New Mexico Attractions: Things to Do in New Mexico

New Mexico is home to a large number of Native Americans, mostly Navajo and Pueblo. The presence of these tribes has given the land a demography and culture that is unique in its amalgamation of Mexican, Spanish and Native American influences. New Mexico spans across a total area of 121,665 square miles. The state is flanked by Oklahoma, Texas, Chihuahua, Sonora, Arizona, Colorado and Utah. It makes a great holiday destination with landscape ranging from deserts to snow-capped peaks. It also flaunts heavily forested wilderness, the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, a rugged and pastoral northern region and areas watered by the Rio Grande, Pecos, Gila, Canadian and San Juan. Botanists from across the globe arrive in New Mexico every year, to study creosote bush, varieties of cacti, mesquite, yucca and desert grasses, that carpet the southern region of the state.

Things to Do

The Federal government and local municipalities in New Mexico protect a number of forest areas, including the Carson National Forest, Cibola National Forest in Albuquerque and the Santa Fe National Forest in Santa Fe. The special National Park Service also protects the Aztec Ruins National Monument, Capulin Volcano National Monument and Pecos National Historical Park, among many other sites of national and historical importance. While in New Mexico, you could visit the surviving native pueblos at the Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks and the Valles Caldera National Preserve. The arid territory, mostly covered by deserts and high mountain plains, and the climate of New Mexico make it ideal for adventure or extreme sports enthusiasts.

New Mexico cities of Albuquerque, Las Cruces, Rio Rancho, Santa Fe and Roswell are popular metropolitans. Along with a lot of development, as a tourist you also get to be a part of the preserved remnants and descendants of the Clovis, Mogollon, Anasazi, Navajo, Apache and Ute cultures. Exposure to the unique traditions of these people gives you memories of a lifetime to capture on camera and ample reason to visit the state again. While the Mid-Continent Oil Field and San Juan Basin give you a feel of progress and development, the New Mexico Film Office statistics offers you an insight into the billions hauled through the exposure of the state's picturesque locales. New Mexico retains its popularity as the American corridor for migration and trade.

Places of Interest

The state caters to tourists via numerous interstate highways, a commuter rail system and the Albuquerque International Sunport for air transportation. New Mexico is home to:

• Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta.
• Santa Fe Opera.
• Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival.
• Fiestas de Santa Fe.
• Silver City, a mining town.
• The New Mexico Scorpions of the Central Hockey League.
• El Santuario de Chimayo Shrine.
• International UFO Museum And Research Center.
• Monument to the Flying Paper Boy.

The state offers tourists the best locales to explore local and world history and culture. You could visit the Coronado State Monument or the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center to trace the history of the Native American Pueblos through rich reserves of seasonal performances and traditional dances. The Museum of New Mexico and the Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian offer you a visual treat of exhibits covering Native American jewelry, pottery and paintings. The Santa Fe Trail takes you to the San Miguel Mission, the home of Loretto Chapel and the 'Miraculous Stairway'. New Mexico is synonymous with delectable albondigas, atole, bizcochito, capirotada, chicharrones and chicharrones de cuero. The state is a great melting pot of the old and new ways of life, presented by people renowned for their high standards of hospitality and rooted sense of resilience.