Thoughts about New Mexico?

In my book, it might be immoral to live in the same geographical location your whole life. Not sure. But I am so serious about moving out of a state I've lived almost my entire life in.

Kinda a spur of the moment thing. But I'll soon be visiting New Mexico. If I do decide to move, likely Albuquerque would be my home.

Anyone been to New Mexico? Albuquerque? Sante Fe?

Thoughts about New Mexico in general?

What thoughts come to your mind when you think of New Mexico?

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鬼殺し wrote:

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coatofarms wrote:

In my book, it might be immoral to live in the same geographical location your whole life.

Why? Genuinely curious why you'd choose that adjective. What moral imperative is there is to moving or not moving? Surely the moral angle would come down to *why* you're moving or not moving. For example, if living in the same geographical location your whole life means taking care of your sick relatives or staying with your family, I'd call that moral. But if you had to move to do the same, also moral. I just don't see an inherent, intrinsic link between 'morality' and 'physical location'. Sorry, it just struck me as a very weird thing to say. Your definition of the word 'moral' (and 'immoral') would be useful here...

Well, it would be my own personal morality ofc. So it's kind of complicated and probably not the most rational. Note that I hope I don't offend anyone having used the word morality (Not saying you are offended. But someone else reading this might be now that I think about it.).

For me, staying in the same location just feels cowardly. I am extremely comfortable where I am currently living. It feels wrong to be complacent and too comfortable. I guess not feeling overly comfortable in one place doing the same thing day after day after day is part of "fighting the good fight" which is a concept dearly important to me. The US is a big place. The world is a big place. Also, some of my happiest childhood memories were during vacations on the beach/ocean (Biarritz). I don't like beaches/oceans feeling exotic to me. If I like them so much, I'm not sure why I don't just move to California so that beaches/oceans feel normal and no big deal to me. I also 100% hated the cold weather in my state this year.

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鬼殺し wrote:

As for your specific destination, you're visiting there anyway. Why not use that trip to ascertain for yourself how you feel?

Yah, I ultimately will. Just curious if anyone here has any thoughts. Maybe will give me some ideas. I haven't done much research. It was a spur of the moment thing purchasing the tickets. But I needed to act on a spur of the moment b/c there is no real pressing reason for why I need to move. My current location is great. I could definitely have done worse.

I've had Albuquerque in my brain for the past 8 months. So that's why I am just going to visit. If I don't like it, I'm likely moving to California. I was thinking about Florida, but I don't think I'd like all the tourist places. This needs to be a state I would be happy potentially staying the rest of the life in. So the Southern states are likely out of the question (i.e. Alabama).

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鬼殺し wrote:

And of course the same things come to my mind as would come to anyone's mind about Albuquerque if they haven't been there or have no connection to the place: Bugs Bunny and Breaking Bad. All the important Bs in life.

LOL me too :) I also think coyotes, mountains, desert and reduced light-pollution.

That heat tho. I know AC is big in the US but it gives me headaches. If I had to move to the US I'd probably go to somewhere in New England.

Also where are you living right now? No doxx I promise.

That was a lovely post, Charan, all of it.

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Charan wrote:

For me, home has always been a mix of physical location and presence. It's so much more than where you live. It's who lives there with you, what the place makes you feel when you wake up and remember, oh, that's right, this is where I am.

Made me think of --

This Must Be The Place.

In the concert version, David Byrne sings it to a lamp.

"That's a love song made up almost completely of non sequiturs, phrases that may have a strong emotional resonance but don't have any narrative qualities. It's a real honest kind of love song. I don't think I've ever done a real love song before. Mine always had a sort of reservation, or a twist. I tried to write one that wasn't corny, that didn't sound stupid or lame the way many do. I think I succeeded; I was pretty happy with that." - David Byrne.

I think successful not least because it is about home.

I've moved 11 times, three states, some by choice, some not at all by choice. The last one a few years ago now was a nightmare. Wherever you go, there you are. One of the most situationally versatile and true sayings, ever. Where I am now is good, stable, safe, happy household, lots of laughs all from a lot of work, which is satisfying and hard to maintain. It's not home, though.

To the topic at hand, coatofarms. I think the desert heat is easier than the coast, as it's not humid.

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coatofarms wrote:

Yah, I ultimately will. Just curious if anyone here has any thoughts. Maybe will give me some ideas. I haven't done much research. It was a spur of the moment thing purchasing the tickets. But I needed to act on a spur of the moment b/c there is no real pressing reason for why I need to move. My current location is great. I could definitely have done worse.

I say go for it. You sound like a good mix of practical (testing it out) and curious/adventurous.

To me yes Breaking Bad, of course. That's what I think with NM. And the Anasazi.
Plus, Roswell, the X Files and MST3K. LaserBlast is Cali, and Werewolf is Arizona, but close.

Basically, a place where mysterious, ancient and extra-terrestrial things happen. Perfect. Do take a towel.

Would love yo move into the mountains of Arizona after visiting there for a late-July wedding. The daytime highs were in the low 90s, with the famous dry climate of Arizona. As a lifetime resident of the East Coast, it was a nice change. (To put it in perspective, while I was in Zona, we had a higher daytime high temp back home... plus the humidity.)

I am not sure I would consider it immoral to be comfortable where you live. There are some good things to be said about familiar surrounding and a network of friends. Moving to someplace where you have no connections and have to rebuild your whole life can be really daunting. I have done it four times in the last 20 years. It is hard to know how you will click with the society at large until you get there, and there are huge differences in culture across America.

I would recommend "city-data" and "sperling's best places" to get started on research.

As for New Mexico, I have only passed through it and not spent much time there. It is high desert, as the whole state is on a plateau. Albuquerque and Santa Fe are both higher elevation than Denver, so the air is a little thin. It can also get very cold in winter, but the drier air makes it feel less pervasive than in the northeast.

The population is pretty sparse and there is a lot of empty country to get lost in. The landscapes are beautiful, but can look very alien and the wide open spaces can be unnerving.

I can't speak to the culture. It is probably a stereotype, but growing up in a nearby state, the two words that come to mind are artists and poor.

only been there to ski but taos is absolutely amazing. they had a new chair installed a few years ago that takes you to what are probably the best runs in USA outside Vail, Jackson Hole, and Some heli drop only places

I'm not sure immoral is what you're meaning so much as unhealthy for your perspective.

Having actually been to different parts of the globe makes it a lot easier for one to grasp that daily lives can be drastically different depending on your geographic location.

I never did quite get the fascination with Sante Fe...

Santa Fe (From Rent)

Santa Fe (From Newsies)

And a quick google search will find plenty more.

As for personal reference, aside from possibly flying over it the only thing that comes to mind is the show "In Plain Sight" starring Mary McCormack, albeit that was more Albuquerque.

Driven through NM a dozen or so times. Wouldn't want to move there. Up to you, but being so far inland doesn't excite me. Stayed over night in Albuquerque two summers back. Had pretty much what any city should have.

I just got home from NM guys/gals. I'll write about my trip in the coming days and share.

Would love to compare experiences with everyone else in the thread that has visited.

P.S. I really, really liked it. I had a good time!