adult day pass, $10; kids 5–15, $5. No ski rental or lessons available. (866) 382-5537; vallescaldera.gov

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\r\n\r\n

 

\r\n\r\n

My husband and I enjoy nothing more, when traveling, than a great meal in our hotel. Being within sauntering distance of our room allows us to drink wine or cocktails without worry—perfect for a romantic occasion, like Valentine’s Day. With the popularity of the culinary indulgences offered by many New Mexico hotel chefs, I recommend that you check in early at the spots discussed here, whether you’re planning on staying over or simply having a special dinner out. These are worthy options on any evening that you want to pamper yourself and someone you love.

\r\n\r\n

 

\r\n\r\n

Scattered New Mexican spots, such as La Fonda, on the Plaza in Santa Fe, have held a high dining standard for decades. The nationally acclaimed Los Poblanos Historic Inn & Organic Farm, in Los Ranchos de Albuquerque, has led a newer wave of excellence, growing its own farm crops and preparing them for its patrons. Other hotels are seeing the light, too, and it’s downright dazzling.

\r\n\r\n

Let’s take a look at a couple of dynamic newer chefs on the state’s lodging scene, as well as a pair of sweet just-opened restaurants, one in a city hotel and another in a mountain inn.

\r\n\r\n

Rosewood Inn of the Anasazi
\r\nChef Juan José Bochenski
\r\nChef Juan came to Santa Fe via London, Australia, and, most recently, a Rosewood property in the Caribbean. He’s always innovating, and with global sophistication, but without losing touch with his Argentinian roots. The Buenos Aires–born chef has been adding touches of his homeland to the menu, which work well with the classic flavors of New Mexico.

\r\n\r\n

No matter how simple a dish sounds, it will come with a variety of flourishes thrilling to the most well traveled of diners. Chef Juan’s flaky-crusted bison empanadas with chimichurri are one of many examples on the restaurant’s winter menu. Free-range New Mexican lamb is served with eggplant caviar, shallot purée, and jalapeño croquettes. He whips up a seductive maté sorbet from the yerba “tea” consumed nonstop in much of South America. I can’t get enough of his wineenriched dessert custard. (Fortunately, he shares the recipe.) The Anasazi restaurant’s dining room is both rustic and elegant, with enough space between tables so that diners can converse without feeling overheard. The front patio is a fun place to sit even in the winter, when an outdoor heater warms patrons enjoying bar nibbles while watching all of Santa Fe wander by.

\r\n\r\n

Chef Juan tells me with a shy smile that he “loves to cook for special moments of life—weddings, anniversaries, or romantic interludes.” In fact, the hotel has created a couple of winter packages utilizing the chef’s talents. A five-course “Sense of Taste” dinner, paired with wines, offers special seating à deux in the hotel’s candlelit living room in front of the glowing fireplace. With the guests’ input, the chef plans the meal and beverages, even the background music. It’s a splurge at $250 per couple without lodging, but it’s a value for a memorable evening. A “Sweet & Spicy Romance Package” includes a room or suite. (The hotel’s luxurious rooms were refurbished this winter.) Its price varies, depending on timing and category of lodging selected, but includes all manner of fanciful touches: a rose-petal turndown service, chocolate-chile truffles, Gruet sparkling New Mexico wine, and your personally penned love letter to your significant sweetie, imaginatively presented. Enjoy Chef Juan’s meticulously planned candlelit dinner in your room or the Anasazi living room. 113 Washington Ave., Santa Fe; (505) 988-3236; rosewoodhotels.com/en/ inn-of-the-anasazi-santa-fe

\r\n\r\n

Terra, Four Seasons Rancho Encantado
\r\nChef Andrew Cooper
\r\nThe Four Seasons hotels and resorts garner worldwide acclaim for personalized guest services and staff who think creatively to solve any possible challenge. Rancho Encantado’s chef, Andrew Cooper, personifies the mission with both his passion and culinary skill. Chef Andrew became a strong local foods advocate when he worked at a Four Seasons resort in Hawaii. There, you can grow just about anything by simply tossing seeds out a window. “The bounty that’s available here in New Mexico is even more wondrous,” he says, “especially when you think about the preciousness of water. I first visited the Santa Fe Farmers’ Market in early fall and, immediately, I came upon farmer Matt Romero roasting his Dixon-grown chile. The aroma, the flavor—I decided right then I would incorporate chile into many of my dishes, even desserts.”

\r\n\r\n

Upon arriving in Tesuque in October 2012, Chef Andrew set out to find the best of New Mexico’s products and get them on Terra’s menu. He visited farmers, ranchers, and the Old Windmill Dairy cheesemakers. The dairy provides some of Terra’s cheeses but also supplies curd for the kitchen to make its own mozzarella. Honey from For the Love of Bees, 30 miles up the road, makes its way into the food as well as into the bar’s cocktails. The chef continues to rove the Santa Fe Farmers’ Market nearly every Saturday, plus Tuesdays in the warmer months, to supplement what he grows in the garden he created outside the hotel kitchen. He usually has some of the guests in tow at the market, too, showing them the growers’ bounty. Those guests later will sample sumptuous meals in front of the blazing dining room fireplace or dine on more casual fare in the bar.

\r\n\r\n

For Valentine’s Day, Chef Andrew plans “chocolate, chocolate, and more chocolate.” He shared his scrumptious soufflé with us. Couples can also ask for private meals in one of several romantic spots, including the Piñon Dining Room, in front of a crackling fire. At 65 rooms and suites, this is the smallest Four Seasons property is in the Western Hemisphere. The size makes for a special intimacy, in spite of the expansiveness of the ranch property and its sunset views over the Jémez Mountains. This winter (through the end of May), the hotel offers a “Love Thy Neighbor" package for New Mexico residents. Locals get 15 percent off the best available rate for their choice of accommodation, and 15 percent off spa services while there. 198 State Road 592, Tesuque; (505) 946-5700; fourseasons.com/santafe

\r\n\r\n

Izanami, Ten Thousand Waves
\r\nKim Muller
\r\nThis brand-new architectural stunner has been a long-planned part of worldrenowned Ten Thousand Waves spa and inn. Opened in November, it shares the resort’s serene view over a pine-forested valley, a few lofty miles above Santa Fe. Izanami’s blue roof tiles gleam like lapis lazuli in the midday sun. Pass a thundering waterfall as you enter into a large, serene space with soaring ceiling. Sit counter-side in front of cooks at the robata charcoal grill, dine at a table or cushy booth, or even lounge in a tatami room.

\r\n\r\n

Izanami’s an izakaya, or pub, with a lovely array of small Japanese and Japanese-inspired plates created by Chef Kim. She’s been a stalwart on the Santa Fe culinary scene for a dozen years. If you don’t know Kim’s name, it’s because she’s more self-effacing than self-promoting. She’s also a real pro, central to the dearly departed Real Food Nation’s early success, and on a couple of occasions a vital part of the Compound’s kitchen team.

\r\n\r\n

Don’t expect sushi here. For wintry days or evenings, think more along the lines of tonkatsu, a heritage pork loin cutlet with pungent mustard, or gyoza dumplings with a heady soy-and-sesame dipping sauce, or sake-braised shimeji mushrooms, so Lilliputian that they almost look too cute to eat. Grilled standouts include chicken livers glazed in soy and accompanied by a tart dried fruit paste made of ume, Japanese salted plums. In the opening week, the variable assortment of tangy house-made pickles included golden beets, cucumbers, and apples. Kakiage, a heartier version of tempura, consists of thin matchsticks of mixed sweet potato, green beans, onions, and carrots presented in “haystacks.” Chef Kim’s desserts are Western-style but flavored with Japanese ingredients, like citrusy yuzu cheesecake or red misobanana ice cream. Deborah Fleig, one of the visionaries behind the Waves, offers a sophisticated and extensive selection of sakes, along with a few well-chosen wines, beers, and many teas.

\r\n\r\n

The inn’s lodgings are scattered on the hillside among the pines. All 13 rooms and suites, lovely in minimalist Japanese style, have already been booked for Valentine’s Day, but you can find plenty of other winter evenings available here. If you’re a spur-of-the-moment type, a sameday booking can net you a 20 percent discount. 3451 Hyde Park Road, Santa Fe; (505) 428-6390; tenthousandwaves.com

\r\n\r\n

Más Tapas y Vino, Hotel Andaluz
\r\nJames Campbell Caruso
\r\nChef James, one of Santa Fe’s top chefs (profiled in our May 2013 issue, “Cooking Up a Storm”), has cooked up a brandnew restaurant, inside the Duke City’s venerable Hotel Andaluz. A downtown Albuquerque landmark since 1939, the hotel was the first built by New Mexico native Conrad Hilton here in his home state. After a variety of owners and some hard times, new owners restored the hotel to elegance in 2008. Rounded Andalusian arches frame the high-ceilinged lobby.

\r\n\r\n

In contrast to the preserved historic character of the entry, Más reflects a more contemporary Spanish sensibility. The restaurant opened in mid-November and serves breakfast, lunch, tapas, and dinner with a Spanish flair. Expect similarities to James’ much-loved La Boca and Taberna, in Santa Fe, but with a soupçon of influence from North Africa. Think fivevegetable tagine or roasted duck breast with Moroccan carrot sauce. For those who have trouble deciding, a lunch meze platter offers beet-and-walnut spread, carrot-garbanzo hummus, and chopped spinach with raisins and capers, among other exotic delights. Even morning fare gets creative spins, such as dulce de leche French toast and huevos benedictos, with Serrano ham and pimenton hollandaise. 125 2nd St. NW, Albuquerque; (505) 242-9090; hotelandaluz.com

\r\n\r\n

A Duo of Southern Delights
\r\nOn his way to work at a Carlsbad chain restaurant, Chef Luis Martinez checked out the renovations of a decaying downtown bank building that was being transformed into the refined Trinity Hotel. The chef determined it was the place he would work when construction was completed. When the time was right, he came in and cooked an Italian meal for owner Dale Balzano. He got the job on the spot. You’ll fall for the small hotel’s stately suites as quickly as Mr. Balzano did for Chef Luis’s food. Don’t miss the Chicken Bolloco, a New Mexican spin on fettucine Alfredo, or the excellent selection of New Mexico wines. 201 S. Canal St., Carlsbad; (575) 234-9891; thetrinityhotel.com

\r\n\r\n

The Hotel Encanto, in Las Cruces, is a member of the small collection of Heritage Hotels and Resorts. Some recent renovations have upgraded the pool and surrounding area to match the Iberian grandeur of the lobby. Garduño’s, a much-loved Albuquerque New Mexican restaurant that fell on hard times, was bought and restored to prominence by the owner of HHR, with a branch at the Encanto. Prices here are modest all the time, but look into the New Mexico Wine Weekend Package, which welcomes you with cheese, fruit, and local wine, then helps you find your way to the area’s wineries, such as St. Clair and La Viña. 705 S. Telshor Blvd., Las Cruces; (575) 522-4300; hotelencanto.com

\r\n\r\n

Recipes
\r\nIf you want to romance someone special, we offer you two creamy, dreamy winter desserts. One is a simple snowy custard, perfumed with dessert wine. The other is a chocolate soufflé kissed with a hint of chile.

\r\n\r\n

Late-Harvest Torrontés Custard
\r\nThis silken custard looks a little unassuming, then dazzles with the first spoonful. A dessert wine made from Torrontés, the signature white grape of Argentina, flavors Chef Juan Bochenski’s lovely finish to a meal. Late-harvest wines can be found from many other wine regions, too. You can substitute a New Mexico late-harvest wine, in particular, such as Black Mesa’s Cosecha Ultima or Ponderosa Valley Winery’s Late-Harvest Riesling. All are made from grapes that spend extra time on the vine, through an initial frost, to develop a lush, almost honeyed sweetness. Plan to drink the remaining wine in small glasses alongside the dessert. Serves 6

\r\n\r\n

\r\n\t
• 1 cup from a 375-milliliter bottle (a “split”) Late-Harvest Torrontés or other lateharvest wine
\r\n\t
• 3 large eggs
\r\n\t
• 6 large egg yolks
\r\n\t
• 6 tablespoons granulated sugar
\r\n\t
• 2 cups heavy cream
\r\n

\r\n\r\n

Preheat oven to 250° F. Place 6 custard cups or other 8-ounce ramekins in a shallow baking pan.

\r\n\r\n

Bring wine to a boil in a small saucepan and reduce by half. Remove from heat.

\r\n\r\n

Whisk together eggs, yolks, sugar, and cream in a mixing bowl for about 30 seconds, until combined mixture drizzles off whisk in thick ribbons. Pour in a few tablespoons of warm wine, continuing to whisk. Once wine is incorporated, pour in rest while whisking.

\r\n\r\n

Pour custard through a fine strainer into the custard cups. (If that sounds awkward to you, pour custard through strainer into another mixing bowl, then use a measuring cup to distribute custard among cups.) Make a water bath by pouring hot water around cups in pan. Carefully transfer pan to oven. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, until gently set. Remove from oven and let cool in water bath for at least 15 minutes. Serve custards warm or chilled. They can be refrigerated for up to 2 days. If you wish, pour a teaspoon of remaining wine over each custard before serving.

\r\n\r\n

Green Chile Chocolate Soufflé
\r\nChef Andrew Cooper infuses milk with green chile for his New Mexico–inspired soufflé. A whisper of chile enlivens the semisweet chocolate mixture, building gently through a succession of bites. Add the greater quantity of chile suggested if you want a touch more heat. Serves 4

\r\n\r\n

For the soufflé dishes

\r\n\r\n

\r\n\t
• 2 teaspoons softened butter 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
\r\n\t
• 1½ cup (12 ounces) whole milk
\r\n\t
• ¼ to ¹/³ cup chopped roasted medium or hot New Mexican green chile
\r\n\t
• 1½ cups semisweet chocolate, chopped
\r\n\t
• 3 large eggs plus 3 additional large egg whites
\r\n\t
• ½ cup granulated sugar (divided use)
\r\n\t
• ¼ cup unbleached all-purpose flour
\r\n\t
• 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
\r\n\t
• Confectioners’ sugar, as a garnish
\r\n

\r\n\r\n

Preheat oven to 350° F. Prepare four 1½- to 2-cup round ramekins or other similarsize soufflé baking dishes, coating each interior in butter. Sprinkle sugar equally into dishes and roll or shake as needed to distribute sugar evenly in ramekins. Dump out sugar that doesn’t stick to dishes.

\r\n\r\n

Combine milk and chile in a medium saucepan and, over medium heat, bring just to a simmer, with small bubbles just beginning to break around the edge. Remove from heat and let mixture steep for 15 minutes.

\r\n\r\n

While chile milk steeps, separate the 3 eggs. Yolks go into a small mixing bowl. Whites from whole eggs and already separated whites go into a large mixer bowl. Whisk together yolks with flour and ¼ cup sugar.

\r\n\r\n

Pour milk-chile mixture into blender and purée. Reserve saucepan. Strain mixture back into saucepan and bring milk again to a bare simmer. Stir in chocolate, remove from the heat, and continue stirring until chocolate fully melts and is incorporated. Stir in egg yolk mixture. (You can prepare the soufflé base to this point up to 2 hours ahead. Cool, cover, and refrigerate. Remove from the refrigerator about 30 minutes before you plan to proceed.)

\r\n\r\n

Beat egg whites and cream of tartar in bowl of electric mixer over high speed until frothy. Add remaining ¼ cup sugar and continue beating until stiff but still glossy. (If cooking at 7,000 feet or higher altitude, beat egg whites just until they hold soft peaks.) Stir about one-quarter of beaten egg white mixture into the soufflé base. Fold in remaining egg white mixture. Divide batter among prepared ramekins.

\r\n\r\n

Bake 18 to 22 minutes, until puffed, with centers nearly set. Dust tops with confectioners’ sugar. Enjoy right away. (Soufflés sink as they cool. If you have leftovers, they will lose their lightness but still taste good, more like brownies in texture.)

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My husband and I enjoy nothing more, when traveling, than a great meal in our hotel. Being within sauntering distance of our room allows us to drink wine or cocktails without worry—perfect for a

","teaser":"

My husband and I enjoy nothing more, when traveling, than a great meal in our hotel. Being within sauntering distance of our room allows us to drink wine or cocktails without worry—perfect for a

","cleanDescription":"

\r\n\r\n

 

\r\n\r\n

My husband and I enjoy nothing more, when traveling, than a great meal in our hotel. Being within sauntering distance of our room allows us to drink wine or cocktails without worry—perfect for a romantic occasion, like Valentine’s Day. With the popularity of the culinary indulgences offered by many New Mexico hotel chefs, I recommend that you check in early at the spots discussed here, whether you’re planning on staying over or simply having a special dinner out. These are worthy options on any evening that you want to pamper yourself and someone you love.

\r\n\r\n

 

\r\n\r\n

Scattered New Mexican spots, such as La Fonda, on the Plaza in Santa Fe, have held a high dining standard for decades. The nationally acclaimed Los Poblanos Historic Inn & Organic Farm, in Los Ranchos de Albuquerque, has led a newer wave of excellence, growing its own farm crops and preparing them for its patrons. Other hotels are seeing the light, too, and it’s downright dazzling.

\r\n\r\n

Let’s take a look at a couple of dynamic newer chefs on the state’s lodging scene, as well as a pair of sweet just-opened restaurants, one in a city hotel and another in a mountain inn.

\r\n\r\n

Rosewood Inn of the Anasazi
\r\nChef Juan José Bochenski
\r\nChef Juan came to Santa Fe via London, Australia, and, most recently, a Rosewood property in the Caribbean. He’s always innovating, and with global sophistication, but without losing touch with his Argentinian roots. The Buenos Aires–born chef has been adding touches of his homeland to the menu, which work well with the classic flavors of New Mexico.

\r\n\r\n

No matter how simple a dish sounds, it will come with a variety of flourishes thrilling to the most well traveled of diners. Chef Juan’s flaky-crusted bison empanadas with chimichurri are one of many examples on the restaurant’s winter menu. Free-range New Mexican lamb is served with eggplant caviar, shallot purée, and jalapeño croquettes. He whips up a seductive maté sorbet from the yerba “tea” consumed nonstop in much of South America. I can’t get enough of his wineenriched dessert custard. (Fortunately, he shares the recipe.) The Anasazi restaurant’s dining room is both rustic and elegant, with enough space between tables so that diners can converse without feeling overheard. The front patio is a fun place to sit even in the winter, when an outdoor heater warms patrons enjoying bar nibbles while watching all of Santa Fe wander by.

\r\n\r\n

Chef Juan tells me with a shy smile that he “loves to cook for special moments of life—weddings, anniversaries, or romantic interludes.” In fact, the hotel has created a couple of winter packages utilizing the chef’s talents. A five-course “Sense of Taste” dinner, paired with wines, offers special seating à deux in the hotel’s candlelit living room in front of the glowing fireplace. With the guests’ input, the chef plans the meal and beverages, even the background music. It’s a splurge at $250 per couple without lodging, but it’s a value for a memorable evening. A “Sweet & Spicy Romance Package” includes a room or suite. (The hotel’s luxurious rooms were refurbished this winter.) Its price varies, depending on timing and category of lodging selected, but includes all manner of fanciful touches: a rose-petal turndown service, chocolate-chile truffles, Gruet sparkling New Mexico wine, and your personally penned love letter to your significant sweetie, imaginatively presented. Enjoy Chef Juan’s meticulously planned candlelit dinner in your room or the Anasazi living room. 113 Washington Ave., Santa Fe; (505) 988-3236; rosewoodhotels.com/en/ inn-of-the-anasazi-santa-fe

\r\n\r\n

Terra, Four Seasons Rancho Encantado
\r\nChef Andrew Cooper
\r\nThe Four Seasons hotels and resorts garner worldwide acclaim for personalized guest services and staff who think creatively to solve any possible challenge. Rancho Encantado’s chef, Andrew Cooper, personifies the mission with both his passion and culinary skill. Chef Andrew became a strong local foods advocate when he worked at a Four Seasons resort in Hawaii. There, you can grow just about anything by simply tossing seeds out a window. “The bounty that’s available here in New Mexico is even more wondrous,” he says, “especially when you think about the preciousness of water. I first visited the Santa Fe Farmers’ Market in early fall and, immediately, I came upon farmer Matt Romero roasting his Dixon-grown chile. The aroma, the flavor—I decided right then I would incorporate chile into many of my dishes, even desserts.”

\r\n\r\n

Upon arriving in Tesuque in October 2012, Chef Andrew set out to find the best of New Mexico’s products and get them on Terra’s menu. He visited farmers, ranchers, and the Old Windmill Dairy cheesemakers. The dairy provides some of Terra’s cheeses but also supplies curd for the kitchen to make its own mozzarella. Honey from For the Love of Bees, 30 miles up the road, makes its way into the food as well as into the bar’s cocktails. The chef continues to rove the Santa Fe Farmers’ Market nearly every Saturday, plus Tuesdays in the warmer months, to supplement what he grows in the garden he created outside the hotel kitchen. He usually has some of the guests in tow at the market, too, showing them the growers’ bounty. Those guests later will sample sumptuous meals in front of the blazing dining room fireplace or dine on more casual fare in the bar.

\r\n\r\n

For Valentine’s Day, Chef Andrew plans “chocolate, chocolate, and more chocolate.” He shared his scrumptious soufflé with us. Couples can also ask for private meals in one of several romantic spots, including the Piñon Dining Room, in front of a crackling fire. At 65 rooms and suites, this is the smallest Four Seasons property is in the Western Hemisphere. The size makes for a special intimacy, in spite of the expansiveness of the ranch property and its sunset views over the Jémez Mountains. This winter (through the end of May), the hotel offers a “Love Thy Neighbor" package for New Mexico residents. Locals get 15 percent off the best available rate for their choice of accommodation, and 15 percent off spa services while there. 198 State Road 592, Tesuque; (505) 946-5700; fourseasons.com/santafe

\r\n\r\n

Izanami, Ten Thousand Waves
\r\nKim Muller
\r\nThis brand-new architectural stunner has been a long-planned part of worldrenowned Ten Thousand Waves spa and inn. Opened in November, it shares the resort’s serene view over a pine-forested valley, a few lofty miles above Santa Fe. Izanami’s blue roof tiles gleam like lapis lazuli in the midday sun. Pass a thundering waterfall as you enter into a large, serene space with soaring ceiling. Sit counter-side in front of cooks at the robata charcoal grill, dine at a table or cushy booth, or even lounge in a tatami room.

\r\n\r\n

Izanami’s an izakaya, or pub, with a lovely array of small Japanese and Japanese-inspired plates created by Chef Kim. She’s been a stalwart on the Santa Fe culinary scene for a dozen years. If you don’t know Kim’s name, it’s because she’s more self-effacing than self-promoting. She’s also a real pro, central to the dearly departed Real Food Nation’s early success, and on a couple of occasions a vital part of the Compound’s kitchen team.

\r\n\r\n

Don’t expect sushi here. For wintry days or evenings, think more along the lines of tonkatsu, a heritage pork loin cutlet with pungent mustard, or gyoza dumplings with a heady soy-and-sesame dipping sauce, or sake-braised shimeji mushrooms, so Lilliputian that they almost look too cute to eat. Grilled standouts include chicken livers glazed in soy and accompanied by a tart dried fruit paste made of ume, Japanese salted plums. In the opening week, the variable assortment of tangy house-made pickles included golden beets, cucumbers, and apples. Kakiage, a heartier version of tempura, consists of thin matchsticks of mixed sweet potato, green beans, onions, and carrots presented in “haystacks.” Chef Kim’s desserts are Western-style but flavored with Japanese ingredients, like citrusy yuzu cheesecake or red misobanana ice cream. Deborah Fleig, one of the visionaries behind the Waves, offers a sophisticated and extensive selection of sakes, along with a few well-chosen wines, beers, and many teas.

\r\n\r\n

The inn’s lodgings are scattered on the hillside among the pines. All 13 rooms and suites, lovely in minimalist Japanese style, have already been booked for Valentine’s Day, but you can find plenty of other winter evenings available here. If you’re a spur-of-the-moment type, a sameday booking can net you a 20 percent discount. 3451 Hyde Park Road, Santa Fe; (505) 428-6390; tenthousandwaves.com

\r\n\r\n

Más Tapas y Vino, Hotel Andaluz
\r\nJames Campbell Caruso
\r\nChef James, one of Santa Fe’s top chefs (profiled in our May 2013 issue, “Cooking Up a Storm”), has cooked up a brandnew restaurant, inside the Duke City’s venerable Hotel Andaluz. A downtown Albuquerque landmark since 1939, the hotel was the first built by New Mexico native Conrad Hilton here in his home state. After a variety of owners and some hard times, new owners restored the hotel to elegance in 2008. Rounded Andalusian arches frame the high-ceilinged lobby.

\r\n\r\n

In contrast to the preserved historic character of the entry, Más reflects a more contemporary Spanish sensibility. The restaurant opened in mid-November and serves breakfast, lunch, tapas, and dinner with a Spanish flair. Expect similarities to James’ much-loved La Boca and Taberna, in Santa Fe, but with a soupçon of influence from North Africa. Think fivevegetable tagine or roasted duck breast with Moroccan carrot sauce. For those who have trouble deciding, a lunch meze platter offers beet-and-walnut spread, carrot-garbanzo hummus, and chopped spinach with raisins and capers, among other exotic delights. Even morning fare gets creative spins, such as dulce de leche French toast and huevos benedictos, with Serrano ham and pimenton hollandaise. 125 2nd St. NW, Albuquerque; (505) 242-9090; hotelandaluz.com

\r\n\r\n

A Duo of Southern Delights
\r\nOn his way to work at a Carlsbad chain restaurant, Chef Luis Martinez checked out the renovations of a decaying downtown bank building that was being transformed into the refined Trinity Hotel. The chef determined it was the place he would work when construction was completed. When the time was right, he came in and cooked an Italian meal for owner Dale Balzano. He got the job on the spot. You’ll fall for the small hotel’s stately suites as quickly as Mr. Balzano did for Chef Luis’s food. Don’t miss the Chicken Bolloco, a New Mexican spin on fettucine Alfredo, or the excellent selection of New Mexico wines. 201 S. Canal St., Carlsbad; (575) 234-9891; thetrinityhotel.com

\r\n\r\n

The Hotel Encanto, in Las Cruces, is a member of the small collection of Heritage Hotels and Resorts. Some recent renovations have upgraded the pool and surrounding area to match the Iberian grandeur of the lobby. Garduño’s, a much-loved Albuquerque New Mexican restaurant that fell on hard times, was bought and restored to prominence by the owner of HHR, with a branch at the Encanto. Prices here are modest all the time, but look into the New Mexico Wine Weekend Package, which welcomes you with cheese, fruit, and local wine, then helps you find your way to the area’s wineries, such as St. Clair and La Viña. 705 S. Telshor Blvd., Las Cruces; (575) 522-4300; hotelencanto.com

\r\n\r\n

Recipes
\r\nIf you want to romance someone special, we offer you two creamy, dreamy winter desserts. One is a simple snowy custard, perfumed with dessert wine. The other is a chocolate soufflé kissed with a hint of chile.

\r\n\r\n

Late-Harvest Torrontés Custard
\r\nThis silken custard looks a little unassuming, then dazzles with the first spoonful. A dessert wine made from Torrontés, the signature white grape of Argentina, flavors Chef Juan Bochenski’s lovely finish to a meal. Late-harvest wines can be found from many other wine regions, too. You can substitute a New Mexico late-harvest wine, in particular, such as Black Mesa’s Cosecha Ultima or Ponderosa Valley Winery’s Late-Harvest Riesling. All are made from grapes that spend extra time on the vine, through an initial frost, to develop a lush, almost honeyed sweetness. Plan to drink the remaining wine in small glasses alongside the dessert. Serves 6

\r\n\r\n

\r\n\t
• 1 cup from a 375-milliliter bottle (a “split”) Late-Harvest Torrontés or other lateharvest wine
\r\n\t
• 3 large eggs
\r\n\t
• 6 large egg yolks
\r\n\t
• 6 tablespoons granulated sugar
\r\n\t
• 2 cups heavy cream
\r\n

\r\n\r\n

Preheat oven to 250° F. Place 6 custard cups or other 8-ounce ramekins in a shallow baking pan.

\r\n\r\n

Bring wine to a boil in a small saucepan and reduce by half. Remove from heat.

\r\n\r\n

Whisk together eggs, yolks, sugar, and cream in a mixing bowl for about 30 seconds, until combined mixture drizzles off whisk in thick ribbons. Pour in a few tablespoons of warm wine, continuing to whisk. Once wine is incorporated, pour in rest while whisking.

\r\n\r\n

Pour custard through a fine strainer into the custard cups. (If that sounds awkward to you, pour custard through strainer into another mixing bowl, then use a measuring cup to distribute custard among cups.) Make a water bath by pouring hot water around cups in pan. Carefully transfer pan to oven. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, until gently set. Remove from oven and let cool in water bath for at least 15 minutes. Serve custards warm or chilled. They can be refrigerated for up to 2 days. If you wish, pour a teaspoon of remaining wine over each custard before serving.

\r\n\r\n

Green Chile Chocolate Soufflé
\r\nChef Andrew Cooper infuses milk with green chile for his New Mexico–inspired soufflé. A whisper of chile enlivens the semisweet chocolate mixture, building gently through a succession of bites. Add the greater quantity of chile suggested if you want a touch more heat. Serves 4

\r\n\r\n

For the soufflé dishes

\r\n\r\n

\r\n\t
• 2 teaspoons softened butter 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
\r\n\t
• 1½ cup (12 ounces) whole milk
\r\n\t
• ¼ to ¹/³ cup chopped roasted medium or hot New Mexican green chile
\r\n\t
• 1½ cups semisweet chocolate, chopped
\r\n\t
• 3 large eggs plus 3 additional large egg whites
\r\n\t
• ½ cup granulated sugar (divided use)
\r\n\t
• ¼ cup unbleached all-purpose flour
\r\n\t
• 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
\r\n\t
• Confectioners’ sugar, as a garnish
\r\n

\r\n\r\n

Preheat oven to 350° F. Prepare four 1½- to 2-cup round ramekins or other similarsize soufflé baking dishes, coating each interior in butter. Sprinkle sugar equally into dishes and roll or shake as needed to distribute sugar evenly in ramekins. Dump out sugar that doesn’t stick to dishes.

\r\n\r\n

Combine milk and chile in a medium saucepan and, over medium heat, bring just to a simmer, with small bubbles just beginning to break around the edge. Remove from heat and let mixture steep for 15 minutes.

\r\n\r\n

While chile milk steeps, separate the 3 eggs. Yolks go into a small mixing bowl. Whites from whole eggs and already separated whites go into a large mixer bowl. Whisk together yolks with flour and ¼ cup sugar.

\r\n\r\n

Pour milk-chile mixture into blender and purée. Reserve saucepan. Strain mixture back into saucepan and bring milk again to a bare simmer. Stir in chocolate, remove from the heat, and continue stirring until chocolate fully melts and is incorporated. Stir in egg yolk mixture. (You can prepare the soufflé base to this point up to 2 hours ahead. Cool, cover, and refrigerate. Remove from the refrigerator about 30 minutes before you plan to proceed.)

\r\n\r\n

Beat egg whites and cream of tartar in bowl of electric mixer over high speed until frothy. Add remaining ¼ cup sugar and continue beating until stiff but still glossy. (If cooking at 7,000 feet or higher altitude, beat egg whites just until they hold soft peaks.) Stir about one-quarter of beaten egg white mixture into the soufflé base. Fold in remaining egg white mixture. Divide batter among prepared ramekins.

\r\n\r\n

Bake 18 to 22 minutes, until puffed, with centers nearly set. Dust tops with confectioners’ sugar. Enjoy right away. (Soufflés sink as they cool. If you have leftovers, they will lose their lightness but still taste good, more like brownies in texture.)

","publish_start_moment":"2014-01-21T10:00:00.000Z","publish_end_moment":"2017-09-23T00:23:18.695Z"},{"_id":"58b4b2804c2774661570f941","author_id":"58b4b2404c2774661570f1f6","title":"Underground Artist","slug":"underground-artist-84628","image_id":"58b4b2484c2774661570f499","description":"

*Editor's Note: The following story, from our February 2014 issue, was published before the shortlisted Oscar Nominations were announced. CaveDigger has been nominated for a 2014 Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Film.

\r\n\r\n

Jeffrey Karoff was enjoying pancakes at a community fund-raiser in 2000 when a neighbor said something that sounded absurd: A local artist was digging a cave for him. Intrigued, Karoff and his wife paid a visit. Where they might have expected a jagged hole in the northern New Mexico dirt, they instead marveled at soaring walls buffed to an alabaster finish; bas-relief sculptures that carried them between the arches separating rooms; skylights luring sunshine onto long-buried earth.

\r\n\r\n

“It was shocking,” Karoff said. “Not a lot of art has that kind of impact.”

\r\n\r\n

Eventually, furniture, bookshelves, and a wooden front door completed the cave—one part underground cathedral, one part guesthouse on acid.

\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

A Los Angeles–based producer of commercials, Karoff thought he might have found a fitting topic for his first documentary. It took 13 years, but CaveDigger, his 39-minute debut, has become a favorite among indie aficionados. Besides film-fest awards, it scored a coveted spot on the short list for this year’s Academy Award nominations. It also brought a sliver of stardom to Ra Paulette, 67, a strictly sui generis sculptor of negative space.

\r\n\r\n

 

\r\n\r\n

“The ancient people, religious people, would dig,” Paulette says in the film. Back then, their goal was not unlike his is now: “Digging a hole in the ground and finding God in that hole.” Even so, he quips, “I don’t think they got into it like I have.”

\r\n\r\n

That’s no understatement. Working alone but for the company of Bugsy the Cave Dog and using only hand tools, Paulette brutalizes his body in pursuit of an artistic ideal that few people will ever see. His caves sit on private property, and he and Karoff, a part-time New Mexico resident, guard their locations. For most of us, CaveDigger offers the only glimpse we’ll ever get.

\r\n\r\n

Given that tantalizing mix of majesty and mystery, Karoff could have made a compelling film simply by focusing on Paulette’s painstaking process, from virgin hillside to Holy Batcave. But he was more intrigued with how Paulette weathers the eternalgulf between an artist’s desire to create and his need to eat. Not only does he risk his life inside his creations, but Paulette rarely makes enough money off them to pay his bills, and the film shows the stress that places on his marriage. Few of his caves have ever reached completion, most of them stalling out when Paulette’s vision slams into the property owners’ budgets, dreams, and egos.

\r\n\r\n

Karoff’s interviews with semi-satisfied clients elicit some of the film’s chuckles—but they’re rueful ones. You can’t help wondering what each cave might have been without the contretemps. (See also: Charlton Heston’s Michelangelo arguing with Rex Harrison’s Pope Julius II in The Agony and the Ecstasy.)

\r\n\r\n

“I thought this had the potential for something terrific on film,” Karoff said. “Here’s a guy doing art in the middle of nowhere and dealing with the oldest of universal conflicts between art and finance. As I got to know Ra more, all of this was part and parcel of the cost of his obsession.”

\r\n\r\n

A self-taught “human backhoe,” Paulette has spent decades learning “things that can’t be taught.” A Chicago native raised in northern Indiana, he dropped out of college and then served four years on a Navy flagship during the Vietnam War. Afterwards, he wandered the country and worked as a laborer, mostly on farms. Eventually he settled in Embudo, melding roles as a landscaper, counselor for developmentally disabled people, and pursuer of inner peace.

\r\n\r\n

About 25 years ago, he noticed a small cave that teenagers had clawed out of Ojo Caliente sandstone. Soon he was hooked on digging his own caves. Among his first was the Heart Chamber, clandestinely carved on Bureau of Land Management property in the Rio Grande Gorge. Intended as a personal getaway, it became a shrine among hikers in the know.

\r\n\r\n

“It was amazing,” Paulette said in an interview. “There were all different kinds of religious expressions—crosses, Hindu icons, Native American fetishes, Buddhist statues, all side by side.”

\r\n\r\n

People came by the hundreds. Paulette feared for their safety. “Most painters don’t have to worry that the painting is going to fall off the wall and crush the patron,” he said. He confessed his cave sin to the BLM and got a small stipend to refill it, wheelbarrow load by wheelbarrow load. Another cave was a popular attraction for lodgers at the now-closed Rancho de San Juan Country Inn, near Ojo Caliente. Its 20-foot ceilings complemented mirror-topped pedestals that reflected the sky, mimicking subterranean pools.

\r\n\r\n

These days, the 67-year-old digger toils away on what he calls Magnum Opus 2, a cave created only for himself, with no interference from a patron. The film’s first depiction of him underscores what kind of effort it takes. In the quiet of a mountain morning, he straps a wheelbarrow onto a sled-like device. He hoists the awkward assemblage onto his back, then moves with a dancer’s grace across a rock-strewn landscape. Working with mattocks, shovels, and scrapers, he pits his intent against a cliff that barely relents. One rock gives way, then a spray of gravel. Eventually, a barrow’s worth of material bumps to a newborn tailings pile. Sisyphus might come to mind, but for Paulette, this is meditation.

\r\n\r\n

“When I’m doing this dance of labor, I’m totally engrossed in it,” he said. “I’m feeling my body. I give myself over to it. It’s a type of surrender, a lack of thinking about it, just going into the process. That’s my meditative process. I find stillness in action.”

\r\n\r\n

He attacks his caves without blueprint but by feel, digging down and across, then breaching up to draw sunlight into each room. The caves thus become spiritual metaphors of the rooted soul in a limitless universe, a connection that Paulette sees as a tool for healing others. With the film as an introduction, he has begun talking with foundations and agencies about how his cave could deliver an uplifting experience to people trapped within their circumstances. Wary of revealing details before their time, he says simply, “I’m excited. I’m on an adventure here.”

\r\n\r\n

CaveDigger has already won numerous awards at events like the San Antonio Film Festival, Maui Film Festival, and European Independent Film Festival, and has played everywhere from Barcelona, Spain, to Bellingham, Washington. In January, Karoff was to find out whether it earned an Oscar nomination; the awards ceremony is in March. In the meantime, he’s talking with a TV network about a national broadcast, and a DVD release could follow.

\r\n\r\n

His camera was there the day Paulette began digging Magnum Opus 2, and those first swats at the hill end the film on a mindboggling note. After wiggling his equipment up a slope, Paulette swings his mattock at the soil. The camera pulls back slowly, revealing boulders, junipers, a ridgeline above the digger, a valley below him that grows deeper and still deeper. As a New Mexico landscape overtakes the screen, Paulette disappears into a dot, the soundtrack steady on the rhythmic clang of his blade hitting rock. It could signify a church bell or a chain gang, heaven or hell, the agony and the ecstasy. Somewhere in that wide-angle frame, one man combines backbreaking work with soul-freeing intent, burrowing deep into the earth so that his spirit might soar.

\r\n\r\n

Kate Nelson is the author of Helen Hardin: A Straight Line Curved (Little Standing Spuce Publishing, 2012). She reported on the photography of Robert Christensen in the November 2013 issue.

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*Editor's Note: The following story, from our February 2014 issue, was published before the shortlisted Oscar Nominations were announced. CaveDigger has been nominated for a 2014 Academy Award for

","teaser":"

*Editor's Note: The following story, from our February 2014 issue, was published before the shortlisted Oscar Nominations were announced. CaveDigger has been nominated for a 2014 Academy Award for

","cleanDescription":"

*Editor's Note: The following story, from our February 2014 issue, was published before the shortlisted Oscar Nominations were announced. CaveDigger has been nominated for a 2014 Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Film.

\r\n\r\n

Jeffrey Karoff was enjoying pancakes at a community fund-raiser in 2000 when a neighbor said something that sounded absurd: A local artist was digging a cave for him. Intrigued, Karoff and his wife paid a visit. Where they might have expected a jagged hole in the northern New Mexico dirt, they instead marveled at soaring walls buffed to an alabaster finish; bas-relief sculptures that carried them between the arches separating rooms; skylights luring sunshine onto long-buried earth.

\r\n\r\n

“It was shocking,” Karoff said. “Not a lot of art has that kind of impact.”

\r\n\r\n

Eventually, furniture, bookshelves, and a wooden front door completed the cave—one part underground cathedral, one part guesthouse on acid.

\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

A Los Angeles–based producer of commercials, Karoff thought he might have found a fitting topic for his first documentary. It took 13 years, but CaveDigger, his 39-minute debut, has become a favorite among indie aficionados. Besides film-fest awards, it scored a coveted spot on the short list for this year’s Academy Award nominations. It also brought a sliver of stardom to Ra Paulette, 67, a strictly sui generis sculptor of negative space.

\r\n\r\n

 

\r\n\r\n

“The ancient people, religious people, would dig,” Paulette says in the film. Back then, their goal was not unlike his is now: “Digging a hole in the ground and finding God in that hole.” Even so, he quips, “I don’t think they got into it like I have.”

\r\n\r\n

That’s no understatement. Working alone but for the company of Bugsy the Cave Dog and using only hand tools, Paulette brutalizes his body in pursuit of an artistic ideal that few people will ever see. His caves sit on private property, and he and Karoff, a part-time New Mexico resident, guard their locations. For most of us, CaveDigger offers the only glimpse we’ll ever get.

\r\n\r\n

Given that tantalizing mix of majesty and mystery, Karoff could have made a compelling film simply by focusing on Paulette’s painstaking process, from virgin hillside to Holy Batcave. But he was more intrigued with how Paulette weathers the eternalgulf between an artist’s desire to create and his need to eat. Not only does he risk his life inside his creations, but Paulette rarely makes enough money off them to pay his bills, and the film shows the stress that places on his marriage. Few of his caves have ever reached completion, most of them stalling out when Paulette’s vision slams into the property owners’ budgets, dreams, and egos.

\r\n\r\n

Karoff’s interviews with semi-satisfied clients elicit some of the film’s chuckles—but they’re rueful ones. You can’t help wondering what each cave might have been without the contretemps. (See also: Charlton Heston’s Michelangelo arguing with Rex Harrison’s Pope Julius II in The Agony and the Ecstasy.)

\r\n\r\n

“I thought this had the potential for something terrific on film,” Karoff said. “Here’s a guy doing art in the middle of nowhere and dealing with the oldest of universal conflicts between art and finance. As I got to know Ra more, all of this was part and parcel of the cost of his obsession.”

\r\n\r\n

A self-taught “human backhoe,” Paulette has spent decades learning “things that can’t be taught.” A Chicago native raised in northern Indiana, he dropped out of college and then served four years on a Navy flagship during the Vietnam War. Afterwards, he wandered the country and worked as a laborer, mostly on farms. Eventually he settled in Embudo, melding roles as a landscaper, counselor for developmentally disabled people, and pursuer of inner peace.

\r\n\r\n

About 25 years ago, he noticed a small cave that teenagers had clawed out of Ojo Caliente sandstone. Soon he was hooked on digging his own caves. Among his first was the Heart Chamber, clandestinely carved on Bureau of Land Management property in the Rio Grande Gorge. Intended as a personal getaway, it became a shrine among hikers in the know.

\r\n\r\n

“It was amazing,” Paulette said in an interview. “There were all different kinds of religious expressions—crosses, Hindu icons, Native American fetishes, Buddhist statues, all side by side.”

\r\n\r\n

People came by the hundreds. Paulette feared for their safety. “Most painters don’t have to worry that the painting is going to fall off the wall and crush the patron,” he said. He confessed his cave sin to the BLM and got a small stipend to refill it, wheelbarrow load by wheelbarrow load. Another cave was a popular attraction for lodgers at the now-closed Rancho de San Juan Country Inn, near Ojo Caliente. Its 20-foot ceilings complemented mirror-topped pedestals that reflected the sky, mimicking subterranean pools.

\r\n\r\n

These days, the 67-year-old digger toils away on what he calls Magnum Opus 2, a cave created only for himself, with no interference from a patron. The film’s first depiction of him underscores what kind of effort it takes. In the quiet of a mountain morning, he straps a wheelbarrow onto a sled-like device. He hoists the awkward assemblage onto his back, then moves with a dancer’s grace across a rock-strewn landscape. Working with mattocks, shovels, and scrapers, he pits his intent against a cliff that barely relents. One rock gives way, then a spray of gravel. Eventually, a barrow’s worth of material bumps to a newborn tailings pile. Sisyphus might come to mind, but for Paulette, this is meditation.

\r\n\r\n

“When I’m doing this dance of labor, I’m totally engrossed in it,” he said. “I’m feeling my body. I give myself over to it. It’s a type of surrender, a lack of thinking about it, just going into the process. That’s my meditative process. I find stillness in action.”

\r\n\r\n

He attacks his caves without blueprint but by feel, digging down and across, then breaching up to draw sunlight into each room. The caves thus become spiritual metaphors of the rooted soul in a limitless universe, a connection that Paulette sees as a tool for healing others. With the film as an introduction, he has begun talking with foundations and agencies about how his cave could deliver an uplifting experience to people trapped within their circumstances. Wary of revealing details before their time, he says simply, “I’m excited. I’m on an adventure here.”

\r\n\r\n

CaveDigger has already won numerous awards at events like the San Antonio Film Festival, Maui Film Festival, and European Independent Film Festival, and has played everywhere from Barcelona, Spain, to Bellingham, Washington. In January, Karoff was to find out whether it earned an Oscar nomination; the awards ceremony is in March. In the meantime, he’s talking with a TV network about a national broadcast, and a DVD release could follow.

\r\n\r\n

His camera was there the day Paulette began digging Magnum Opus 2, and those first swats at the hill end the film on a mindboggling note. After wiggling his equipment up a slope, Paulette swings his mattock at the soil. The camera pulls back slowly, revealing boulders, junipers, a ridgeline above the digger, a valley below him that grows deeper and still deeper. As a New Mexico landscape overtakes the screen, Paulette disappears into a dot, the soundtrack steady on the rhythmic clang of his blade hitting rock. It could signify a church bell or a chain gang, heaven or hell, the agony and the ecstasy. Somewhere in that wide-angle frame, one man combines backbreaking work with soul-freeing intent, burrowing deep into the earth so that his spirit might soar.

\r\n\r\n

Kate Nelson is the author of Helen Hardin: A Straight Line Curved (Little Standing Spuce Publishing, 2012). She reported on the photography of Robert Christensen in the November 2013 issue.

","publish_start_moment":"2014-01-17T12:00:00.000Z","publish_end_moment":"2017-09-23T00:23:18.696Z"},{"_id":"58b4b2804c2774661570f940","title":"13th Annual New Mexico Magazine Photo Contest Winners","slug":"2014-new-mexico-magazine-photo-contest-winners-84581","description":"

\r\n\r\n

For more than a century and a half, the light, cultural diversity, natural beauty, and mild climate have lured amateur and professional photographers to New Mexico. Luminaries such as Eliot Porter, Charles Fletcher Lummis, Edward S. Curtis, and Ansel Adams either lived here or came on photo safaris. Many of today’s most accomplished photographers call New Mexico home.

\r\n\r\n

“The New Mexico Magazine photo contest stands as a shining example of the impact that photography still plays in our lives and state today,” says contest judge and Santa Fe Photographic Workshops director Reid Callanan, who, along with Palace of the Governors photo archivist Daniel Kosharek, our editor in chief, Dave Herndon, and art director Edie Dillman, scrutinized more than 1,600 entries. “New Mexico offers more photographic opportunities and locations than any state I have ever lived in, and the photographers who choose to live here are some of the best anywhere.”

\r\n\r\n

Callanan explains that the winning images all possess similar qualities and characteristics: emotion, great use of light, personality, uniqueness, and surprise. “There is an abundance of black-and-white imagery this year that speaks to the creative vision of the submitting photographers,” he says. “Picturing the world in black and white separates it from reality, and makes it more accessible as an expressive art form. Photographers who see the world creatively record what they think and feel—not simply what something looks like.”

\r\n\r\n

 

\r\n\r\n

Grand Prize Photographer
\r\nSANDY ZELASKO, SAN DIEGO, CA
\r\n
\r\nWhen she’s not training poll workers in California’s San Diego County, Sandy Zelasko can be found traveling with her trusty Canon EOS-1D Mark IV camera. Zelasko’s childhood camera, a Kodak Pocket Instamatic that used 110 film, was always with her as she traveled the western United States with her parents. “My dad would never stop the van so I could get out and take pictures,” she says, “so I would have to peek out of the van’s super scoop [pop-up window] and shoot on the go.” The camera, which had been lost for years, was recently returned to her in the form of a Christmas present from her brother. “It still has film in it,” she says, “but I’ll stick with my trusty digital SLR.”

\r\n\r\n

It was around Christmastime in 2012 that Zelasko spent a week at the 57,331-acre Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, where the wintering population of sandhill cranes tops 17,000. Zelasko, who says her mission in life as a budding full-time photographer is to educate people on how their environmental footprints affect the natural world, first came to New Mexico with her husband 30 years ago. She believes that the secret to capturing a great image in the digital age is one part patience and one part perseverance. “Anyone can take a picture these days,” she explains, “but to take one that’s lasting in memory, you’re out there when no one else wants to be out there. When my husband is ready for dinner, I’m ready to grab the camera equipment and hit the pavement.” At Bosque del Apache, that often means waking up before dawn and following the sunrise across the opaque, pink-blue horizon. Zelasko returned to the wildlife refuge in November 2013 to capture more stunning images of migratory birds.

\r\n\r\n

 

\r\n\r\n

Grand Prize Runner-up
\r\nGORDON MIDDLETON, LOVELAND, CO
\r\n
\r\nRetired photographer Gordon Middleton spent years creating slide shows and audiovisual presentations for businesses. Now devoted to his digital Canon EOS 5D Mark III, Middleton was extremely fond of his first camera, a Zeiss Ikon 35mm he received while in high school. Middleton was pleasantly startled by the Spanish Colonial and Pueblo architecture of Santa Fe during his first visit to New Mexico in 1985. Architecture remains his favorite photographic subject, especially in black and white.

\r\n\r\n

“The Ship Rock photo was taken in 2013,” Middleton says of the northwesten New Mexico landmark, “and it was really just a process of roaming around it until the light felt right. I love the Taos Pueblo photo with the white door, too. It has this almost urban quality, mixed with a bit of local tradition. It’s an image that makes people want to look for more than two seconds. That’s a big part of creating a lasting photo.”

\r\n\r\n

","publish_start":"2014-01-15T12:00:00.000Z","enable_comments":true,"categories_ids":["58dece9c0c269469c5a0d64f","58b4b2404c2774661570f2a5"],"tags_ids":["59090dfbe1efff4c9916fb0b","59090cbbe1efff4c9916fa2b"],"cms_tags_ids":["58b061ec6a2b0936c34a23ea"],"enabled":true,"custom_tagline":"278 entrants, 1,670 photos, 28 states and 4 countries come down to these winners and honorable mentions.","created":"2014-01-15T12:30:29.000Z","legacy_id":"84581","blog":"magazine","_title_sort":"13th annual new mexico magazine photo contest winners","updated":"2017-05-05T02:17:25.247Z","active":true,"categories":[{"_id":"58dece9c0c269469c5a0d64f","title":"Photo Contest","blog":"magazine","_title_sort":"photo contest","updated":"2017-03-31T21:48:12.276Z","created":"2017-03-31T21:48:12.276Z","_totalPosts":4,"id":"58dece9c0c269469c5a0d64f","slug":"photo-contest","url":"/nmmagazine/articles/category/photo-contest/58dece9c0c269469c5a0d64f/","commentsUrl":"/nmmagazine/articles/category/photo-contest/58dece9c0c269469c5a0d64f/#comments","createdMoment":"2017-03-31T21:48:12.276Z","totalPosts":4},{"_id":"58b4b2404c2774661570f2a5","blog":"magazine","title":"February 2014","_title_sort":"february 2014","updated":"2017-02-27T23:12:00.492Z","created":"2017-02-27T23:12:00.504Z","_totalPosts":15,"id":"58b4b2404c2774661570f2a5","slug":"february-2014","url":"/nmmagazine/articles/category/february-2014/58b4b2404c2774661570f2a5/","commentsUrl":"/nmmagazine/articles/category/february-2014/58b4b2404c2774661570f2a5/#comments","createdMoment":"2017-02-27T23:12:00.504Z","totalPosts":15}],"tags":[{"_id":"59090dfbe1efff4c9916fb0b","title":"Photo Contest","blog":"magazine","_title_sort":"photo contest","updated":"2017-05-02T22:53:47.573Z","created":"2017-05-02T22:53:47.573Z","_totalPosts":3,"id":"59090dfbe1efff4c9916fb0b","slug":"photo-contest","url":"/nmmagazine/articles/tag/photo-contest/59090dfbe1efff4c9916fb0b/","commentsUrl":"/nmmagazine/articles/tag/photo-contest/59090dfbe1efff4c9916fb0b/#comments","createdMoment":"2017-05-02T22:53:47.573Z","totalPosts":3}],"id":"58b4b2804c2774661570f940","url":"/nmmagazine/articles/post/2014-new-mexico-magazine-photo-contest-winners-84581/","commentsUrl":"/nmmagazine/articles/post/2014-new-mexico-magazine-photo-contest-winners-84581/#comments","absoluteUrl":"https://www.newmexico.org/nmmagazine/articles/post/2014-new-mexico-magazine-photo-contest-winners-84581/","metaTitle":"13th Annual New Mexico Magazine Photo Contest Winners","metaDescription":"

For more than a century and a half, the light, cultural diversity, natural beauty, and mild climate have lured amateur and professional photographers to New Mexico. Luminaries such as Eliot Porter,

","teaser":"

For more than a century and a half, the light, cultural diversity, natural beauty, and mild climate have lured amateur and professional photographers to New Mexico. Luminaries such as Eliot Porter,

","cleanDescription":"

\r\n\r\n

For more than a century and a half, the light, cultural diversity, natural beauty, and mild climate have lured amateur and professional photographers to New Mexico. Luminaries such as Eliot Porter, Charles Fletcher Lummis, Edward S. Curtis, and Ansel Adams either lived here or came on photo safaris. Many of today’s most accomplished photographers call New Mexico home.

\r\n\r\n

“The New Mexico Magazine photo contest stands as a shining example of the impact that photography still plays in our lives and state today,” says contest judge and Santa Fe Photographic Workshops director Reid Callanan, who, along with Palace of the Governors photo archivist Daniel Kosharek, our editor in chief, Dave Herndon, and art director Edie Dillman, scrutinized more than 1,600 entries. “New Mexico offers more photographic opportunities and locations than any state I have ever lived in, and the photographers who choose to live here are some of the best anywhere.”

\r\n\r\n

Callanan explains that the winning images all possess similar qualities and characteristics: emotion, great use of light, personality, uniqueness, and surprise. “There is an abundance of black-and-white imagery this year that speaks to the creative vision of the submitting photographers,” he says. “Picturing the world in black and white separates it from reality, and makes it more accessible as an expressive art form. Photographers who see the world creatively record what they think and feel—not simply what something looks like.”

\r\n\r\n

 

\r\n\r\n

Grand Prize Photographer
\r\nSANDY ZELASKO, SAN DIEGO, CA
\r\n
\r\nWhen she’s not training poll workers in California’s San Diego County, Sandy Zelasko can be found traveling with her trusty Canon EOS-1D Mark IV camera. Zelasko’s childhood camera, a Kodak Pocket Instamatic that used 110 film, was always with her as she traveled the western United States with her parents. “My dad would never stop the van so I could get out and take pictures,” she says, “so I would have to peek out of the van’s super scoop [pop-up window] and shoot on the go.” The camera, which had been lost for years, was recently returned to her in the form of a Christmas present from her brother. “It still has film in it,” she says, “but I’ll stick with my trusty digital SLR.”

\r\n\r\n

It was around Christmastime in 2012 that Zelasko spent a week at the 57,331-acre Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, where the wintering population of sandhill cranes tops 17,000. Zelasko, who says her mission in life as a budding full-time photographer is to educate people on how their environmental footprints affect the natural world, first came to New Mexico with her husband 30 years ago. She believes that the secret to capturing a great image in the digital age is one part patience and one part perseverance. “Anyone can take a picture these days,” she explains, “but to take one that’s lasting in memory, you’re out there when no one else wants to be out there. When my husband is ready for dinner, I’m ready to grab the camera equipment and hit the pavement.” At Bosque del Apache, that often means waking up before dawn and following the sunrise across the opaque, pink-blue horizon. Zelasko returned to the wildlife refuge in November 2013 to capture more stunning images of migratory birds.

\r\n\r\n

 

\r\n\r\n

Grand Prize Runner-up
\r\nGORDON MIDDLETON, LOVELAND, CO
\r\n
\r\nRetired photographer Gordon Middleton spent years creating slide shows and audiovisual presentations for businesses. Now devoted to his digital Canon EOS 5D Mark III, Middleton was extremely fond of his first camera, a Zeiss Ikon 35mm he received while in high school. Middleton was pleasantly startled by the Spanish Colonial and Pueblo architecture of Santa Fe during his first visit to New Mexico in 1985. Architecture remains his favorite photographic subject, especially in black and white.

\r\n\r\n

“The Ship Rock photo was taken in 2013,” Middleton says of the northwesten New Mexico landmark, “and it was really just a process of roaming around it until the light felt right. I love the Taos Pueblo photo with the white door, too. It has this almost urban quality, mixed with a bit of local tradition. It’s an image that makes people want to look for more than two seconds. That’s a big part of creating a lasting photo.”

\r\n\r\n

","publish_start_moment":"2014-01-15T12:00:00.000Z","publish_end_moment":"2017-09-23T00:23:18.698Z"},{"_id":"58b4b2804c2774661570f93f","title":"One of Our 50 Is Found!","slug":"one-of-our-fifty-is-found-february-2014-84577","image_id":"58b4b2484c2774661570f490","description":"

REBOUND, THEN RE-FOUND
\r\nAs I take in the blackness of a new moon sky, the newly cold air snaps at my nostrils, the smell of piñon soothes. Coyotes sing with canine accompaniment. Years ago, desperate for relief from grief, I fled from New Mexico back to my first home, a crumbling postindustrial city. I found the remains of a life that used to be, full of memory, but lacking feeling. The days spent with friends at Milford Beach and family cookouts were gone, replaced by lapsed friendships, bad food, and tracksuits. In the green hills of the southern Adirondacks, I couldn’t see the wider vistas. Finally, I understood why I had come to New Mexico 20 years ago, to a place I felt but couldn’t touch, a place where a woman can be herself, can ride a horse. There is something about the mountains and this sky that lets me breathe. They take every struggle and push me in deeper and closer to what matters. Alone and writing, right where I am, right where I need to be.
\r\nSusan Aylward
\r\nSanta Fe

\r\n\r\n

SOUL RECITAL
\r\nIn the summer of 2002, during my third road trip to New Mexico from Toronto, I visited Chaco Canyon with a friend. This time, our hiking destination was Peñasco Blanco. It was a challenging and rewarding hike. On the way back, during the late afternoon, we stopped at Pueblo del Arroyo for a rest and to watch the sunset. We became aware of the distant sound of music … a flute, perhaps? Back at the visitors’ center, we inquired about the flute. Was it a special occasion? They were not aware of any flute music, and there was no special occasion on that day. I know I heard the sounds; I was immersed in the magic that is New Mexico. It was an Aha! moment I will never forget.
\r\nIrene Echeverria
\r\nMiami, FL

\r\n\r\n

TAOS DRUM
\r\nWhile on a silent writing retreat at the Mabel Dodge Luhan house, in Taos, I sat in contemplation at the end of my day while writing at the small desk in the Georgia O’Keeffe Room. The two French casement windows, which face the Taos Pueblo lands, were open, and a gentle summer evening breeze moved the lace curtains. I began hearing a very distant sound and I wasn’t quite sure what it was. I came to realize that it was drumming at sunset on the Taos Pueblo. I put my pencil down and sat quietly until it was dark, and then listened to the Taos night sounds.
\r\nNancy Chromy
\r\nRedstone, CO

\r\n\r\n

LONG-DISTANCE LOVE AFFAIR
\r\nWhen I was 18, I was accepted at Brooks College, in Long Beach, California. My father and I drove from my home in Michigan. One of our stops was Gallup, where we stayed overnight. It was 1979. As a child, I had always had this love of Native American things; I am Lebanese and Ukrainian, so I don’t know where it came from. When we stopped in Gallup, something just came over me and I felt like I belonged there. I can’t explain it, and I will never forget it. I told my dad that I would be back there one day. I am now 53, and still in the Michigan home I grew up in. I did go to Santa Fe a few years ago, and the feeling of belonging in New Mexico was still there. That is why I subscribe to this magazine! I love everything about New Mexico, and I know it’s never too late to follow your dream or your heart.
\r\nColleen Corey
\r\nRoyal Oak, MI

\r\n\r\n

RANDOM ACT OF CONFIRMATION
\r\nI moved to Taos in 1971. It was January, and the mountains were full of snow. Sitting in Dori’s Bakery, I shared my worry about whether I would be able to make a living in Taos. Just then, Frank Waters, the famous writer, jumped up and asked me to go outside and look at the Taos Mountain and tell him what I saw. I said, “The dark shadows look like a man by a campfire drinking a cup of coffee.” He looked at me, put his hand on my shoulder, and said, “Don’t worry. You will make it here.” He was right. I spent the next 30 years in New Mexico.
\r\nTony Vinella
\r\nSeattle, WA

\r\n\r\n

BUILDING A FUTURE
\r\nSeveral years ago, my son and I agreed that New Mexico was the place to relocate. We looked at numerous properties. At one, we stood on the side of a pine-covered foothill, looking across at the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. We knew it was the right spot, because we were both awestruck, silent, and simply in the moment. While it will be a few years yet until the building of the house will begin, we visit the property regularly and soak up the pristine beauty that is New Mexico.
\r\nRoi Holt
\r\nEnumclaw, WA

","publish_start":"2014-01-15T12:00:00.000Z","enable_comments":true,"categories_ids":["58b4b2404c2774661570f2a5","58b4b2404c2774661570f266"],"tags_ids":["59090cbbe1efff4c9916fa2b","59090c0be1efff4c9916f953"],"cms_tags_ids":["58b061ec6a2b0936c34a23ea"],"enabled":true,"custom_tagline":"AHA! Moments when our readers realized that New Mexico was the place for them.","created":"2014-01-15T12:14:26.000Z","legacy_id":"84577","blog":"magazine","_title_sort":"one of our 50 is found!","updated":"2017-05-05T02:18:07.188Z","active":true,"categories":[{"_id":"58b4b2404c2774661570f2a5","blog":"magazine","title":"February 2014","_title_sort":"february 2014","updated":"2017-02-27T23:12:00.492Z","created":"2017-02-27T23:12:00.504Z","_totalPosts":15,"id":"58b4b2404c2774661570f2a5","slug":"february-2014","url":"/nmmagazine/articles/category/february-2014/58b4b2404c2774661570f2a5/","commentsUrl":"/nmmagazine/articles/category/february-2014/58b4b2404c2774661570f2a5/#comments","createdMoment":"2017-02-27T23:12:00.504Z","totalPosts":15},{"_id":"58b4b2404c2774661570f266","blog":"magazine","title":"50 Found","_title_sort":"50 found","updated":"2017-02-27T23:12:00.490Z","created":"2017-02-27T23:12:00.495Z","_totalPosts":14,"id":"58b4b2404c2774661570f266","slug":"50-found","url":"/nmmagazine/articles/category/50-found/58b4b2404c2774661570f266/","commentsUrl":"/nmmagazine/articles/category/50-found/58b4b2404c2774661570f266/#comments","createdMoment":"2017-02-27T23:12:00.495Z","totalPosts":14}],"image":{"_id":"58b4b2484c2774661570f490","legacy_id":"84580","title":"Main -nm -found","created":"2014-01-15T12:28:50.000Z","updated":"2017-02-27T23:12:07.341Z","credits":"Henry Lopez","content_owner":"magazine","tags_ids":["58b061ec6a2b0936c34a23ea"],"title_sort":"main -nm -found","resource_raw":{"public_id":"clients/newmexico/main_nm_found_e34cf431-c71d-4067-ae64-3a0cdfb821b9","version":1488237127,"signature":"40e1876eea4c5d8f4b131ffa283eca14a72e317d","width":490,"height":262,"format":"jpg","resource_type":"image","created_at":"2017-02-27T23:12:07.000Z","bytes":47126,"type":"upload","etag":"fce307e007cca123d8af0630c7fe6cbd","url":"http://res.cloudinary.com/simpleview/image/upload/v1488237127/clients/newmexico/main_nm_found_e34cf431-c71d-4067-ae64-3a0cdfb821b9.jpg","secure_url":"https://res.cloudinary.com/simpleview/image/upload/v1488237127/clients/newmexico/main_nm_found_e34cf431-c71d-4067-ae64-3a0cdfb821b9.jpg","original_filename":"main-nm-found"},"deleted":false,"id":"58b4b2484c2774661570f490","type":"image","resource":{"raw":{"resource_type":"image","format":"jpg","public_id":"clients/newmexico/main_nm_found_e34cf431-c71d-4067-ae64-3a0cdfb821b9"}},"inAssetRequest":false,"alt_text":"Main -nm -found"},"id":"58b4b2804c2774661570f93f","url":"/nmmagazine/articles/post/one-of-our-fifty-is-found-february-2014-84577/","commentsUrl":"/nmmagazine/articles/post/one-of-our-fifty-is-found-february-2014-84577/#comments","absoluteUrl":"https://www.newmexico.org/nmmagazine/articles/post/one-of-our-fifty-is-found-february-2014-84577/","metaTitle":"One of Our 50 Is Found!","metaDescription":"

REBOUND, THEN RE-FOUND
As I take in the blackness of a new moon sky, the newly cold air snaps at my nostrils, the smell of piñon soothes. Coyotes sing with canine accompaniment. Years ago, desperate

","teaser":"

REBOUND, THEN RE-FOUND
As I take in the blackness of a new moon sky, the newly cold air snaps at my nostrils, the smell of piñon soothes. Coyotes sing with canine accompaniment. Years ago, desperate

","cleanDescription":"

REBOUND, THEN RE-FOUND
\r\nAs I take in the blackness of a new moon sky, the newly cold air snaps at my nostrils, the smell of piñon soothes. Coyotes sing with canine accompaniment. Years ago, desperate for relief from grief, I fled from New Mexico back to my first home, a crumbling postindustrial city. I found the remains of a life that used to be, full of memory, but lacking feeling. The days spent with friends at Milford Beach and family cookouts were gone, replaced by lapsed friendships, bad food, and tracksuits. In the green hills of the southern Adirondacks, I couldn’t see the wider vistas. Finally, I understood why I had come to New Mexico 20 years ago, to a place I felt but couldn’t touch, a place where a woman can be herself, can ride a horse. There is something about the mountains and this sky that lets me breathe. They take every struggle and push me in deeper and closer to what matters. Alone and writing, right where I am, right where I need to be.
\r\nSusan Aylward
\r\nSanta Fe

\r\n\r\n

SOUL RECITAL
\r\nIn the summer of 2002, during my third road trip to New Mexico from Toronto, I visited Chaco Canyon with a friend. This time, our hiking destination was Peñasco Blanco. It was a challenging and rewarding hike. On the way back, during the late afternoon, we stopped at Pueblo del Arroyo for a rest and to watch the sunset. We became aware of the distant sound of music … a flute, perhaps? Back at the visitors’ center, we inquired about the flute. Was it a special occasion? They were not aware of any flute music, and there was no special occasion on that day. I know I heard the sounds; I was immersed in the magic that is New Mexico. It was an Aha! moment I will never forget.
\r\nIrene Echeverria
\r\nMiami, FL

\r\n\r\n

TAOS DRUM
\r\nWhile on a silent writing retreat at the Mabel Dodge Luhan house, in Taos, I sat in contemplation at the end of my day while writing at the small desk in the Georgia O’Keeffe Room. The two French casement windows, which face the Taos Pueblo lands, were open, and a gentle summer evening breeze moved the lace curtains. I began hearing a very distant sound and I wasn’t quite sure what it was. I came to realize that it was drumming at sunset on the Taos Pueblo. I put my pencil down and sat quietly until it was dark, and then listened to the Taos night sounds.
\r\nNancy Chromy
\r\nRedstone, CO

\r\n\r\n

LONG-DISTANCE LOVE AFFAIR
\r\nWhen I was 18, I was accepted at Brooks College, in Long Beach, California. My father and I drove from my home in Michigan. One of our stops was Gallup, where we stayed overnight. It was 1979. As a child, I had always had this love of Native American things; I am Lebanese and Ukrainian, so I don’t know where it came from. When we stopped in Gallup, something just came over me and I felt like I belonged there. I can’t explain it, and I will never forget it. I told my dad that I would be back there one day. I am now 53, and still in the Michigan home I grew up in. I did go to Santa Fe a few years ago, and the feeling of belonging in New Mexico was still there. That is why I subscribe to this magazine! I love everything about New Mexico, and I know it’s never too late to follow your dream or your heart.
\r\nColleen Corey
\r\nRoyal Oak, MI

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RANDOM ACT OF CONFIRMATION
\r\nI moved to Taos in 1971. It was January, and the mountains were full of snow. Sitting in Dori’s Bakery, I shared my worry about whether I would be able to make a living in Taos. Just then, Frank Waters, the famous writer, jumped up and asked me to go outside and look at the Taos Mountain and tell him what I saw. I said, “The dark shadows look like a man by a campfire drinking a cup of coffee.” He looked at me, put his hand on my shoulder, and said, “Don’t worry. You will make it here.” He was right. I spent the next 30 years in New Mexico.
\r\nTony Vinella
\r\nSeattle, WA

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BUILDING A FUTURE
\r\nSeveral years ago, my son and I agreed that New Mexico was the place to relocate. We looked at numerous properties. At one, we stood on the side of a pine-covered foothill, looking across at the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. We knew it was the right spot, because we were both awestruck, silent, and simply in the moment. While it will be a few years yet until the building of the house will begin, we visit the property regularly and soak up the pristine beauty that is New Mexico.
\r\nRoi Holt
\r\nEnumclaw, WA

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