Exploring NM

We've been in New Mexico and have finally had a little while to get in a bit of a rhythm which has been nice. I am familiar with the local grocery shopping haunts and have been to more than one farmer's market multiple times. One local man has taken to teasing us about our consumption of squash, but what can I say, it's really good squash. :) We have also had a little bit of time to explore the area and take some hikes. Rodney has ventured up near Wheeler Peak (the highest peak in NM), and together we have spent some time on the West Rim trail, a trail that runs along the Rio Gorge that contains the Rio Grande River and is also adjacent to the Rio Gorge Bridge, which you might recognize from such movies as Terminator 4 and Wild Hogs.
I think the most exciting thing I have done, besides fully embracing cooking whole chickens on a weekly basis and discovering the wonders of rutabagas, turnips, and fresh beets, has been to get a visitor's library card. It has been so long since I have had a local library card, and I am still just tickled pink every time I go to the counter and they let me take books. I did this for most of my childhood, but it all seems new again. Especially since the books are not journals and don't require that I write a paper for them. ;)
I'm staying busy studying for my GRE. Tragically my old scores are more than five years old, and apparently an actual graduate degree is not a sufficient predictor for success in graduate school, so I'm hitting the books again and learning to embrace quadratic equations and word problems that include things like "n number of pears." Rodney is busy working on job stuff and research and is a pretty full-time math tutor as well. :)
We are loving the laid back culture here, and we are really enjoying getting to learn a lot more about the history in the Southwest. Adobe houses dot the landscape everywhere and their muted browns and reds and straight lines blend almost seamlessly into the land around them. Being from the East Coast originally and having an almost obsessive love of all things green, I even surprise myself when I realize how much I like it here. The valleys stretch on for miles covered in little brushy trees and brown dirt, but there is a simplicity to the landscape, and I think I love the calm nature of the land. The mountains are also beautiful, and I think pretty soon here we're going to be seeing snow, at least up there, if not in our own yard.
Well, off to more math problems and maybe a book...