Where did 2021 go? As we celebrate the New Year of 2022, it is customary to think of the progress we have traveled from our past and surmise with great anticipation where we would like to be in the future. Perhaps, this is just human nature. I believe in reviewing the past, we create a foundation from which to rise. I also believe in speculating the future, we gain excitement and eagerness to accomplish great deeds, but it is the present we need to inhale and consume with vigor.

New Mexico! New Mexico is known as the land of enchantment or New Mexico true. It is a state one might spend a lifetime exploring, but because of its vastness you never quite get the deed done. From the beauty of its many majestic mountain ranges that include the Gila Wilderness, north of Silver City, prehistoric lava beds of El Malpais, to the intrigue and mystic formation of Carlsbad Caverns, New Mexico charms with a variety of natural beauties.

Historically, New Mexico rises in preserving the heritage of many Native American and prehistoric cultures. The Gila Cliff Dwellings in the Gila Wilderness preserve a view of Mogollon cultures ranging from perhaps as far back as 1280’s. The Puye Cliff Dwellings, located on the Pajarito Plateau, are the preservations of the Santa Clara Pueblo people perhaps ranging as far back as 900 to 1580 A.D. And Chaco Canyon dates an ancient culture, the Ancestral Puebloan people, between 850 and 1250. Thankfully, by preserving the heritage of peoples who inhabited the Land of Enchantment many years ago, we gain knowledge and respect for their traditions, legacies, and tenacities.

I know what you are thinking! Have you visited all these places? No, not yet. I look forward to exploring many of these venues and invite you to write a list of “Places to Explore” on your bucket list, as I prepare my bucket list. (Just a quick note: I started my bucket list in 1998 and even though I have the very best intentions of completing my New Year’s Resolutions, I still have the tattered paper with 1998 marked out, replaced with 1999 marked out, replaced with 2000, so on and so on.

Perhaps one of my New Year’s Resolutions should be to replace my dilapidated list with a brand-new paper list.)

One stretch of highway in New Mexico I have traveled is Highway 60 from Socorro to Quemada. It intrigues with both the past and the present. Traveling west on State Highway 60 from Socorro is the small village of Magdalena. The history of the name Magdalena is impressive. Apparently Spanish soldiers were traveling the mountains of New Mexico when they noticed an impression of a woman in a rock formation. As the story goes, a priest traveling with the soldiers remembered a similar formation in Spain named “La Sierra de Maria Magdalena.” Because he thought the two had such a resemblance, he named the rock formation “La Sierra de Magdalena,” which became the name of the mountain range overlooking the village below. In 1884, the village established a post office with the name “Magdalena.” In 1913, the town was incorporated by officially naming the town “Magdalena.”

Magdalena became a major cattle town, securing one of the largest stockyard shipping pens in the Southwest beginning in 1885. “The Magdalena Trail” was a cowboy’s destination driving and herding cattle and sheep to the stockyards. So prominent was this trail that it was officially claimed as a “driveway for cattle” by the Grazing Homestead Act of 1916. Today in Magdalena the wooden stockyards, worn by weather and time, still stand as a testament to the Old West Cattle Drives.

 While standing in front of the wooden structures, once vibrant with activity, Father Time lends to my imagination of hearing moans of cattle and sheep, cowboys yelling with commands, and the hustle and bustle of the old west.

The history of the land surrounding Magdalena is rich with legends and ghost tales. I will probably add the town of Kelly to my bucket list. From 1883 to 1947, Kelly was located south of Magdalena and was a town thriving in mining. Now it is listed as a ghost town, a town of the past.

Shifting to the future, which has the appearance of the FUTURE are the 27 huge transportable radio antennas located on the Plains of San Agustin approximately fifty miles west of Socorro. I kid you not, when I first saw them I was in AWE! The VLA (Very Large Array) is the world’s largest array of radio antennas with each individual antenna spanning 82’ in diameter. Mind you, I am not a scientist, but according to the website public.nrao.edu, the antennas are placed in a Y shape to coordinate cosmic radio signals to translate into telescopic data. WOW! 

We are talking FUTURE. The VLA or NRAO (National Radio Astronomy Observatory) was approved by Congress in 1972, and by 1975 the first antenna was placed on the plains of New Mexico. Why the Plains of San Agustin? The antennas needed to be placed where human radio signals did not interfere with cosmic radio signals. Because the Plains of San Agustin are surrounded by mountain ranges, the mountain ranges of Datil, Horse, San Mateo, Luera, Pelona, and others act as natural barriers, shutting out unwanted signals from cities. Also, the Plains of San Agustin has a very dry climate which eliminates the unwanted interference of water molecules.

Did you know in 1991, scientists used the dish antenna in Goldstone, California to send signals to Mercury which were bounced back to VLA? Using the two systems together, the discovery of ice on Mercury was achieved. WOW! Did you know in 2011, a supermassive black hole was discovered lending thought to a distant Galaxy, which was named Henize 2-10, thirty million light years away? Amazing!

It is easy to see why this stretch of State Highway 60 in New Mexico is exemplary in showing both the past and the future. Ahhh! But are you thinking what of the present? Start packing your exploring bags! Time to mark something off the bucket list! I will check next New Year’s to make sure you didn’t cross out 2022 and put 2023!



From our house to yours, may 2022 keep you safe, healthy and happy. Many blessings to you and yours! Let’s explore!