The northern corridor of New Mexico between Albuquerque, Santa Fe and Taos is the place to get the most bang for your buck.  Natural wonders, like Tent Rocks,  hippie chill outs like Ojo Caliente, cultural sites like Chimayo, are all within an hours drive or each other and you can take excellent day trips basing yourself out of Santa Fe.  Go up to Arroyo Seco and grab a beer at Abe's Cantina, hike up to the vista at Tent Rocks, go find the Tree of Human Kindness cave!

Sunrise over Fort Union and the Turkey Mountains. 2014.

The New Mexico flag features the Zia symbol for sun, in red, on a field of yellow.  The colors are taken from the Cross of Burgundy, the flag used by the Conquistadors and the military of Spain, who originally conquered New Mexico.
    It is one of only four state flags NOT to contain the color blue.

Out past Las Vegas, you'll find Fort Union National Monument, which is housed entirely inside one family's ranch.  In December, 2014, we were lucky enough to connect with the care-taking great-grandson of the family, who showed us around this 150 square mile ranch.

Higgins Canyon is tucked in northwest of the old fort.  It stretches 5 miles back into the ranch.

Hand carved by artist Ra Paulette, this cave has remained a secret, for the most part of over a decade.  If you ask around locals might just tell you how to get there.