New Mexico's a Dream

It's Thursday evening. I'm wearing my Isotopes cap and it's squeezing my head. I think my head is getting fatter. 

That first sentence doesn't mean anything. Today was just a day, a really strange day. We drove to Magdelena, NM just because we wanted to get out of town. We also had a free meal coupon for Village Inn in  Los Lunas.  Los Lunas was on the way to Magdelena.  

We traveled through a few different New Mexico towns today.  We saw Albuquerque, Los Lunas, Belen, Socorro, and Magdelena. I thought about how beautiful New Mexico is but how ugly New Mexicans make it. The desert has it's own type of beauty. But we pollute it with garbage. Bad buildings, garbage and broken-down cars are everywhere. 

Magdelena was a strange town. There were a few really old buildings. They looked like they might have been built in the 1900s or 1910s. The buildings were in really bad shape. People have really forgotten about this village. There was a post office, a library, a couple of galleries, not much more. There was also a mountain chain to the south and desert all to the north. 

I'm so sad that New Mexico isn't respected by its residents. Think of all the states that have people that respect their surroundings. I can think of Oregon, Washington, Texas, Colorado, Utah, California. In New Mexico, so often I'll see people just throw their garbage out of the window and onto the street. How disrespectful! Why does it seem like New Mexicans just don't care about our state. We could do so much more to show respect to our diverse surroundings. We could get outside more often. We could enjoy more of the natural beauties we're so lucky to have in our reach. 

Here are a few of the pictures I took of Magdelena.

I hope to see New Mexico thrive like the other states in the Union. Will anyone ever see the beauty that I see here? There's so much more of this state I want to see, too. I've never even been to White Sands. I want to at least drive by all of the 10,000 ft and above peaks. It would be even better if I could hike up them. There is a 10,000 peak by Magdelena called South Baldy. Maybe I'll hike up to that peak. Maybe I'll even camp there with Luke. 

Today I was thinking about how cool it would be if there was a Space Needle type structure on top of Sandia Peak. What if there was a 1,000 ft tower on top of Sandia Peak? That would be an amazing experience. You would start at the foot of Sandia Peak on Tramway Boulevard. You would take the Tramway up to the top of the mountain, then take an elevator to the top of this tower. I think it would be amazing if there were a pub up there and maybe a coffee shop, too. Not a stupid fancy restaurant that nobody can afford, but something low-key and a place that is fun to hang out. Maybe a performance space. How cool would that be? Oh, I would love to sip on some local New Mexico brew on the top of this tower in July. I would imagine at that altitude that the temperature would only reach the 70s or maybe 80s in July.

My other complaint about New Mexico is all of the money we spend on our cars and trucks. New Mexico is one of the poorest states in the USA and we probably spend the most on chrome rims and paint jobs. Let's think about how much the average New Mexican might spend on a vehicle. A car payment could be $400 per month. Full coverage insurance could be about $150 per month. Spinning chrome rims and low-profile tires could cost $1,500. Let's also consider maintaining and providing fuel for these vehicles. How much would that cost per month? What about all of those red-light-camera tickets that the average New Mexican still has unpaid? What about the cost of the DWI that that New Mexican probably has? Now what if we spent all of that money on a state of the art public transportation system? 

Could you image what that train and bus system would be like? Let's just say that 200,000 New Mexicans put $1,000 into public transportation instead of their stupid car or truck. We would be less stressed because we wouldn't have to worry about traffic. We would be smarter because there's nothing better to do on a bus or train than read, write or listen to good music. We would be safer because the drunk drivers would be off the roads. 

I really hope I get old, and I really hope to see my dreams come true some day.