New Mexico
Where Walter is not the only White
Santa Fe · White Sands · Las Cruces · Albuquerque
The Journey
All we knew about New Mexico was Walter White’s car wash, Los Pollos Hermanos, Hank and Skyler’s homes, and the scenery.
But when we arrived, our jaws dropped.
In Albuquerque, we did the full Breaking Bad fanfare. We visited Hank’s home, the car wash, and some of the other familiar locations. But we quickly headed north to Santa Fe, where it felt like we had entered a completely different universe.
The environment immediately took us to a higher place, spiritually, emotionally, and also physically. The streets were covered in art, filled with little galleries, sculptures, and creativity everywhere we looked. We walked among beautiful works and marveled at the art humanity is capable of producing.
We visited the Palace of the Governors, built in 1610 and considered the oldest continuously used public building constructed by European settlers in the continental United States. Standing there, surrounded by centuries of history, made Santa Fe feel even older than it looked.
We also visited the State Capitol, one of the most unique capitols in America and perfectly suited to the New Mexico landscape. After spending time in the highest state capital in the country, we headed to Bandelier National Monument, where Ancestral Pueblo people lived in communities built along the canyon and carved homes into the volcanic cliffs centuries ago. Walking through those spaces connected us to people who had lived on this land long before us.
In the south, we visited Las Cruces, where we found the giant 47 foot chile pepper, proudly billed as the world’s largest. We stayed nearby with tall mountains surrounding us, turning golden as the sun reflected across them. Sometimes all we wanted to do was sit on the deck, look out, and breathe.
But the most magical part of New Mexico, and perhaps one of the most beautiful places we saw anywhere in the country, was White Sands National Park.
Arriving there almost tricked our eyes. For miles, all we could see was glistening white sand reflecting the sun. Wherever we turned, white seemed to meet the sky. It was a kind of white that even snow does not seem to produce.
The girls played with sleds on the dunes, but I mostly wanted to sit and take it all in.
Only the sunset reminded us that eventually we had to leave. As the sun touched the edge of the white sand and the colors began to change, we put on some quiet music, meditated together, and held one another in a long family hug.
That moment became eternal for me.
New Mexico is one of our country’s hidden gems. Everywhere you turn there is beauty, history, meaning, art, and spirit.
We will be back.
Jewish New Mexico
Standing at the Palace of the Governors in Santa Fe, we learned about Bernardo López de Mendizábal, a seventeenth century governor of New Mexico, and his wife, Doña Teresa Aguilera y Roche.
Both were eventually brought before the Spanish Inquisition and accused of secretly practicing Jewish rites. Neither was ever convicted. Bernardo died while imprisoned, while Teresa was later released. Standing in the place where they had lived and governed made that history feel painfully close.
It was humbling to think that a few hundred years later, we could stand there openly Jewish, with complete freedom to practice our faith, while earlier generations were forced to live under suspicion simply for what they might believe or practice.
In Albuquerque, we came across a historical marker connected to Henry Nathan Jaffa, a Jewish immigrant who became the city’s first mayor in 1885. He later helped establish Congregation Albert, which we also visited and which remains the oldest continuously operating Jewish organization in New Mexico.
That contrast stayed with me. Hidden Jewish identity in seventeenth century Santa Fe, then a Jewish mayor helping build Albuquerque two centuries later, and today Jewish communities openly practicing across the state.
New Mexico’s Jewish story is small in numbers, but incredibly deep.
What Stayed With Me
What stayed with me about New Mexico was how spirituality, art, family, and belonging seemed to come together.
We drove through miles of dry, open land, yet everywhere there was color, culture, history, art, spirit, and life.
Then we reached White Sands.
Watching the girls in that almost impossibly white landscape while the sunset changed the colors around us, then pulling them close for one long family hug, is a moment I still carry.
New Mexico reminded me that a place does not need endless green, skyscrapers, or Michelin star restaurants to feel full of life.
Maybe sometimes the opposite is true.
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