New Mexico

Clovis was another shock. I'd never heard of Clovis, so I was quite surprised to find a rapidly growing city spread out over quite a bit of area, with traffic jams, shopping malls and office parks. Like most every other U.S. city, it had an older downtown of vacant office buildings and some clear effort to revive the downtown. This is looking south on Main Street towards the BNSF (Burlington Northern Santa Fe) yards, which were quite large (see map). Best viewed as part of New Mexico set.

Detail of the Santa Fe sign -- it appears to be not particularly well maintained. Best viewed as part of New Mexico set.

Cliff Dwellings at Gila National Monument, outside Silver City, NM. Best viewed as part of New Mexico set.

Best viewed as part of New Mexico set.

Best viewed as part of New Mexico set.

Fairly close to the mission at Gran Quivira is the very small village of Gran Quivira, with this abandoned building that looks like it might have been a business at one time (there were no businesses in the community). One of a series of pictures of the Salinas Pueblo National Monument, best viewed as part of New Mexico set.

Best viewed as part of New Mexico set.

Hachita is a very rural, small, and seemingly almost deserted town, in south central New Mexico. It was thus surprising to come across an abandoned Catholic Church with a very solid and sturdy entrance-way and steeple, attached to what seemed to be a fairly flimsy, stucco and wooden church. As this and the other pictures show, the lights on the entrance columns had been rather elaborate, even though the doorway to the church looked quite commercial.

What appears to have been a glass-encased grotto, above the front door.

A grotto on the church grounds. The similarity in the stonework on the chimney of the house on the right suggests that it may have also been associated with the church. Best viewed as part of New Mexico set.

Saint Catherine of Siena Catholic Church. Best viewed as part of New Mexico set.

Less than a block from the church, this very simple church described as 'your church' (see adjacent picture). Best viewed as part of New Mexico set.

(See adjacent picture). Best viewed as part of New Mexico set.

Near Horse Springs, NM on NM 12, a seldom traveled road with breathtaking vistas. Best viewed as part of New Mexico set.

What appeared to be a small cemetery alongside NM 12, near Horse Springs. I believe that is a Marine Corps flag behind the American flag. Due to the contrasting light that day and how the stone work blended in with the landscape, it only caught my eye because of the flags. This was on fenced land, so I couldn't check more closely. Best viewed as part of New Mexico set.

(See adjacent picture). The foundation in the foreground suggests that there was some other structure here at some time in the past. This was on fenced land, so I couldn't check more closely. Best viewed as part of New Mexico set.

Viewpoint on the climb to Cloudcroft. Best viewed as part of New Mexico set.

From the viewpoint in the adjacent picture, I thought I was the only one at the viewpoint, but kept hearing voices. Finally I realized there were rock climbers on the opposite cliff (noted on the picture). Best viewed as part of New Mexico set.