A bit of trivia here for openers: What is the official state question of New Mexico, as designated by its legislature?
Answer: Red or green? (Explanation to come.)
This is by way of introduction to the Land of Enchantment, which recently became the 36th of these United States that I’ve visited. There’s no plan to hit all 50 – Who needs Idaho or the Dakotas? Why Wyoming? – but for a short, two-and-a-half-hour jump from BNA, New Mexico promised a very un-Tennessee experience.
For starters, significant portions of New Mexico consist of desert, whereas Tennessee leans toward greener, tree-filled landscapes. The effect, as we were driving between our host cities, was to halfway expect to see Mr. Favor, Rowdy and Wishbone driving a herd of beef across the vast expanses of arid emptiness, à la TV’s “Rawhide.”
Fortunately, altitude serves as a thermal mediator. We were welcomed by temperatures roughly 10 degrees cooler than what Nashville was undergoing at the same time, and a few snowcapped peaks were still on display.
For another difference, population demographics for the states diverge greatly. The most recent census estimates put the Hispanic or Latino population of New Mexico at 48.6%, compared with 7.5% for Tennessee. Not surprising, for a state first colonized as part of New Spain and later absorbed by Mexico before being ceded to the U.S. as spoils for the Mexican-American War of 1846-48. (Thank you, President James K. Polk, noted Tennessean!)
Because other people lived in New Mexico even before the Spanish arrived in the 1500s, and Andrew Jackson didn’t run them out, there’s a considerable sampling of Indigenous people still on the scene: 11.4%, compared with Tennessee’s 0.6%.
It was this juxtaposition of cultures that we wanted to experience, a state where folks of white European descent like us are basically party crashers. Our timing related to our 27th wedding anniversary, but it also was by chance just after vindictive ICE raids took scattershot aim at migrants in Nashville and amid continuing social media attacks on “illegal aliens” suggesting they are an invading criminal class in our Tennessee midst.
Who says you can’t mix a marital celebration with a progressive-minded exploration of multiethnic attractions? And so we did.
One of those ethnicities, as it relates to New Mexican cuisine, is what gave rise to the official red-or-green question: It asks prospective diners which color chile they prefer to be flavoring their food. There is no wrong answer; red is generally hotter.
And the question is near constant, since that cuisine dominates the commercial dining establishments. I could have used a meat-and-three break, to be honest, but when in Rome…
Architecture was a visible difference, too. Whether owing to custom or local building codes, roughly 87% of structures there employ the adobe style of construction or at least the facade. That figure is mine and entirely fanciful, but you get the point: Queen Annes and craftsman bungalows are not the default housing styles.
We hit three cities: Albuquerque, Santa Fe (the capital) and Taos. The latter two in particular are considered havens for artists and jewelry makers, and all contained liberal servings of galleries and shops designed to tempt those with a taste for Old-West-centric wall art or turquoise-and-silver personal decorations.
We also trekked along and up to the cliffs that pueblo-dwelling peoples once called home and marveled at both the ingenuity of the former inhabitants and their willingness to climb ladders to access their abodes. (I also wondered, as always when I’m in such places, how far is the nearest rattlesnake?)
Other attractions we took in included a state history museum, a folk art museum, a hacienda – or “great house” – dating from 1804, the Palace of the Governors, an adobe (of course) structure dating from 1610, the state Capitol (meh) and, for Kayne, the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum. (In my experience, a little O’Keeffe goes a long way.) There’s plenty of stuff for diversion.
Alas, this being a relatively short trip, we didn’t venture to the New Mexican locales rumored to have attracted visitors from much farther away than Tennessee. Area 51 and Roswell – familiar to fellow “X Files” fans – will have to wait for another time. (Hey, I didn’t see Stonehenge on my first visit to England, either.)
Meanwhile if you’re considering a trip, here’s an insider tip for another answer to that official question: You can say “Christmas,” which is short for red and green combined. A holly reference, I assume.
And if you think Nashville hot chicken has prepared you for any mouth fire New Mexico has on offer, ask for extra chile. I dare you.
Joe Rogers is a former writer for The Tennessean and editor for The New York Times. He is retired and living in Nashville.