As we all know, we can walk the same path day after day and still wander into something new on every walk. But it’s also great to mix it up with something different. And that’s why ideas for new wandering adventures are important. They keep it fresh and make sure we get out the door.
Ideas can come from anywhere. Newspaper and magazine articles, or even a blog post like this, can lead to an idea. As an example, last Sunday an idea was served to me on a platter when I read, … climbs dozens of concrete steps daily from his home to his college office high atop a historic “castle”…, in the opening sentence of an article in the Sunday paper.
The “castle” in question happens to be Montezuma Castle near Las Vegas, New Mexico. This Las Vegas is on the east side of the mountains from Santa Fe, New Mexico and predates the more famous Las Vegas in Nevada by decades. Montezuma Castle was built as a luxury resort hotel with natural hot springs in the 1880s. The hotel and the surrounding grounds, including the hot springs, are now the campus of United World College.
I had visited the hot springs in the past and had seen the Castle from a distance, but I had no idea that there were significant stairways on the grounds. For those of us who like to soak in natural hot springs and explore stairways, it’s hard to imagine a better combination. Within two days of reading the article, the dogs and I were off to Las Vegas, New Mexico on a road trip.
When we reached Las Vegas we headed west of town toward the mountains. Within a few minutes we could see the Castle. Even though it was a chilly day, there were a few cars parked along the road and people soaking in the hot springs on the other side of the wire fence.
That’s what the castle looks like when you first see it from the road.
