Aliens and Indians

Driving through New Mexico I saw a lot of this

Spot the bullet holes

and even more of this

New Mexico nothingness...

Basically, there was a whole lot of nothing in New Mexico, so but at least I had Mr. Michel Thomas to keep me company for the drive. I know at times we might not get on, but he is good at keeping me awake on the road. 

After spending a few days in the outdoors enjoying the natural beauty of Big Bend, I figured I'd better balance it all off with a pit stop in Roswell, New Mexico - yup, the famed Roswell of alien landings and all that fun stuff. 

The UFO Museum in Roswell -  I expected a bit more

I was kinda hoping for some serious America 'tack' - with aliens everywhere and cheesy neon signs. But to be honest, most of the neon signs were for fast food chains and I could have easily passed through the place not knowing it was Roswell. 

I did however see this in the parking lot of a motel:

This was parked right beside a Ford F150 pick-up

Unimpressed with the level of tackiness, I left the neon lights of the fast food chains in rear view mirror, and headed for Santa Fe.

Arriving in Sante Fe definitely restored my faith in New Mexico - it ain't all boring! This city was beautiful unlike any other place I've been to in the States before. There's huge Spanish and Native American influence with all the buildings adhering to the Pueblo style of architecture. 

The New Mexico Museum of Art - all the buildings looked like this

St. Miguel Church - the oldest church structure in the US - 1680 (they've got nothing on Europe!) 

The city was thriving with art galleries, a lot of which was made by local Native American Indians. In fact, the town square had a market every day where you could buy jewelry and art directly from some of the local Indians. It's working as a great way for them to make some money and to preserve some of their old traditional artwork and crafts.

The market is lined with local Indinas every day selling their goods - some really cool stuff

A perfect example of how strong the art scene is in Santa Fe is the State Capital. I did a quick tour of the place and was amazed at how different it was to the State Capital in Austin Texas. While the one in Texas was steeped in tradition and the history of Texas, the State Capital in Santa Fe focused more on the talents that New Mexico has to offer, displaying huge art installations free to browse. 

Cool garden of outdoor art

Once I recharged my culture batteries, I jumped back into the car and hit the road for the final destination of the road trip, Breckenridge Colorado...

More pics here: https://picasaweb.google.com/105659496923832797916/RoswellNewMexico
And here: https://picasaweb.google.com/105659496923832797916/SantaFeNewMexico