New York City Spin

A Weekend at the Land of Enchantment

After a flight out of LaGuardia through Dallas we landed in Santa Fe, an ancient city nestled at 7000 feet in the foothills of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains . The city was established in 1610 and is the oldest capital city in the United States. Predating the settlement of Santa Fe is the culture of the native American pueblos. A popular place to visit is Taos Pueblo, which can be reached within an hour's drive heading north from the Santa Fe Regional Airport.

We started from Los Alamos where we stayed overnight, driving directly to Espanola. Not relying on the GPS, we made the wrong turn and around the mountain along Interstate 84 to Lake Abiquiu. I just realized that we have come too far for a supposedly 30-minute ride to Taos Pueblo. We have been riding through plains and mountain ranges for over an hour enjoying the adobe cliffs at the side of the mountains - as if we were enchanted. The magnificent views of the cliffs were not in our plan to visit. It's just that I made a wrong turn in the little town of Espanola, that took us to the farthest part of the mountains - opposite Taos Pueblos, where we were supposed to go. That's no problem. I just had to go over Wheeler Peak for a drive over the finest mountain ranges. We went through Carson National Forest elevating from 6,000 to 13,000 feet, the highest in New Mexico. I didn't really regret that extra 2-hour drive because we went through an incredible scenic ride; and proceeded towards the bridge above the Gorge of Rio Grande. From the bridge, we were a few minutes away to Taos Pueblo. We learned about this place from Japanese anthropologists who rode with us in a shuttle that took us to the car rental place. They flew in through California from Japan to study the ways of Indian villagers way before America was discovered - a thousand years ago. I believe the existence of these villages are accurate because Santa Fe was established 400 years ago to date this year. It's considered to be the oldest continuously inhabited community in the US. Legends and detailed oral history trace its existence "back to the beginning of evolution of man and all of creation," so the local natives say.

The town of Los Alamos has also a place in history. During our stay, I remembered extra terrestial "aliens" being captured and studied in an undisclosed underground site in New Mexico - this place is Los Alamos. Also this is where the first Atomic bomb was test-exploded at the basin of Jemez mountains. Although my prior knowledge on the atomic bomb was the famous "Manhattan Project" - the final code name when it was completed was "The Gadget." It was at Columbia University where it was conceived by a number of prominent scientists headed by Leo Szilard and Eugene Wigner. An enrichment plutonium plant was constructed in Oak Ridge, Tenessee to develop the bomb; and subsequently test-exploded in Los Alamos. It was never Albert Einstein who invented the bomb; but he was instrumental, though, in facilitating the development of the bomb. He signed off on a letter sent to the the highest authority in the government - Roosevelt, at that time. The Los Alamos National Laboratory, the major employer of this town unknown to most of us, is still a major force in the discovery, research and development of modern science and technology. Projects from nuclear warfare, issues on our environment, effects of new drugs, to new discoveries of terrestial elements from outer space are still being studied in these existing labs. A government pass is required to get around these facilities.

A note to renting a car to get around and also, suggestions for hotel accomodations: I recommend getting a car off-site ... and booking a hotel the next town over ...this would be easier on your wallet. We stayed at Los Alamos, which is located approximately 35 miles north from The Plaza in Santa Fe. The Plaza is the center of the city where most of the activities - restaurants, museums, galleries, sidewalk cafes, sidewalk vendors, government buildings, churches and a park to stretch your legs. These are all concentrated within a three-mile-square area. Today, the high desert of Santa Fe and Northern New Mexico are, of course, physically part of the American landscape but not always strictly of America. The Pueblo, Spanish, and Anglo cultures interweave the old with the new creating a rich, often mystifying "Land of Enchantment".