LOG A NEW DEAL ART TOUR
If you’re traveling east on I-40, you might consider Gallup your gateway to New Mexico art. One of four New Mexico federal art centers during the New Deal, the city is home to a 123-object collection of the era’s architecture, murals, prints, paintings, tinwork, and furniture that’s scattered in six different locations—and not all are accessible to the public. Enter the Gallup New Deal Art Virtual Museum, a grant-funded project that offers a digital gallery experience of these federally funded and formative 1930s and ’40s artworks. “So much of what we think of as New Mexican art came out of that period,” says gallupARTS executive director Rose Eason. “It’s meaningful and interesting for people to understand the origins of that.” IRL visitors to Gallup can also catch guided public tours of New Deal art at 1:30 p.m. every last Saturday of the month through October. BONUS: Make art history a game and have your group complete the Gallup New Deal Art family bingo card.
PICNIC WITH LOCAL PROVISIONS
1. For a day of bird-watching or picnicking at Mesilla Valley Bosque State Park, stop in to FARMesilla in Mesilla for the spicy chickpea avocado salad, which works as a dip or a sandwich filling, too. “It sells out quickly,” chef Becky Windels says. 1840 Avenida de Mesilla, Mesilla; 575-652-4626
2. In Ratón, find fresh bread, homegrown chile, and garlic-basil cheese at Ramel Family Farms’ Heirloom Shop for an afternoon by the water at Sugarite Canyon State Park. Leave room for a locally made pie (or three), because who can choose just one with selections like peach, cherry, strawberry rhubarb, and apple? 132 S. First St., Ratón; 575-733-0696
3. Satisfy your entire flock with gourmet sandwiches from Fancies Bakery, Market & Cafe in Corrales for an outing to Río Grande Nature Center State Park. Add a slice of orange pound cake or decadent carrot cake and you’re packed for a movable feast. 4940 Corrales Rd., Suite 400, Corrales; 505-554-3850—Lynn Cline
HARVEST PRICKLY PEARS
If it’s summer in New Mexico, odds are you’re within sight of the pokey pads and brilliant fuchsia fruit of the prickly pear. But then what? “You can eat the pears fresh, once you take off the spines and peel them,” says Will Thomson, co-owner of a prickly pear farm in Lemitar and organizer of September’s New Mexico Prickly Pear Festival in Albuquerque. When pears are ripe (usually in September), they can be harvested with thick leather gloves or tongs. Then remove the long spines and tiny hairlike glochids that cover the fruits by briefly roasting them on a stovetop or soaking them in water for about 10 minutes, rinsing them, and skinning them to remove any last spines that weren’t washed away. Once the fruits are de-spined, you’re ready for a sweet snack, or transform your pears into juice, jams, popsicles, or a base for hot sauces. BONUS: Learn to cook with the flowering plant at the seventh annual New Mexico Prickly Pear Festival in Albuquerque, September 26 and 27.
COMPLETE THE TROUT CHALLENGE
Peter McGarrah may be six years old, but he’s also one of the state’s most elite anglers. Last year, the first grader was one of fewer than 100 people to complete the Department of Game and Fish’s Trout Challenge, which requires catching all five species—Río Grande cutthroat, Gila, brook, rainbow, and brown—found in New Mexico public waters. But therein lies the catch. “It’s almost like a travel challenge,” says Peter’s father, Logan McGarrah. The six-hour trip from their home in Dexter to the Catwalk National Recreation Area in Glenwood to land the native Gila trout proved the most difficult. “But it was great to get out and see different parts of the state,” Logan says. Peter’s favorite catch was the 16½-inch cutthroat he landed in Vermejo’s Costilla Creek, near Ratón. “We thought it was a log,” Peter says. “But then we saw it was a fish.”—Steve Gleydura
VISIT EVERY SITE DURING ONCE WITHIN A TIME
SITE Santa Fe’s 12th International Biennial takes its title, Once Within a Time, from a film by New Mexico director Godfrey Reggio. Featuring stories of more than 20 characters—both current and historical, real and imagined—the show expands beyond the museum boundaries to more than a dozen spaces throughout the city. Each spot features works curated by Cecilia Alemani, more than half of which were specifically created for this event, which opens June 27. Seeing every piece during the eight-month run promises to be uniquely rewarding. “I see the collaboration between us all as an important strength of the exhibition,” says SITE executive director Louis Grachos. —Katy Kelleher
📍1606 Paseo de Peralta, Santa Fe; 505-989-1199, sitesantafe.org
HIKE OUR MOST DIFFICULT PEAKS
1. Get acclimated, start early, and drink plenty of water. Although it’s not Mount Everest, summiting the 13,161-foot Wheeler Peak is no joke. Spend a night or two at Taos Ski Valley (9,200 feet) to adjust to the altitude before attempting the 8.5-mile out-and-back from Williams Lake Trailhead to the highest peak in New Mexico. In summer, lightning-rich thunderheads build by late morning, so be on your way down by noon.
2. Breathtaking is one way to describe this wilderness route—and not just for the views of Albuquerque sprawled out below. A physically demanding hike, La Luz Trail climbs more than 3,500 feet over eight miles. Bring a map to help identify all the peaks, rivers, and plains you’ll see from up top.
3. Mounting the Organ Needle is not an adventure to take lightly. Often described as the most difficult hike in New Mexico, this towering quartz spire requires fitness, extensive hiking experience, and some scrambling skills. At the heart of the Organ Mountain–Desert Peaks National Monument near Las Cruces, the trail runs six to seven miles, depending on the route, with elevation gains ranging from 3,200 to 4,700 feet.—Jim O’Donnell
CATCH SOME AIR—AND A SUNRISE
It starts in darkness and absolute stillness. Then the burner flares, the earth falls away, and suddenly you’re weightless above a glowing desert. Your skin prickles. Your heart races. Perhaps even tears well up. In that moment, you finally understand why this place is actually enchanted. As the official hot-air-balloon operator of the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, Rainbow Ryders has flown nearly half a million passengers since its founding in 1983. “A sunrise flight is wonderful for first-timers,” says director of operations Lindsay Mayer of the daily 45-to-60-minute trips. “The winds are calm, the flight is peaceful, and you still have the whole day ahead of you—maybe even to catch a nap afterward!” —Lanee Lee
📍5601 Eagle Rock Ave. NE, Albuquerque; 505-823-1111
TOUR WITH NUEVO MEXICO PROFUNDO
Frank Graziano doesn’t even like to use the word “tours” for Nuevo Mexico Profundo’s historic church tours and cultural experiences. No one talks through a microphone; instead, it’s like a group of friends traveling together. “The talk comes from the people at the sites,” says Graziano, the group’s director. From May through August, priests, mayordomos, and tribal leaders offer intimate glimpses of sacred spaces ranging from an ancient Chaco outlier to High Road mission churches, including the newly restored San José de Gracia in Las Trampas. “The idea is to bring people into worlds that they wouldn’t normally have contact with,” Graziano says. BONUS: On July 12, get an early glimpse of the altar commissioned from santero Nicolas Otero for the historic San Francisco de Asís church in Golden.—Patrick Lee
ENJOY MUSIC IN THE SHADE
Spread a blanket under a cottonwood or on the sprawling lawn, order up a glass of Girls Are Meaner gewürztraminer, and don’t mind the resident peacocks Snowy, Cloud, Rainbow, and Fluff. “We’ve been doing Sunday afternoon music since the early 2000s,” says Brittny Arnold, Wines of the San Juan chief marketing officer and event coordinator. The free Sunday concerts at the Blanco winery include regional blues, pop, bluegrass, rock, and country bands that pair well with any vintage. Joshua Arnold, head winemaker and Brittny’s husband, recommends the lavender white, which won a gold medal at the 2024 New Orleans Wine & Food Experience. “But our dry reds are gaining popularity,” he adds. —Jennifer C. Olson
📍233 NM 511, Blanco; 505-632-0879, winesofthesanjuan.com
HONOR NEW MEXICO’S BATAAN POWS
Take a break from fun in the sun to reflect on those who sacrificed and endured war and privation to preserve our freedoms. The New Mexico Military Museum in Santa Fe honors New Mexicans who survived the Bataan Death March and subsequent captivity in the Pacific Theater during World War II with Flags of Freedom: Honoring the 80th Anniversary of the Liberation of Our Bataan Prisoners of War. The exhibition features a U.S. flag that Oscar Avery Cox and other POWs managed to preserve during their captivity and the Japanese flags they brought back home after their liberation. “It’s a really amazing story of a New Mexican who endured all this but still had a sense of pride and respect and care for the American flag,” says Laureta Huit, the museum’s director. “It’s astonishing.” —PL
📍1050 Old Pecos Trail, Santa Fe; 505-476-1479