Short history of New Mexico as depicted on commemorative bronze plaques in the Cathedral Park in downtown Santa Fe:

Cathedral Park in Santa Fe, NM

1504 The first major Spanish expedition to what is now the southwest United States was conducted by Francisco Vásquez de Coronado from 1540 to 1542. Subsequent exploration and settlement of the American Southwest would follow.

Once the area is ethnically cleansed with inadvertent application of biological weapons nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition.

1583 On April 19, 1583, King of Spain directed the Viceroy of New Spain to continue with a responsible citizen to settle New Mexico at his own expense primarily to see to the conversion of the agricultural Pueblo peoples. Don Juan de Oñate was ultimately awarded the contract in 1595.

Oh, wait - there are some Pueblos left. Let's convert them.

1598 Fuerza, a Spanish term that connotes strength in every meaning of the word, is but one of many traditions that were passed from generation to generation and continue to define the present day lives of New Mexican families.

Strength! Helping you subjugate the natives since 1598!

1598 Oñate and his group crossed the Rio Grando and celebrated the first American thanksgiving feast in observance of their safe arrival. The settlers would forever change the American West and their pueblo neighbors. Their descendants continue to shape the culture of New Mexico to this day.

American? Spaniards would be surprised to be called that. And what really changed American West turning much of the area into moonlike desert was free range cattle farming in the 19th century so let's not get ahead of ourselves.

1607 Juan Martínez de Montoya founded the village of Santa Fe and established a plaza. In 1610, don Pedro de Peralta designated La Villa Real de la Santa Fé de San Francisco de Asís as New Mexico's capital. Santa Fe is the oldest state capital in the U.S.

Which may change if Puerto Rico becomes the 51th state. San Juan was founded in 1521. And what a great opportunity we missed with Iraq as the 52th state - Baghdad would take us all the way back to the 8th century.

1610 In 1610 construction of the Palace of the Governors began. Today Palace of the Governors is the oldest public building in the U.S.

Place of the Governors

Only if you conveniently forget about all those public buildings in Chaco Canyon and Mesa Verde. The difference is we didn't keep on rebuilding them. I wonder why...

1712 In 1712 a group of citizens gathered to honor the memory of don Díego de Vargas. In 1693, under Vargas' leadership, Spanish settlers returned to New Mexico after the 1680 Pueblo Revolt in which some 400 settlers, 21 friars, and many Christian Indians died. Fiestas in observance of Vargas' resettlement of New Mexico are celebrated each September in Santa Fe.

Oh my! Thankless Pueblos incomprehensibly revolted. The good thing is apparently none of them died. Only the Christians somehow were the victims. That surely calls for a celebration!

1777 Don Juan Bautista the Anza, considered one of the New Mexico's best governors defeated the legendary Comanche leader Cuerno Verde, pacified the Hopi, broke the Navajo - Comanche alliance. Anza collected about $120,000 in 2002 dollars to help Spain fight Great Britain in the War for American Independence.

And met with such ingratitude. The same colonists who rebelled against Great Britain would soon chase the Spaniards from New Mexico. Conveniently keeping the name. And a few of the oldest buildings. One wonders if Comanche, Hopi or Navajo participated in the fund drive.

1788 Juan Lucero typifies the wide ranging efforts of Spanish New Mexicans as they continued the tradition of exploration established by their ancestors. By the end of 18th century many rivers, mountains and landmarks in the west had a Spanish name.

Strangely many names in Eastern part of US have native origins (Manhattan, Massachusetts) - I guess different traditions of exploration. Also protestants don't have saints handy which makes naming things much harder.

1848 The 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ended two years of war between Mexico and the United States. New Mexico was designated U.S Territory in 1850. The U.S. Congress made New Mexico the 47th State of the Union in 1912.

Mexican-American war A.K.A. invasión estadounidense a México (American Invasion of Mexico) - because once Mexico became independent from Spain we could safely ignore all that help received during our independence war. Strangely no celebration is mentioned here. But hey, who cares about independence and democracy if we can buy all those old buildings (and California to boot) for a tidy sum of $15 million.

1998 The Santa Fe City Council passed Resolution establishing Cuarto Centario Committee to plan commemoration of the 1598 founding of "La Nueava Mexico". History conferences, cultural symposia, concerts, art shows, craft displays, folk dancing and many educational events kept calendars full all year long.

Wait, what? Are we now celebrating the founding of the province that we conquered and vanquished in that 1848 war? Well, as long as it keeps the calendar full. And who am I to say no to folk dancing!

The Santa Fe Plaza

People of Santa Fe, NM are rightly grateful to Spanish settlers that established their city. Thanks to Laws of the Indies introduced by the Spanish Crown in the 16th century, Santa Fe has been built around a central plaza. Were it settled by the British, it would have had a main street and thus be less likely to resist the destruction of the city fabric in the 20th century caused by growing reliance on cars as primary means of transportation.

There are plenty of things to like about Santa Fe and New Mexico. Culture, art, architecture here are distinctly different from the rest of the US. Many aspects of those are influenced by native people and Spanish colonists. An attempt to celebrate shared and complicated ancestry by erecting bronze plaques that weave the historic narration with all the grace of Soviet propaganda is neither proper nor decent. Once you water the historic fact down to fit on commemorative tablets it becomes so clueless that it often fails to be perceived as offensive.

You can do better Santa Fe. You should do better.

It all started one windy and snowy morning. Nature was being its ambiguous self: snow was promising fresh powder tracks but wind was going to hold up access to the slopes.

The condo clearly had wireless network since all our devices were happily connecting, but we could not find anything resembling an access point. Normally we would not even bother, but the Internet seemed sluggish and we were hoping some magic wave and dance (reboot, technically speaking) may help. We spent 30 minutes walking around the apartment watching minute changes on the wireless signal strength heat map, checking all possible boxes connected to electrical outlets. And it was a small flat.

Death Valley is the hottest place on Earth where the lowest temperature ever recorded in July stands at 69°F (21°C). The record highest temperature is almost twice that: 134°F (57°C). Only mad and Europeans visit outside the high season (November to March). 8am in October is the latest when you want to stay outdoors, and during hot autumn nights swimming pool may seem more inviting than your not-so-cheaply rented hotel bed.

Did they believe in vortexes as we do? asks 8-years old boy. We don't know, USFS volunteer who shows us around the Palatki site patiently answers. This is a typical answer when it comes to ancient ruins and their builders in the American Southwest. The question however is only typical to Sedona where New Age belief in psychic influence of red phallic protrusions reins supreme. At least boy's grandfather looks vaguely embarrassed.

It is a beautiful morning, you get up, look around and decide to hit the road. And just like that you are off heading toward endless string of adventures, one of a kind attractions, magnificent vistas, local restaurants serving tasty food, and comfortable motels offering clean sheets. A dream road trip, where you can be your spontaneous self yet every minute of it is fun, every road interesting, every place unique.

Spending every afternoon in a swimming pool gives one a poor vantage point to criticize use of water, but Palm Springs' 540 gallons per person per day is truly impressive. Despite its desert location this is a green place. Not green because of its environmental credentials. While over 3000 turbines of San Gorgonio Pass Wind Farm are an inspiring and a bit scary sight, Palm Springs is green in the original meaning of the word: green as trees, grass, golf courses and - obviously - palms. Which are no longer confined to occasional oases fed by natural springs.

We take a turn and here it is. A dam. Not particularly huge, not a very handsome one, but a dam nonetheless. Complete with a power station and a reservoir. Also, amazingly out of place. There is, or there was, quite a picturesque valley with several waterfalls around it. The dam actually makes for a great viewpoint. If you venture on the other side you can even hike through the wet tunnel and reach thoughtfully placed bridges under Wapama waterfalls. Very impressive even now, they must have been quite a sight before a raising lake level met them.

Conversation on the lift #3055. Participating: yours truly and a lovely lady in her prime. It starts after we've already exchanged the views on trails, weather and disappointing snow conditions.

According to their website skiing and snowboarding at Heavenly presents you with a number of different choices. At the moment this number is limited to bare rocks and man made snow, falling a tad short of Experience of a Lifetime trademarked by Vail Resorts that owns Heavenly since 2002. No amount of grooming and reverse tiling can hide wind-polished sheets of ice covering ski runs.

Have you ever wondered what happens to the Colorado river? If you look at a map it's pretty clear where it begins, but not so obvious where it ends. There is a good reason for that: Colorado is pumped out dry and disappears long before it has a chance to reach its delta in the Sea of Cortez.

Internment. I suspect I know this word longer than people my age born here. One winter morning almost 30 years ago my family TV set flatly refused to play the usual portion of Sunday cartoons and was showing somber people inexplicably wearing uniforms.

We plunge underwater to observe habits of juvenile Zalophus californianus. Or, in the words of Ivan, our dive master extraordinaire, to play with youngsters. And play is what we try to do. The result is, to be honest, that we are being played with. Sea lions treat us as clumsy companions who cannot swim fast enough and have to be jolted into action by deftly applied bites. We develop various techniques to keep them from nibbling on our wet-suited bodies. It's a good thing they seem to have preference for yellow, which means that our snorkels, fins and secondary regulators are in greater danger than our fingers.

You don a full body wetsuit, the thickest you can find. A hood, thick neoprene gloves, booties. You go in, shiver for half an hour and come back up to pour hot water into your suit to warm yourself up. If you see more then two body-lengths you consider the visibility outstanding.

We spent last spring and a good chunk of summer wandering through the deserts in Utah, Arizona and New Mexico. Almost each trail welcomed us with a familiar snake warning, but we saw just one rattlesnake. It was quite well hidden and tolerated us soundlessly while we were having our lunch admiring the Hovenweep ruins. It only got agitated when we suddenly stood up. Its angry rattle was more surprising than scary, but for a couple of days we took our time choosing a place to picnic. And then we started to hike in California where it seems we come acress a snake or two every day.