Savor, sail, love like there is no tomorrow because the only promise is today.
All engines ahead full.
Pardon my navy, but that’s how I hope you’re aiming to enter the new year.
No holding back.
And if ever you do catch yourself looking back to last year, I hope you see it as a time of discovery. A time when you dove deeper into a favorite subject or came to appreciate something you once thought not worth the time.
Just so you’re going out different than the way you came in.
More engaged with whatever you do, your surroundings, and the people in it.
To those ends, this month’s links offer some of the latest and tastiest ideas to help you explore and enjoy New Mexico and the Southwest in this new year.
Southwest Travel Links You’ll Like
Otter Olshansky: A Lonely Death on New Mexico’s Continental Divide Trail (Outdoors NM)
New Mexico’s backcountry trails, though beautiful, are no joke. Learn how a veteran hiker paid the ultimate price on the New Mexico portion of the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail. Rigorous long trails like these demand a lot and then some. So if you go, go prepared and be ready to turn back when the situation warrants.
And if extreme hiking is not your style, yet you want to see a variety of plants and animals amid great scenery, consider an Aguirre Spring scenic hike.
Burritos Alinstante ~ Albuquerque, New Mexico (Gil’s Thrilling (and Filling) Blog)
The down and delicious about an Albuquerque restaurant that serves 13 types of burritos DAILY.
FRESH burritos MADE TO ORDER from SCRATCH.
Burritos you can opt to have “smothered” (in green or red chile sauce) or “hand-held.”
Burritos so PLUMP with fillings the writer feels the need to remind us that “hand-held doesn’t necessarily mean you can drive with one hand and hold your burrito with the other.”
This place also serves their green chile cheeseburger in a tortilla rather than a bun, a rare and tasty extra that just makes so much sense, this being New Mexico and all . . .
Painting the Southwest (Southwest Art)
If you like art that captures scenes from the Southwest’s Hispanic and Pueblo past, head over to the Western Spirit in Scottsdale, AZ in January. The exhibition, featuring works of painters who, in the early 20th century, formed an art colony in Taos, New Mexico that would become known around the world.
The 25 Places You Should Go in Nevada in 2017 (Only in Your State)
This great variety of places worth visiting in the Silver State includes the marvel we call the Hoover Dam and the one-time silver boom town, Tonopah, where you can still get a good breakfast at the Mizpah Hotel.
The Artichoke Cafe ~ Albuquerque, New Mexico (Gil’s Thrilling (and Filling) Blog)
If you’ve ever dreamed of going to Great Britain or France and wanted an idea of what the food would taste like, seems like a meal at the Artichoke Cafe ~ in Albuquerque, a LOT closer ~ could do the trick. The description of the restaurant’s French Onion Soup brought back favorite memories of Paris. And the soup made with potatoes and leeks, the national veggie of Wales might have you daydreaming about medieval castles. And, oh yeah, seems the Artichoke Cafe does pretty good things with artichokes, too.
Pozole Bar Plus 5 Pozole Recipes (Sweet Life Bake)
Everyone (at least, everyone I’ve asked in Las Cruces) says the best pozole is the one their mother makes.
Really? Are ALL those people happily eating the pozole served at Ándele Restaurante and other local restaurants, like me ~ originally from someplace else and with no mom nearby to cook for them?
Probably not.
Still, I’m sure I’ll be better able to appreciate what really good pozole is if 1) I can get myself invited to a friend’s mother’s house for dinner, and 2) I learn to make pozole myself and become familiar with all that goes into it.
As to Option 1, if you’re one of my Las Cruces friends and feeling generous, I invite you to go with that feeling. 
Option 2 is one we can all choose no matter where we live or who we know. The writer shares not just one but FIVE pozole recipes! So there’s a good chance you’ll find one that suits your taste.
