10 Things I Like Best About Living in Albuquerque

First posted here three years ago today.

Driving along Tramway across Sandia Pueblo last evening, I was reminded of one of the best things about living in Albuquerque. I began to think, NewMexiKen you can live anywhere, why do you stay here?

There are a lot of ways to answer a question like that. One way is to make a list.

These aren’t the only reasons, and they aren’t in any particular order, but these are the ten that came to mind.

  1. The weather, except sometimes in March and April. Four seasons, all of them distinct, none of them oppressive, or too long. And September and October — amazing!
  2. The food, red and green — and sopapillas with honey.
  3. The Rio Grande, though we fail to do anything with it. A historic river — third longest in America — and Albuquerque’s [former] Mayor Marty [was] so unimaginative he thinks pandas and streetcars are what we need. How about a river walk with cafes and shops (tastefully and environmentally correct, of course)?
  4. The plaza. Not as historic as Santa Fe’s, or even Taos’s. Still it’s always inviting and often filled with people celebrating a wedding at San Felipe de Neri. In other words, while a tourist attraction, it’s still “our” plaza.
  5. Santa Fe, Taos, Chaco and all, world-class tourist venues that are day trips for us.
  6. The sky, whether bluer than blue, or lit dramatically by sun or twilight, or with clouds, white or dark. Our sky is always something to behold, most gloriously at sunrise over the mountains and sunset over the volcanoes.
  7. The pueblos nearby with their cultures, feasts and dances.
  8. The Sandia mountains right here, rising a mile right above us.
  9. The diversity of people. It’s a community without a majority population.
  10. The Indian land north and south of the city, the forest land (and wilderness) east of it. If it weren’t for the permanently undeveloped land that surrounds so much of Albuquerque, I fear it all would look like Rio Rancho.

2 thoughts on “10 Things I Like Best About Living in Albuquerque”

  1. Through the lens of an expatriate, much of this list applies equally to New Mexico in general as to Albuquerque. I miss the Gila (the River and the National Forest and the Wilderness), the Burros and the Black Range, the Catwalk and the City of Rocks and the Cliff Dwellings. I miss the winding mountain roads and the pristine grassland stretches of highway—those vast wastelands of beauty ringed with peaks and plateaus in the distance. I miss the damn horizon, and that feeling of awe and insignificance that sweeps over you when New Mexico shows you eternity in the distance.

    I miss the connection with your neighbors, that wave from the stranger driving past you on the road or the quick conversation while waiting in line for coffee at the local shop.

    Ken: why don’t I live there?

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