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California is far big from New Mexico and has more tourists attractions as compare to it. Although New Mexico is a cheaper destination then California. But New Mexico has a significant problems with roads and infrastructures. It is very hot had extreme summer conditions though with zero managements, poor schools as well and the major issue may the growing crime rate of New Mexico.
My first experience with New Mexico was driving through I-40 and staying in Albuquerque for the night, I wasn't very impressed with the state as it was the first time I ever saw anything in real life resembling Mad Max. I might visit again and do a proper stay in the state but my first time left a bad taste in my mouth.
I think this says a lot more about where you chose to stay than it does about NM. Just a hunch.
California is far big from New Mexico and has more tourists attractions as compare to it. Although New Mexico is a cheaper destination then California. But New Mexico has a significant problems with roads and infrastructures. It is very hot had extreme summer conditions though with zero managements, poor schools as well and the major issue may the growing crime rate of New Mexico.
Well, I'll tell you, after living in CO for a couple of years, CO makes NM look like a higher civilization. Better roads, MUCH better-organized DMV, better health care except that CO has better orthopedists, and even ordinary things like the pharmacies (the national chain ph'cies) are better in NM, for some reason. They carry a wider variety of items. The Natural Grocer chain stores, which are a Denver company, are much better-stocked in NM. They're much more limited in what they carry in CO.
In the Denver area, there are no auto repair shops that specialize in certain makes of cars. In NM you can find specialized shops that do everything, from service, repair, all bodywork necessary. In the Denver area, independent mechanics I asked where the Toyota and Honda shops were, didn't believe me when I told them there were all-in-one shops in NM, that handled everything for a given make of car. In CO any auto work is more expensive.
My first experience with New Mexico was driving through I-40 and staying in Albuquerque for the night, I wasn't very impressed with the state as it was the first time I ever saw anything in real life resembling Mad Max. I might visit again and do a proper stay in the state but my first time left a bad taste in my mouth.
My first experience was when I was about 10 or 11. I was mesmerized by how beautiful it was after the ugliness of Texas. We stayed in Albuquerque, and it was okay -- I was intrigued by those squatty flat-roof houses and the Sandias and the far horizons. My dad was hell-bent to get to California, so we stayed on the interstate. The only disappointment I remember was heading west out of Albuquerque, we hit a serious monsoon rainstorm as we crossed the continental divide. As a 10-year-old, I expected more out of the continental divide...high mountains and snowy passes. Anyway, I decided we should move to New Mexico and started a campaign to convince my parents to move from the Midwest to NM as soon as possible. They were less enthusiastic and had jobs, a mortgage, relatives, and friends and various reasons -- I was in school and in Cub Scouts, etc. My older brother was no help at all. I had to shelve my plans but visited about a dozen times through the years. Pretty soon I had a wife, jobs, a mortgage, relatives, and friends and various reasons -- my daughter was in school and in Brownie Scouts, etc. So, I finally moved here some 55 years later. Much of what I first saw and liked so much those decades ago is still here.
My first experience was when I was about 10 or 11. I was mesmerized by how beautiful it was after the ugliness of Texas. We stayed in Albuquerque, and it was okay -- I was intrigued by those squatty flat-roof houses and the Sandias and the far horizons. My dad was hell-bent to get to California, so we stayed on the interstate. The only disappointment I remember was heading west out of Albuquerque, we hit a serious monsoon rainstorm as we crossed the continental divide. As a 10-year-old, I expected more out of the continental divide...high mountains and snowy passes. Anyway, I decided we should move to New Mexico and started a campaign to convince my parents to move from the Midwest to NM as soon as possible. They were less enthusiastic and had jobs, a mortgage, relatives, and friends and various reasons -- I was in school and in Cub Scouts, etc. My older brother was no help at all. I had to shelve my plans but visited about a dozen times through the years. Pretty soon I had a wife, jobs, a mortgage, relatives, and friends and various reasons -- my daughter was in school and in Brownie Scouts, etc. So, I finally moved here some 55 years later. Much of what I first saw and liked so much those decades ago is still here.
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Nice story. I don't understand the "my child was in school and Scouts" as reasons not to move though. All locations in the US have school and Scouts. How could that possibly stop someone from moving?
California is far big from New Mexico and has more tourists attractions as compare to it. Although New Mexico is a cheaper destination then California. But New Mexico has a significant problems with roads and infrastructures. It is very hot had extreme summer conditions though with zero managements, poor schools as well and the major issue may the growing crime rate of New Mexico.
I recently drove from Albuquerque to Los Angeles, out on I-10, and back on I-40, and I can say the roads in NM compared very favorably to the ones in AZ and CA. It was a bumpy ride through those states. And saw a 50-mile traffic jam in the opposite direction between Palm Springs and Riverside.
And we do not have "extreme summer conditions" compared to AZ and the Mojave Desert. You sound very misinformed. "Zero managements?" What does that even mean? Nevermind.
My first experience with New Mexico was driving through I-40 and staying in Albuquerque for the night, I wasn't very impressed with the state as it was the first time I ever saw anything in real life resembling Mad Max. I might visit again and do a proper stay in the state but my first time left a bad taste in my mouth.
The scenery along I-40 between Albuquerque and the AZ border is beautiful, with Mt. Taylor, the lava flows, Acoma Pueblo on the mesa is one of the most fascinating places in the country (called the oldest inhabited settlement in the US), and the pink sandstone cliffs for many miles before Gallup. If that isn't impressive then I don't know what is.
Nice story. I don't understand the "my child was in school and Scouts" as reasons not to move though. All locations in the US have school and Scouts. How could that possibly stop someone from moving?
The big urban areas in AZ are warmer than NM. Winter highs in Phoenix/Tucson are in the 60s/70s. In Albuquerque/Santa Fe it's more like 40s/50s. People from New York, Chicago, Cleveland, Milwaukee..aren't going to flock anywhere for 40s/50s weather. People are willing to put up with a lot for warm winters, but you need a better reason to go somewhere with cooler winters. I mean think about it - even North Texas has warmer winter averages than Albuquerque and certainly Santa Fe, and of course naturally so do Houston and Austin.
But of course, climate isn't everything. Jobs matter more to people between 25 and 55. Texas and Arizona both have had mostly very pro-investment, pro-growth leaders. It's my impression that New Mexico hasn't been particularly eager to become a 'boom state'.
For tourism, check out the NM True videos. Here's a short one for Taos. One of the places here where you know you can only be in New Mexico. It is not Kansas, Nevada, Iowa, or New Jersey.
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