America In Context

I have returned!

Just got back from a two-week jaunt to New Mexico (with a few side trips to Arizona & Texas). Another 18 National Park Service sites down!

I hit NM at a great time: temperatures were mild but still pre-snowfall, and the aspens and alders were ablaze with golden color. Haven’t been through my pictures yet, but I’m expecting some fantastic shots.

If there is an overriding theme of New Mexico parks, it’s ‘historic tribal life in the shadow of extinct volcanoes’. Cliff dwellings are carved into the ash piles of ancient volcanoes. Petroglyphs are carved into well-patinaed volcanic rocks. Trading roads criss-cross waterless lava fields. Natural flint mounds, formed from the pressures of hot ash, form the basis of Indian economies.

From a wide view, New Mexico represents what this blog is all about: forces of nature directly lead to forces of society. One cannot separate the natural world from humanity, and, when you throw in the effects of Spanish exploration and conquest, one cannot separate one segment of humanity from another. Events a million years ago lead to events 2000 years ago lead to events happening yesterday. Only when you put all these elements together, in context with one another, do you truly understand America.

This trip also re-energized my interest in America’s National Parks, and I hope to be posting regularly again soon. 🙂