2005-07-23 – Snippets and Sightings
I’ve seen quite a bit in my last few days in New Mexico.
On the way home from work Tuesday evening, I pulled into the center of the road to avoid a family unpacking their car, and nearly rolled right over an awkward bird strutting across the roadway. After a few dings from the bell on my bike, the roadrunner gave a little hop and scampered away. And no, it didn’t go “meep meep,” and no, Wile E. Coyote was nowhere in sight.
Wednesday and Thursday – my first week at work – I was on a trip with John Petronis (the company president) and architect Susan Freed down to Las Cruces, 3 hours south of Albuquerque and the 2nd largest city in the state (yes, it’s larger than Santa Fe), although calling a little town like that a city seems strange to me; the tallest building is eight stories. Still, it beats Cleveland’s population by quite a bit.
On the way down I-25, we passed through Truth or Consequences, NM, named after the TV show from the 50′s. It’s a cool name for a town, to be sure, but it won’t fit on most street signs, so it’s abbreviated to “T or C.” Just east of that is a city called Elephant Butte; with a name like that, I’m sure they get razzed all the time.
The meetings in Las Cruces were long and exhausting, but thoroughly enjoyable. New Mexico State University is interested in constructing a Performing Arts Center on campus to showcase their arts, music, dance, and theater programs, and provide a place for community arts groups to perform. Considering the town has no real center or downtown (it’s even more of a suburb than Albuquerque!), this could be a new focal point for the city. ARC was called in to do what it does best – investigate the needs of the center and the requirements of those within it. Through a (LONG) series of one-on-one meetings, we met with all sorts of community arts groups and public figures, as well as many of NMSU’s deans and administrators, including the university’s President. I was thrilled to be working on such an exciting project, in addition to rubbing elbows with some rather important people.
Las Cruces sits, not really in a basin, but between two mountain ranges. Off to the west, some steep but rounded peaks overlook the city. On the east, the Organ mountain range rises up in a similar way, but aboutr halfway up the slope transforms into a craggy, violent series of spires, a burst of lava caught in midair, looking like a snapshot of a dynamite blast. From my hotel room, I watched as a thunderstorm built up over the horizon, lightning flashing as the dull cloud drifted over the western outskirts of the city. ((on a side note, it’s so dry and dusty here that when it rains, the water pulls the dust down out of the air, and cars actually look dirtier after the rain))
The drive home was spent chatting about architecture with John and Susan, but I still caught an eyeful of marvelous sights.
Dust devils, flitting about and tossing dull salmon-colored dust into the air.
The future home of the New Mexico Spaceport – if and when commercial space flight becomes realistic. (For now, it’s a semi trailer sitting in the middle of a huge expanse of flat land, populated by dry brush).
Three identical clouds, stacked atop one another like smoke signals.
A mirage at the base of a mountain range, reflecting the brilliant blue sky and making the hazy mountains appear to float off the horizon and join the clouds.
A mesa, severed perfectly flat and clean as if by some cosmic lawn mower that decided that one too many mountain peaks crowded the horizon.
A low mountain covered with curving lines of vegetation, that looked like someone took a comb and went willy-nilly around the slopes. It almost looked like a fingerprint, with tight rows of lines reflecting the changes in topography.
And of course, the sound of me saying “yes!” rather loudly as I woke up in the car… although neither John nor Susan had asked a question. Nothing like a good first impression!
Tags: Albuquerque, Archives, las cruces, organ mountains, photo, sleep, Travel