the wonderful pool was the perfect
antidote to recover from jetlag and
unwind.
Santa Fe is a great base to potter
around for a few days, soaking up the
galleries, restaurants and shops. If
you’re a sucker for turquoise jewellery,
you will love the markets of New
Mexico. Santa Fe was also our first
introduction to green chile, which
makes
everything
taste better.
There are so many activities for
the family in Santa Fe. We all loved
the Rancho De Las Golondrinas, a
“living museum” where you can walk
around original colonial buildings and
participate in activities from bead-
making to treasure hunts. We also
visited the Children’s Museum, a hit
with its bubble machines, and dress up
and messy play areas.
More than the Manhattan Project
From Santa Fe we drove north to
Taos, taking a slight detour to visit
the seemingly nondescript town of
Los Alamos, birthplace of the atomic
bomb. For those looking to tour the
secret laboratories of the Manhattan
Project, you might be disappointed.
However, Los Alamos houses the small
Historical Museum – a good starting
point to learn the town’s fascinating
story. A short drive away is the
Bradbury Science Museum, where you
can continue your education on the
atomic bomb and also find interactive
exhibits for the kids.
Famed for its winter snow, Taos has
lots to offer the summer visitor, too. If
you’ve ever wondered what life would
be like living off the grid, you need to
head straight for the Greater World
Earthship Community, just north of
Taos. Here you’ll find a community
of magical-looking sustainable houses
built from recycled materials. Given
how expensive our Hong Kong
electricity bills are, we were about
ready to up sticks and move in! Taos
also boasts the fifth-highest bridge
in the US, crossing the Rio Grande.
If you suffer from vertigo, you might
want to give this one a miss.
New Mexico is also home to a
number of Native American tribes.
Taos Pueblo is a living Native
American community that you are
allowed to tour. With structures built
entirely of adobe, this is a captivating
place to visit, and, if the kids get
bored, you can lure them around with
the delicious “fry bread” that’s for sale.
Caverns and aliens
From Taos, we drove south to
Ruidoso, a mountain town popular
with Texan holidaymakers. This was
a long drive (nearly five hours) but we
broke it up with lunch in Santa Fe and
a trip to Walmart to buy toys – who
knew a set of
Frozen
figurines could
occupy our girls for hours? Nestled in
the pine trees of the Lincoln National
January 2015
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