So for our 20th Anniversary, which is coming up in September we decided to go and visit New Mexico, it had trains, nukes and south western art for Judy. A perfect combination!

We flew Delta, which meant we were able to go out of our little local White Plains airport, instead of New York City, but also meant that we had to change in Atlanta, so all in all about the same as flying to Europe.

Once we arrived in Albuquerque we collected our Dodge Durango and headed into town. The traffic is so much easier to deal with than New York here, even the rush hour is surprising quiet. The altitude and dryness of the air was a little tougher. New Mexico has the highest capital in the nation. My nose bled practically every morning and Judy's asthma also acted up a bit. The pulse oximeters built into our Google Pixel watches both showed about a 5% drop in Oxygen availability. Maybe this is why so many retire to Arizona, but not New Mexico?

On our first day siteseeing we did the National Museum of Nuclear Science and History which was superb. It's the only federally chartered museum in New Mexico and is also affiliated with the Smithsonian. So it's standards were high. Of course much of it covers the development of the atomic bomb, but also there is decent coverage of fusion power. Including the Nuclear powered DeLorean from Back To The Future! Outside they have an excellent collection of missiles and planes used to deliver the bomb to it's targets. They even have the conning tower of a nuclear submarine.

Not to be left out Albuquerque has it's own excellent museum, covering the state history and showcasing a lot of beautiful art and sculpture.

The following day we went into the old downtown and did the "trolleybus" tour. This was a comprehensive couple of hours that hightlighted the historic Route 66 and many districts of the city, including the University of New Mexico "Go Lobo's" and also the house that functions as the set of Breaking Bad. Don't worry they blew up a dummy! The continuous lovely weather and fabulous light in this part of the world as well as the healthy state tax incentives make it a popular location for TV and Film work.

On the last day there we checked out the Pueblo Indian cultural center. There are nineteen tribes that are sustained by the Rio Grande river in that area and this museum, actually on federal Indian land, but in town, tells their story. We also enjoyed dining out with nice dinners at Antiquity and Lescombes Winery.

Then we moved onto Santa Fe the state capital, it's altitude at an impressive 7,198ft makes Denver at 5,280ft a walk in the park, to get there we took the "scenic route" up through the mountatins known as the Turquoise Trail. This contained the rather quirky TinkerTown "museum", the old mine town of Cerrillos, and the Mine Shaft tavern in Madrid where we had lunch. In the 1970's a woman rode her horse right into the bar and shot her cheating husband dead. She was acquitted. The corner where it happened is apparently still haunted.

In Santa Fe we visited the Governors Palace, which is now part of the New Mexico history musuem and then the New Mexico Art Museum right across the street. The unique pueblo architecture here is quite beautiful and well preserved.

The next day we did the train thing and caught the wine train which takes a run up the old branch line to Lamy where it joins the main track that runs all the way across the western USA from Chicago to Los Angeles. Now the route of Amtrak's South West Chief, our train had a band and free wine, so that can't be bad, even if it progressed at a stately 15 mph in many places on the route.

We also visited the crazy immersive art experience known as Meow Wolf - House of Eternal Return! It felt a bit like a live action "Stranger Things" with elements of "Doctor Who" definitely a once in a life time experience.

On the last day we took a run into the mountains to see Los Alamos. The somewhat disappointing Bradbury Science Museum was compensated for by the discovery of our first Cyber Truck in the wild in the parking lot. In a lovely custom shade of purple.

In all this was one of our better trips. The weather was gorgeous, the scenery was beautiful, assuming you don't mind the lack of green. The hotels we stayed in, while budget, weren't too bad and best of all were covered by our points and the planes were pretty much on time both ways.