Your Guide to Authentic Regional Eats
Although most people likely envision New Mexico as a sandy, arid plain dotted with adobe and crisscrossed by the Rio Grande, the landscape is actually quite diverse depending on the corner of the state to which your travels take you. For instance, drive an hour north of the developed, populated valley of Albuquerque, and you will find yourself dwarfed by the lush Jemez Mountains. As you enter the wilderness of the Santa Fe National Forest, you may curse yourself for not packing an extra sandwich or serving of trail mix. The ride on Route 4 from San Ysidro to Los Alamos (home of the Los Alamos National Laboratory, where Oppenheimer and colleagues worked mid-century to develop the first atomic bomb) is a gorgeous 60-mile drive through dramatic canyons, along a road that does not appear likely to turn up delicious Roadfood finds. Luckily, however, not long before you reach the mineral-laden waters of Soda Dam, you come upon the small village of Jemez Springs.
