i have never had such an amazing time connecting with my family (in my adult life). i didn’t get to spend that much time with all my amigos (sorry amigos) but i was super fortunate to see ALL of my cousins, my aunts, uncles, my little bros (ok, they are both over a foot taller than me but i’ve got 7 and 10 years on them!) AND i got to cook for my family! We watched movies, a football game, played guitar, picked pecans, watched the cotton get harvested, checked out my grandfather’s epic wood-working skills, ate green chile…I traveled from one end of new mexico to the other enjoying this huge beautiful state…just taking it all in like a river flowing through my veins. i am proud to be a part of my amazing family and come from such a beautiful spot on the planet.

Just another crappy sunset in New Mexico

Jasper brought a long bow and some arrows down to my grandparents house in order to take them up on their $1 per squirrel/gopher bounty offer. The squirrels and gophers have been doing a number on the pecan crop this year (my family in southern NM is big in the organic pecan world! yum). Well when we went to White Sands National Monument, we forgot to hide the arrows that we had propped up in the car so they wouldn’t get ruined. Oops, turns out you can’t have arrows in a national park. FYI. Whew, got off the hook on that one!!

Jasper might as well be listed in the family count.

Jasper was my co-captain for the journey to Las Cruces. Once down there, we learned some interesting stuff. Our friend David told us that Las Cruces is a demilitarized buffer zone for Mexico…This basically means that Las Cruces is like the red-headed stepchild of NM and thus, America. My grandparents live about 15 miles north of the border to Mexico…It’s pretty dangerous down there right now (in Juarez, not my grandparent’s house). My family is trying to fight the government from making Otero Mesa and some other areas down there (including the land directly between themselves and Mexico) from being Wilderness areas for good reason! If it becomes Wilderness, then the Mexican drug lords (who are some seriously no-good very bad murdering and incredibly dangerous people) will have free reign over that area of the border! There will be no motorized traffic allowed…so what are ya thinking Government? Patrolling the harsh desert on foot? Yeah right. FIGHT IT! Never thought I’d be saying that about Wilderness but this is for people’s LIVES! Several of my uncle’s employees have been kidnapped in the past few months. No bueno.

And, 2 days a year, you can visit the Trinity Site. This is where the first atomic bomb was detonated. 1st weekend in October and April…From where the guard turned us around we could see the bleached area of desert floor where it exploded. There is still glass…Creepy. It is a very surreal place, pretty much in the middle of nowhere.

Trinity Site between San Antonio and Carrizozo