You Know You're in ___ When....

Questions with dinner:
New Mexico: Red or green?
Hawaii: What's your opinion about poi?  *Snicker*

Colorado: Do you have the organic vegan gluten-free soymilk variety?

Texas: How bloody do you want your steak?
Holland: Are you about to pass out?  Then I guess it's time for a slice of bread and some cheese.
France: You'll eat the chocolate cake!

Reactions to weather:
New Mexico: Is it about to rain?  Then go outside and dance for joy as you watch five drops of rain fizzle on the sidewalk.
Hawaii: Weather?  You mean it's possible to have a temperature that's not 70 degrees?  You must be joking.
Colorado: Snow!  Cool!  Let's ski to work!
Texas: Curl up in front of the TV and watch the radar with a bowl of popcorn.
Holland:  Sunny?  Go outside to make sure you don't miss the 5 photons of the season.
France:  Your friend thinks weather changes a lot. You just laugh because you know better.

Mode of transportation:
New Mexico: Beaten up, dilapidated rusty dust covered car.
Hawaii: Anywhere worth visiting can be visited via surf board.

Colorado: Is it less than 30 miles away?  Use your thousand dollar yuppie bike.  If not, charge up ol' Sparky, the electric car, and you're on your way.

Texas: Your trusty steed (horse).
Holland: Your trusty steed (bike).
France: Ever try cramming on l'metro with 12 thousand other people (le sardine can).

Only in...
New Mexico: Spring comes, the entire state is covered in 70 mile an hour gusts of wind, and you are barricaded into your house behind a wall of tumbleweeds.
Hawaii: Kids learn to swim before they can walk.

Colorado: In one room, an elementary school is having a science fair, where every single entry is about sustainable energy.  In the next room, you can get a Tarot reading and buy a healing crystal.

Texas: Outside of Wal-Mart, a guy wearing a cowboy hat sits on top of a semi-truck sized aquarium filled with big mouth bass, fishing.
Holland: On the first day it's not raining, snowing, winding, and it's just above freezing, the college guys next door will move out their couch outside and lounge shirtless while sunbathing and drinking beer.
France:  Political movement you don't like?  Le greve.  Forced to retire at a higher age?  Le greve.  Coffee not hot enough?  Le greve.

New Mexico... or Israel?

On our recent trip to Israel, I was struck by how similar it was to my homeland, New Mexico.  So, in order to gear up for the new wave of blog posts about our trip to Israel, I will propose a short game - New Mexico... or Israel?  Can you guess correctly which picture corresponds to which place?  Guess them all and you'll earn a point... and my respect.

1.

 2.

3. 

4. 

5. 

6. 

7. 

8. 

9. 

10.

11.

Think you got it?  Post your answer below.

The Circumnavigation of the Globe Part 1 - New Mexico

I recently set out on an adventure - to circumnavigate the globe!  So I set out to follow the sun!

There it goes!

My first stop was New Mexico.  And the rain followed me from France.  But this time, it turned torrential!  I had forgotten quite how intense the storms in New Mexico could be.

The rain approaches.

Soon, we had hail falling like snow, which coated the backyard.

The torrential rain created a river, making paths in the hailstones.

The hail piled up to form "drifts".  This really puts French storms to shame. 

 

Of course, no visit to New Mexico is complete without an ultimate sunset!

I've traveled all over, but sunsets here are still the best.

It formed a "curtain of light" across the city.

No visit to New Mexico is also complete without a hike with my parents.

Suiting up.

Dew on the mountain leaves.

Dew-da!  Dew-da!

The storms in New Mexico have been hitting the mountains pretty hard.  The trail was blocked by one of the trail "markers".

 Dad models his warm gloves, while mom models, well, everything.

Trees over the path.

We also saw the rare hopping trees of central New Mexico.

If a tree hops in the wilderness and no one is around, does it make a sound?

Old fallen trees begin the process of returning to the earth.

 

A lot of trees were falling, so dad was man enough to hold it up so we could pass underneath. 

I'll leave you with one more incredible view from the Land of Enchantment. 

Coming up next - my circumnavigation of the globe continues with a visit to Austin, Texas!  Yay BBQ!

Snowed In

Normally, New Mexico is a desert.  Really.  It only snows a couple of times a year, and then, not that much.  But going home this Christmas proved to be a different experience. 

Life in the desert

 Cold and wet?

Snow at sunset.

The mountains at sunset.

I also was able to see how my brother's beard has progressed.  

That's epic

Bram and I decided to travel down to where we did our undergraduate studies.  It was so wonderful to be traveling again through the desert, down a route I took many times years ago.

Crossing the Rio Grande.

Birds in flight.

Glorious desolation.

Snow on the mountains.

Even God likes this land.  

Finally we arrived - the small town of Socorro, where I spent four years of my life.

Still lined with fast food restaurants

 Back on campus.  Several buildings have been renovated since I've been back.

My old building.

Then it began to snow.  Fast.  I thought now might be a good time to leave Socorro.  But we lingered.  Soon this...

Turned into this...

That's a foot of snow in an hour.  No, this is not normal for New Mexico.  Not at all.

Needless to say, our travel plans back home were canceled as every highway in the state closed.  Luckily, some old friends were able to take us in, so we stayed the night at their house.

The front of the house, buried in lots of snow.

Nico didn't want to leave the warmth of the house, so he watches us in the snow from the window.

A day later, we check frequently if the highways are open again.  Then we receive a call from my mom - they are open!  We make our escape.  

The highway is covered with snow too, but it's enough to make it through.  As we passed another town, they closed the highway after us.  It turns out the highway was only open for about an hour, and we made it through!

 

The snowy scenery was nice to see, but we were glad we escaped.

Of course, no visit to New Mexico is complete without a green chili smothered burrito.

Snow on the Sandias.

Christmas Eve dinner at my parent's house.

Christmas Day dinner at the in-laws, and seeing our nieces and nephew.

Playing with Christmas toys.

Bram surrounded by his fans.

He later got a makeover.  Lucky guy!