I spent a few days last week in New Mexico, bringing the number of states I've visited to 43. (However, 15 of those I haven't spent a night in, and in two of 'em -- Florida and Nebraska -- I didn't even get outside the airport. Still haven't been to Iowa, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Alabama, Vermont, or either Dakota.)
Anyway, upon touching down last Sunday at the Albuquerque airportSunport, I visited Isotopes Park (above), home of the Triple-A Albuquerque Isotopes (so named after a certain Simpsons episode). Then I drove down a nearby stretch of Route 66, though I was disappointed that it didn't look as cool as in this 1969 Ernst Haas photo. Time for a late lunch, so I had a footlong and Frito pie at the Dog House...
After checking into my downtown hotel, I drove up to the Santa Ana Star Center (a small arena on the edge of the desert) for a performance of Batman Live. Despite the Cirque du Soleil-type bullshit, I enjoyed it anyhow -- it was a good story, and besides, I'm a sucker for all stuff Batman. For dinner I ate a burrito at the Frontier Restaurant, then headed over to the Launchpad to see the Melvins on their record-setting tour. Nobody rocks a muumuu like King Buzzo...
Monday morning I rode the Sandia Peak Tramway to its 10,378-foot summit, the highest elevation I've ever been on land...
Back in the city I had a so-so Lotaburger at local chain Blake’s...
Belly full, I motored four hours to the south and west through desert, mountains, and Truth or Consequences to my sister and her husband's house outside Silver City, where I spent a couple nights in their Airstream...
Wednesday I headed back to Albuquerque and flew home, changing planes at the Phoenix airportSky Harbor. Next time I visit, I'll fly into either Tucson or El Paso, both of which are closer to Silver City than Albuquerque, and neither of which has a stupid airport name.
New Mexico's license plates refer to the state as a "Land of Enchantment," though I also found it a land of hot-air balloons, Kokopellis, dreamcatchers, green chile, blue crystal meth, and bloody, crusty boogers, which I woke up to every morning (I'm not used to the dry climate). However, thanks to melatonin and proper hydration, I slept much better at these relatively high altitudes than I had in the past. Still, I was glad to get home, down at sea level during a rainy stretch of weather.
Other than the MAD Presents Batman special I picked up over the summer, I probably haven't bought a single issue since the '80s. (For that matter, I don't think I've ever sat through a full episode of MADtv.) Perhaps the best MAD-related thing to come out in the last 25 years is the awesome, unauthorized Roctober tribute issue -- here's a better look at the cover.
MAD meant the most to me between 1977 and 1984 or so (ages 8 through 15), when it spoofed the first Star Wars and Indiana Jones installments, along with the other movies and TV shows and video games (above) that I was tuned into. I didn't quite get all the political humor and social commentary, but I dug Spy vs. Spy, the Fold-ins, and all the stuff by Al Jaffee, Don Martin, Mort Drucker, and especially Jack Davis. And I must've played that stupid Makin' Out flex-disc a million times.
