Location, Location ATCs

I just completed some ATCs for a swap, and thought I'd share!  The theme of the swap was location and each participant was to create ATCs based on where they lived - state, province, country, etc.  US participants were specifically asked to focus on the state where they lived.  We were also to alter playing cards for this swap. I thought this was a great opportunity to show off New Mexico.  I'm always amazed by the number of folks think there is nothing to do here!  The following are only a few of the amazing things about New Mexico -

The above piece has a photo I took at the Bosque Del Apache.  Every fall, migrating sandhill cranes and snow geese make this their temporary home.  There are thousands of them, and watching them take off in the morning and return each evening is truly spectacular!  The photo I used was one of some sandhill cranes returning to the Bosque at sunset.

New Mexico is also home to many, many deserted cabins.  They sort of dot the landscape.  The photo that I used in the above ATC was of a cabin on a road about 5-10 minutes from our home.  I got up early one winter morning and drove there to catch it in the sunrise.  I had to do this during the winter as that's the only time of year the sun is positioned in the right place to have the sunrise happen behind the cabin.  The last time I drove by this cabin, it seemed to be surrendering to the elements.  I'm not certain how much longer it will be here, so I'm glad I left my warm bed and captured it when I did!

One time when we were camping, we explored the San Lorenzo Canyon. We found this wonderful place with very narrow sandy roads weaving their way thru the rock formations.  This is not a place that one would want to be during a summer monsoon storm, tho.  The "roads" tend to become "streams" during those times.  However, this was during the month of November, so we were pretty certain we had nothing to fear.

This last ATC was based on an image of the effects of the wildfires we can have here during the spring/summer months.  Unfortunately, due to the lack of rain/snow fall we have here, the forests are ripe for wildfires - some started by natural causes (lighting strikes) and others by careless humans.  The image that the ATC was based on was of a sunset taken thru the haze of a huge wildfire we had here last spring.  Ironically, we had been camping fairly close to where this fire started only a couple of days before it erupted.  Altho the fire itself was a couple of hundred miles from our home (where this photo was taken), the smoke carried up throughout a large part of New Mexico.  I guess you could say impressive and beautiful sunsets are one of the few pieces of silver lining to the awfulness (is that a word?) of wildfires.

Enjoy!