Dorado Magazine - January/February 2017

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DORADO Small towns Love e W FA S H I O N ' S G R E AT T U R Q U O I S E R E V I VA L

T H E S O U T H W E S T ' S VA N I S H I N G W I L D L I F E

12 SOU T H W E ST J E W E L S YOU M UST V ISI T

A SNOWSHOE AND FONDUE ADVENTURE IN COLORADO INSIDE A STUNNING EQUESTRIAN STABLE YOAKUM, TX: LEATHER CAPITAL OF THE WORLD

JAN/FEB 2017

Elevated lodging steeped in the legacy and untamed spirit of Taos Ski Valley Infused by the diverse cultural mash-up that is Taos, unexpected curiosities are around each corner, balanced by thoughtful amenities that make each stay feel like a little indulgence is only natural.

OPENING IN FEBRUARY 2017 | RESERVATIONS: 1.88 THE BLAKE | BOOK ONLINE: SKITAOS.COM/THE-BLAKE-AT-TAOS-SKI-VALLEY

Here Skeeters carry bats, dinosaurs guard a prison and the shopping is absolutely epic.

Historic, fun and full of unexpected treasures, Sugar Land has it all. From pro baseball and prehistoric behemoths, to luxurious accommodations, gorgeous green spaces, world-class shopping, cultural events and exquisite dining, Sugar Land is an eclectic mix of small town charm and cosmopolitan flair that’s just minutes from downtown Houston.

Explore Sugar Land and get a taste of just how sweet life can be. Get inspired at VisitSugarLandTX.com.

Visit Sugar Land Convention & Visitor Services JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2017 • DORADO

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TABLE of CONTEN TS

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FEATURES

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Small Towns, Big Charms

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These special spots offer unique Southwestern appeal, whether you’re looking for an outdoor adventure, Old West character or a festival-season getaway.

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The Turquoise Revival Long treasured by Native people and valued as a traveler’s keepsake, turquoise is an icon of Southwestern style and fashion’s sentimental classic.

by Melissa Liebling-Goldberg

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DORADO • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2017

Snowshoe and Fondue Beyond the perfectly groomed slopes of Beaver Creek, one intrepid food lover sets out on the ultimate cold-weather, hot-cheese adventure. by amiee white beazley

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Gone Wild Despite some success stories, many native Southwestern species face extinction. Explore the remote locales where our vanishing wildlife are finding their last sanctuaries.

by Richard Parkers

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: DEWEY NICKS/ TRUNK ARCHIVE, STUART WHITAKER, JILL RICHARDS. COVER: TRINETTE REED/STOCKSY.

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r e d w o P Always here, Arriving on-time, and ready to ride.

Grand Junction Regional Airport is your launchpad into the Colorado backcountry.

Go big with non-stop flights from Denver, Salt Lake City, Phoenix, Las Vegas, and Dallas.

Skip the big airport hassles this season and spend more time shredding fresh powder!

www.gjairport.com JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2017 • DORADO

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DEPARTMENTS ADVENTURE

36 My Travels with Pete the Dog

Dave Hahn has summited Mount Everest 15 times. His day job?

Patrolling the slopes of Taos, New Mexico.

Learn how this smallbut-tough street pup became an adventurer’s best friend.

AT HOME

71 Barn Raiser

CULTURE

In Texas, scores of artisans still craft saddles the old-fashioned way.

80 M Y

PA N O R A M A

PEOPLE

26 King of the Mountain

30 A Legacy in Leather

DORADOMAGAZINE.COM

Discover how an Aspen homeowner transformed a snowfall-collapsed structure into a stable of dreams.

DORADO

Second-grader Drew Bacrania finds his bliss road-tripping across the Southwest with his dad.

A SNA P SHOT OF T HE SOU T HWEST ’ S EV ENTS, C U LT U R E & P E O P L E CRAFT

13 Two Colorado sledding

fans are reintroducing Americans to the joys of zooming downhill.

DESIGN

16 An adobe advocate

is experimenting with ancient building techniques that may spark a revolution.

SHOP

18 These Texas Treasures

will add a bit of charm to your home and wardrobe.

10 Masthead • 11 Contributors

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BOOKS

20 What inspired Forrest

Gump author Winston Groom to make his return to fiction?

The epicenter of the Mexican Revolution: El Paso, Texas.

DRINKS

22 Meet sotol, an earthy Southwestern spirit gaining the attention of bartenders and tequila lovers alike.

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: ANDREW MAGUIRE; GEORGE GR ANTHAM BAIN COLLECTION (LIBR ARY OF CONGRESS); COURTESY OF COPPER COMMON, SALT L AKE CIT Y; KELLY VAUGHN; BUFF STRICKL AND; COURTESY OF TAOS SKI VALLEY

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Shake, Paddle and Roll

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2017 • DORADO

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[ LONE STAR ] State of the art.

Milky Morning, 2016. 30 IN x 40 IN Painting by John R. Lowery

192 Henkel Circle | Round Top, Texas 78954 | HUMBLEDONKEYSTUDIO.COM

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E D I TO R I A L

Editor in Chief

Jeff Ficker Creative Director

Caroline Jackson Crafton Design Director

Marc Oxborrow Associate Editor/Digital Editor

Ellen Ranta Olson Online Design

Aaron Heirtzler editorial inquiries: editor@doradomagazine.com P R O D U CT I O N

Director of Creative Services

Todd Bartz Vice President of Enterprise Marketing

Kricket Lewis Subscription Services

Aani Parrish production inquiries: customerservice@doradomagazine.com ADVERTISING

Publisher

Chad Rose chadr@bcimedia.com Account Executives

Theresa Monaco

Lauren Reidy-Phelan

tmonaco@bcimedia.com

laurenrp@bcimedia.com

Katy Walker kwalker@bcimedia.com Marketing & Audience Development Manager

Brittany Cupp Chief Executive Officer

Douglas Bennett Vice President of Finance and Operations

Bob Ganley To subscribe to Dorado magazine, visit doradomagazine.com.

Dorado magazine is published by Ballantine Communications.

Creative services provided by Casual Astronaut (casualastronaut.com).

Dorado magazine will not assume any responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts or materials. © 2017 Ballantine Communications, Inc. All rights reserved.

This publication may not be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means without prior written permission.

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CONTRIBUTORS

After a decadelong career as an experimental nuclear physicist, Minesh Bacrania (My Dorado, page 80) has established himself as an editorial and documentary photographer. His portraits and photo essays exploring the unique people and traditions of the Southwest have been featured in many regional and national publications. He lives with his son in the mountains outside of Santa Fe.

Melissa Liebling-Goldberg (The Turquoise Revival, page 56) is an editor and writer living in New York City, where she hoards shoes in an unreasonable way for a Manhattan apartment dweller. She grew up in Texas and can’t stop calling herself a Texan, even after a 20-year absence.

Her writing has appeared in People, PopSugar, Glamour, Nylon, the New York Post and more.

FAVORITE PLACE IN THE SOUTH W EST

FAVO R I T E PL AC E I N T H E S O U T H W E ST

Northern New Mexico “I love the people and their stories, the history, the culture — and the scenery is pretty nice, too.”

San Antonio, Texas “I love the mix of cultures, the beauty of the River Walk and, of course, the killer Tex-Mex food.”

Buff Strickland (A Legacy in Leather, page 30) draws her inspiration from the diversity of subjects she shoots and from the personal, authentic moments she captures. After spending more than a decade living and shooting in New York City, Buff returned to her home state of Texas where she shoots both editorial and commercial work for clients such as Country Living, Better Homes and Gardens and Coastal Living.

Richard Parker (Gone Wild, page 64) is an award-winning journalist and author, who makes his home on a Texas Hill Country ranch. He writes a column for The Dallas Morning News and contributes to the op-ed section of The New York Times, as well as to the pages of The Atlantic, Politico and Texas Monthly. He is the author of Lone Star Nation: How Texas Will Transform America and lecturer of practice in journalism at Texas State University.

FAVORITE PLACE IN THE SOUTH W EST Durango, Colorado “This town holds a special place in my heart.

It’s where my parents moved to 20 years ago and when my husband I got married. There are great hikes, skiing and good restaurants — all in the perfect Rocky Mountain setting.”

Lifetime Memories Made Here

FAVO R I T E PL AC E I N T H E S O U T H W E ST Rio Grande Gorge, north of Taos, New Mexico “Down in the gorge, you’re in New Mexico, certainly, but on some far, distant planet of cold water and big fish.”

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PANORAMA A S N A P S H O T O F T H E S O U T H W E S T ’ S E V E N T S , C U LT U R E & P E O P L E

CRAFT

The Art of the Sled Two Colorado sledding fanatics are reintroducing Americans to the joys of zooming downhill with hand-shaped toboggans, flyers and kicksleds

BY JEN MURPHY PHOTOGRAPHY BY ANDREW MAGUIRE

Brice Hoskin, author of The Sled Book and founder of Mountain Boy Sledworks

PLUS:

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| Design

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| Shop

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| Books

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| Drinks

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2017 • DORADO

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PANORAMA Sledding shouldn’t be a pastime relegated to childhood memories. And thanks to a duo of grown men, the art of the sled is re-emerging as a winter activity for all ages.

“Speed. That’s really what sledding is about — barreling downhill, back to the wind, thinking, ‘Faster! Faster!’” says Brice Hoskin, author of The Sled Book and founder of Mountain Boy Sledworks. Growing up in Grand Junction, Colorado, Hoskin skied Powderhorn Mountain every weekend, but says he’d quit early to go sledding on his “much-repaired” Flexible Flyer. “You get speed on skis, for sure,” he says. “But it’s different when you’re flying down the mountain on a sled head first.”

When Hoskin moved to Silverton, Colorado, in 2002, his wife, Karen,

“You get speed on skis, for sure. But it’s different when you’re flying down the mountain on a sled head first.” asked him to build them sleds. In the process, Hoskin started thinking about the different types of sleds he could create and how each could coast differently based on design and materials. “I have a bad habit of turning hobbies into businesses,” he jokes.

That year, Mountain Boy Sledworks was born, and Hoskin found himself testing various prototypes. He even traveled to Grindelwald, Switzerland, a sledding mecca, to test his sleds on the longest toboggan run in the world, which spans just over nine miles.

“Europe has a real sled culture that I hope America embraces,” he says.

Hoskin eventually settled on three designs. Kicksleds, a Scandinavian invention, are essentially a chair on runners. “I reworked them for Colorado, making them taller with

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Mountain Boy’s lineup includes traditional flyers, Scandinavian kicksleds and classic toboggans.

a longer seat so they could fit a few kids,” says Hoskin. “They’re perfect for getting around mountain towns.” His classic toboggan comes in three sizes and the 8-foot fits six adults comfortably. “It’s a rocket,” says Hoskin. “You don’t steer — you just go down.” The Ultimate Flyer, an improved version of the classic Flexible Flyer, is made with birch planks, custom-molded plastic, and handcarved willow hand rails, and glides and turns like a Ferrari. “It took many tries to get to the point where this sled floats through powder and carves on ice,” he says.

While many customers praised Hoskin’s designs, Rick Hitzemann

was so infatuated with his Mountain Boy sled that he wanted to carry on the handmade sled legacy. “I immediately fell in love with the handmade beauty and excellent functionality,” says Hitzemann, who along with his wife, Jen, took over Mountain Boy in 2012. Hitzemann enjoyed sledding as a young boy, riding a 6-foot toboggan with siblings at his grandparents’ farm in Wisconsin. “Being the youngest, I got to ride in front, the most exciting position,” he recalls. “I took over Mountain Boy hoping that more families get outside and enjoy something that doesn’t require a screen, batteries or a power cord.”

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PANORAMA

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imone Swan believes good architecture can start with the most basic of materials. An earthen-architecture expert who is passionate about using traditional building techniques to provide low-cost, structurally sound housing for the economically disadvantaged, Swan puts her mission more simply: “We teach people to build homes with nothing but the earth beneath their feet.”

DESIGN

Earth and Home In west Texas, adobe advocate Simone Swan pursues her vision to spark a modern and sustainable architectural revolution with ancient Egyptian building techniques B Y L A U R I E D AV I E S

Under Swan’s direction, six earthen buildings — five homes and one business structure — have been built in a remote, yucca-studded swath of Big Bend country in far west Texas and Mexico. One is Swan’s demonstration home in Presidio, Texas, where her Adobe Alliance nonprofit has led adobe-building workshops attended by architecture and engineering students as well as industry experts seeking hands-on experience with Swan’s Egyptian-styled building techniques.

While adobe has been indigenous to the region for centuries, Swan combines mud-brick homebuilding with the type

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Simone Swan runs the Adobe Alliance in Presidio, Texas, which teaches traditional building techniques to provide low-cost housing.

of high vaulted roofs and domed architecture found in Egypt. This eliminates the need for costly roofing materials.

In fact, for Swan, the road to Presidio went through Cairo. Some 20 years ago, she was vice president of a prominent Texas arts foundation, dividing her time between Manhattan and Houston, and brushing shoulders with the likes of Andy Warhol and other

connections in art and architecture.

Then she read Architecture for the Poor, by renowned Egyptian architect Hassan Fathy, and was inspired to travel to Cairo to apprentice under him.

“Her love for adobe architecture started there. She just fell in love with the stuff,” says William Menking, editor of The Architect’s Newspaper in New York and a friend of Swan’s since the

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1980s. He views Swan as perhaps the country’s most important advocate for adobe- and mud-brick architecture.

Born in Belgium, Swan had already crossed the Atlantic by ship 16 times before age 10, so the apprenticeship in Egypt stoked her adventurous spirit.

“I’m always ahead of my time,” she says, acknowledging that while the Egyptian techniques she learned are rooted in the past, they have a practical application in the future. “Over half the people on this planet live in earth houses,” she says.

Dennis Dollens, professor of architecture at Universitat Internacional de Catalunya in Barcelona, refers to Swan’s buildings as “little architectural revolutions in adobe and mud plasters,” and further uses the idea of revolution to extend to her ideas of empowering the poor to build their own homes.

“It all connects. She has long advocated for minorities and underemployed people living in the border region to view homebuilding as an empowering tool for their lives,” Dollens says.

Currently, Swan’s efforts are geared toward restoring the Presidio demonstration home, which was damaged during atypically torrential desert rains in 2013 and 2014. Even this will probably become part of her blueprint for instructing others in what works — and what doesn’t — when it comes to adobe construction in the American Southwest. “That’s her legacy,” Menking says.

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PANORAMA

COW OF A DIFFERENT COLOR

After decades of painting images for NASA and illustrating for advertisements, artist John Lowery bought 50 acres in Burton, Texas, where hilly pastures called to be painted. He shows his creations, like Milky Morning, in Round Top at his Humble Donkey Studio.

They turn the spotlight on the unassuming donkey and dairy cow, not just the longhorn. $3,750, humbledonkeystudio.com

BOOTS IN BLOOM

With Italian craftsmanship and Texas-bred toughness, Lucchese is a heavyweight in the well-stocked boot industry. The company continues to churn out traditional designs that reflect its nearly 140-year Western heritage as well as modern designs, like the Catalina — a must-have bootie with an asymmetrical top and likable floral cowhide. $275, lucchese.com

COLOR ME COZY

Rancher’s daughter Kim Moncure curates clothes for the Western woman with edge in her online shop, Cowgirl Kim. This of-themoment Cowgirl Justice Desert Tones Cisco wrap is quintessential Southwest, from the hues to the design. The cozy style is perfect for around the campfire or a date night. $78, cowgirlkim.com

SHOP

Texas Treasures

These specially crafted goods from the Lone Star State will add a bit of Southwestern charm to your home and wardrobe

BY ASHLEY M. BIGGERS

BUCKLING DOWN

James Cavender had a Texas-sized vision for a men’s Western wear store and, over 50 years, the family has grown it to dozens of stores across the region. The Cavender’s men’s Western belt is perfect for those who may not have earned a high score in bronc-riding, but still want to look like a rodeo champ. $25, cavenders.com

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ON A ROLL

Clint Harp, star craftsman from HGTV’s megahit Fixer Upper, left his corporate job to build furniture. A few years later, Harp and his Harp Design Co. team are filming Against the Grain, a new DIY Network series creating custom backyard pergolas and decks. Perhaps these yard dice — handmade in Waco, Texas — will get a roll in one of the spaces. $77.50, harpdesignco.com

TOP IT OFF

Amie and Jolie Sikes fancy themselves purveyors of the world’s finest junk. They have flipped flea-market finds into a Junk Gypsy Co. dynasty headquartered at their Round Top store. This Gypsy hat adds a boho vibe to any outfit — whether you’re spending the day at a music festival or taking a Hill Country road trip. $92, gypsyville.com

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PANORAMA

BOOKS

Come to Pass What inspired Forrest Gump author Winston Groom to make his long-awaited return to fiction? The epicenter of the Mexican Revolution: El Paso, Texas

BY CELESTE SEPESSY

T

hirty years ago, Winston Groom wrote Forrest Gump. Since then, he’s pretty much stuck to histories — of the Civil War, Alabama’s Crimson Tide, early aviators and World War II generals.

The move from fiction to history was mostly one of self-preservation.

“A lot of novelists keep writing fiction because they don’t know what else to do. Eventually you run out of ideas,” Groom says. “You’ll end up like Thomas Wolfe, Hemingway or Fitzgerald, and drink yourself to death. That wasn’t the path I wanted to go down.”

But Groom made an exception for his newest novel, El Paso, which combines fact and fiction. After all, ideas were plentiful, thanks to his friend Eddie Morgan — a descendant of J.P. Morgan.

Pancho Villa

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Retreat. Relax.

Always a Great Time in Kerrville!

LEFT: GEORGE GR ANTHAM BAIN COLLECTION / LIBR ARY OF CONGRESS; SQUIRE FOX ( AUTHOR)

At the turn of the 20th century, the industrial tycoon and financier owned a million-acre cattle ranch in Chihuahua, Mexico, as did many other notable Americans, such as the Guggenheim, Rockefeller and Hearst families. During the Mexican Revolution, Pancho Villa — the book’s villain — took note and offense, especially after President Woodrow Wilson cut off his connection to arms and ammunitions from “action-central” El Paso.

The Americans down in Chihuahua paid for it. Villa rustled cows from Morgan’s ranch to feed his army and “committed a number of acts of deprivation,” Winston Groom Groom says. On the (very true) list: killing copper and silver mining engineers, sabering the ranch manager to death, then kidnapping his children.

“Eddie regaled me with these stories in The Knickerbocker Club over lunch,” Groom says. “I had a lot of stories, but I didn’t have a novel.”

Decades later, Morgan family tales would indeed transform into a novel — one of Bostonian railroad barons in a foreign desert, with cameos from Ambrose Bierce, journalist John Reed and Hollywood cowboy Tom Mix. What follows is “one big adventure story”: a manhunt through the vast Sierra Madre, filled with roaming snakes, jaguars and grizzlies, and of course, Pancho Villa.

Groom likes when the good guys win and the bad guys lose.

But reader beware. “It doesn’t always work out that way.”

REQUIRED READING Learn about the Wild West with these picks from Winston Groom.

El Paso Winston Groom

Ambrose Bierce: Alone in Bad Company Roy Morris Jr.

The Life and Times of Pancho Villa Friedrich Katz

Death in the Afternoon

Historic Downtown • Texas Hill Country Wineries & Breweries The Guadalupe River Trail • The Texas Hill Country Arts Destination

Ernest Hemingway

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2017 • DORADO

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PANORAMA DRINKS

Tequila’s Loco Little Brother Meet sotol, an earthy Southwestern spirit gaining the attention of bartenders and tequila lovers alike

BY KARA NEWMAN

Distilled from the desert spoon plant for generations in Mexico, Sotol is finding new fans thanks to modern distillers and hip bars.

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CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: ALLISON WEBBER; COURTESY COPPER COMMON, SALT L AKE CIT Y; COURTESY OF BACK BAR PROJECT (2).

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ove peppery tequila? Or the smoky richness of mezcal?

Well, there’s a new spirit in town that should be the next bottle on your must-sip list: earthy sotol.

What exactly is sotol? The distilled spirit from Mexico is a little like tequila — it’s even been referred to “tequila’s crazy little brother.” Yet it’s not the same thing at all. Sotol is made from the desert spoon plant (not agave, which is used to make tequila), which grows wild, notably in Mexico’s Chihuahua region. It also grows as far north as Texas, Arizona and New Mexico, and as far south as Oaxaca.

It’s that wild character that makes bartenders love sotol. “Where it’s grown comes through in the taste,” explains Bill Parker, bar director at the Last Drop Bar in Paradise Valley, Arizona.

“There are areas in [Chihuahua] where it’s dry desert, or more forested, and it grows wild in all of those places. There’s a minerality to the desert-grown desert spoon, and a piney-ness to the ones that grow in the forest.”

Although sotol isn’t anywhere near as ubiquitous as tequila, a growing number of labels are starting to appear on shelves, including Hacienda de Chihuahua, Por Siempre and Don Cuco.

In addition, Austin-based Genius Distillery, best known for making Genius Gin, has experimented with making Texas Sotol, a small-batch spirit distilled from Texas’ version of the sotol plant. The first batch sold out, Genius owner and CEO Mike Groener

confirms, but they are refining production techniques, working with a sotolero (expert sotol maker) from Mexico, and new batches are coming shortly.

Bartenders are also mixing the spirit into craft cocktails.

In general, the flavor is “more savory and less fruit-forward” than tequilas, Parker says. It works particularly well in spirit-forward drinks. “The challenge is making sure you don’t overpower the sotol,” he says. For example, he mixes Sotol Por Siempre into a refreshing riff on the classic Last Word cocktail El Ultimo: equal parts sotol, green chartreuse, Chareau aloe liqueur and lime juice, served in a martini glass garnished with a cucumber wheel.

So, is sotol poised to become the new tequila? “No!” Parker says, emphatically. It’s made in such small quantities, he reasons. One desert spoon plant yields a single bottle of sotol.

But that shouldn’t stop tequila lovers from chasing the wild dream. “People who consider themselves fans of tequila — and are maybe branching out into mezcal — they should try sotol,” Parker says. “I think it’s wonderful on its own.”

¡SALUD, SOTOL!

These expertly crafted cocktails showcase sotol’s diverse and nuanced flavors:

Juana Talk About It? Courtesy of Copper Common, Salt Lake City This elegant take on a sotol sipper is rounded out with orange liqueur and aged rum.

1 oz. sotol ∏ oz. Zaya Gran Reserva 12 rum ∏ oz. Ferrand dry curaçao √ oz. Dolin Rouge vermouth Orange peel, for garnish Stir all ingredients with ice and strain into a coupe glass.

Garnish with orange peel.

The Brave Courtesy of Anvil, Houston The bold-flavored drink has become so popular that Bobby Heugel says it has become the “house drink” and he will never take it off the cocktail menu.

1 oz. Hacienda de Chihuahua Sotol Plata 1 oz. Del Maguey Chichicapa mezcal ∏ oz. Averna amaro 1 teaspoon Marie Brizard Orange curaçao 2 dashes Angostura Bitters Orange peel, for garnish Stir all ingredients in a large wine glass without ice. Mist Angostura bitters on top. Flame orange peel, then use to garnish.

Riding. Resort. Lifestyle. wUw e /qF E- w Jw AN A R. Y B ReUa Ar R Y. c2 o 0 1m 7 • DORADO

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JOIN THE ADVENTURE

Santa Fe, New Mexico

SANTA FE SUMMIT | $1,190,000 4 br, 3 ba, 2,950 sq. ft. | MLS: 201504440 Meticulously maintained home customdesigned to take advantage of mountain views.

Laurie Hilton, ABR, CRS | 505.780.3237

210 PICTURESQUE ACRES | $935,000 3 br, 2 ba, 210 acres | MLS: 201604745 Spectacular and rare 210-acre parcel South of Santa Fe off the Scenic Turquoise Trail.

Cindy Sheff | 505.470.6114

RARE OPPORTUNITY | $679,000 2,400 sq. ft. | MLS: 201404652 Prime downtown location near the Plaza.

Charming building with off-street parking.

Stefan Lark | 505.501.6100

231 Washington Ave. | Santa Fe, NM 87501 505.988.8088 sothebyshomes.com/santafe Sotheby’s International Realty and the Sotheby’s International Realty logo are registered (or unregistered) service marks used D O ROperated A D O by • Sotheby’s J A N U AInternational RY/FEBR U A RInc. Y with permission.

Realty,

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2017

AN ADVENTURE MAGAZINE DEDICATED TO THE EVERYDAY EXPLORER.

Marcus Garcia hard at work in the Ouray Ice Park

CHARMING EASTSIDE ESCAPE | $699,000 3 br, 2 ba, 1,824 sq. ft. | MLS: 201500714 Charming renovated Casa Sombra condo.

Main level living and extra rooms upstairs.

MaryJoy Ford | 505.577.0177

SPECIAL SECTION

LOCALLY SOURCED A few of our favorite finds from the Southwest’s small towns SLATE GRAY GALLERY Slate Gray Gallery is a contemporary art gallery showcasing a collection of fine art, home embellishments and artisan jewelry. Since opening its doors in the summer of 2015, Slate Gray has catered to homeowners and interior designers seeking original and curated art. The gallery continually strives to provide a platform for both local and up-and-coming artists as well as established artists worldwide.

235 Earl Garrett St., Kerrville, TX (830) 315-3150, slategraygallery.com

BUFFALO COLLECTION A perfect accent piece for the foyer or the foot of your bed, this bench is covered with a handsheared buffalo robe and decorated with bits, antique belting, and buckles and Navajo mocha sueded buffalo leather on the sides. Soft as cashmere, this thick fur is a delight to touch.

7044 E. Fifth Ave., Scottsdale, AZ (480) 946-3903 buffalocollection.com

SANTA FE SCOUT Channeling the bohemian elegance that the Southwest is known for, the Santa Fe Scout Collection reflects the traditions of Western spirit and soul.

Made with reclaimed materials such as rescued Navajo weavings and vintage horse tacks, each bag is built by hand one at a time, so production is small and every bag unique. The line is named after the founder’s dog Scout, and each style bears the name of one of her beloved dogs or horses.

1219 Cerrillos Rd., Santa Fe, NM (505) 660-6442 santafescoutcollection.com

DOUBLE D RANCH Finding a fashion house in the middle of South Texas is like finding a Prada store in the middle of the Great Plains. But they exist. Since 1990, the women of Double D Ranch in Yoakum, Texas, have been blazing a trail that has turned a small garage operation into a flourishing 27-year-old fashion brand. Every Double D Ranch collection is made from luxurious fabrics adorned with brand staples like genuine silver buttons, hand embroidery and beading.

120 West Grand Ave., Yoakum, TX (361) 293-2394, ddranchwear.com

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ADVENTURE

K ING OF THE MOUNTA IN Dave Hahn has summited Mount Everest 15 times, more than any other Westerner. Stephanie Pearson joins the modest mountaineering legend on his day job: patrolling the slopes of Taos, New Mexico

TOUGH AT THE TOP

Dave Hahn scales Mount Everest in Nepal, the world's highest mountain in terms of altitude — and the ultimate challenge for climbers.

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“

DAN CHEHAYL

can come back from the Himalayas or Antarctica and think I’m a big deal — but I can still get my ass kicked at Taos on any given day,” Dave Hahn says.

It’s a good day for an ass-kicking. The sky above Taos Ski Valley is brilliant blue and the snow on the ground is deep. I’m surprised to find Hahn, a veteran ski patroller and world-famous mountain guide, on duty at the top of Chair 2. At age 55, Hahn has reached the summit of Mount Everest 15 times — more than any non-Sherpa climber. He’s also guided clients to the summit of Mount Rainier “somewhere between 270 and 275 times,” he guesses, Antarctica’s Vinson Massif 35 times, Denali 22 times, Kilimanjaro five times, Cho Oyu twice and a handful of the major peaks in the Swiss and French Alps.

Hahn is such a legend that it’s hard to fathom how he still has time to hold down a day job. But every winter between guide gigs for the past 26 years, Hahn has risen before the sun to bomb avalanche-prone slopes, rescue injured skiers and patrol alongside a crew of 50 experts, some of whom have worked at this famously steep and challenging Southern Rockies resort at least a decade longer than he has.

“We have a nice relationship, me and the ski patrol,” Hahn tells me as passing locals give him a subtle, yet reverential, bro nod. Six-foot-two and bareheaded with a shock of wavy hair, he’s easy to recognize. “Even if I return from guiding in Antarctica the day before, the patrol knows they can call on me and I’ll be up at 5 a.m.,” he says. “There’s a lot of pride on the line. If you don’t finish your avalanche route to everybody’s satisfaction, you get roasted for it.”

Since there are no imminent emergencies, Hahn agrees to take a run with me. Part of his job, after all, is to make sure skiers like me don’t get buried in a tree well. We boot-pack up through pines, into the piercing sunshine and across Highline Ridge, pausing to grasp the 360-degree view of the Rio Grande Valley to the west and deep bowls of powder to the north and east.

Hahn passes skied-off runs like Juarez before we drop into Tresckow, a steep, treed glade that Taos Ski Valley’s founder Ernie Blake, who escaped Germany in 1938, named after Henning von Tresckow, a German Army officer who tried to assassinate Hitler.

“My patrol buddies love making fun of the way I

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TOP RIGHT: COURTESY OF TAOS SKI VALLEY; BOTTOM LEFT: KEN SAULS COURTESY OF EDDIE BAUER; PREVIOUS SPREAD: MICHAEL BROWN COURTESY OF EDDIE BAUER

ski,” says Hahn before he slices through a tight line of trees. “I’m the most uncoordinated climber and skier you’ve ever met.”

I’m not buying Hahn’s humility. The man was part of the team that found George Mallory’s body on Mount Everest. Among his many accolades is a Citizen’s Award for Bravery from the U.S. Department of the Interior for a heroic rescue he performed on Mount Rainier — even after the rescue helicopter crashed into the mountain. There’s got to be some good reason Hahn is still alive after everything he’s survived. So I ask a co-worker what makes him so good at what he does.

“Dave has done enough in his life to warrant an ego, but he doesn’t have one at all,” says Malia Reeves, who has worked alongside MOUNTAIN MAN Hahn at Taos for three years. “He takes his job rock climber from the Bay Area who started From top: Hahn on patrol seriously, but he doesn’t take himself seriously. him out as a kid hiking in the Sierras. “I always at Taos Ski Valley in New Mexico; summiting Denali Other patrollers joke about his celebrity,” she remember crying,” Hahn laughs. “We’d go in Alaska, a feat he has adds, “but he handles it in a funny, self-deprehiking, and he’d make me go uphill and then accomplished 22 times. cating way.” As for expertise, “Dave is someone downhill. What a bastard!” you want along on a difficult mission.”

The father-son outings became more epic by the year When pressed, Hahn does admit that he has honed — Hahn’s first two Denali trips were with his dad. As a few crucial guiding skills while working in dangerous, recently as 2011, Hahn returned to California with his high-pressure situations. “I think it’s my empathy for then-78-year-old partner to thru-hike Tenaya Canyon, what novices are going through in these environments,” known as the Bermuda Triangle of Yosemite. He wrote he tells me. “I remember just what it was like coming about the experience in 2012 in an Outside magazine new into these worlds of big mountains and skiing.” story aptly titled How I Nearly Killed my Father.

Hahn’s own introduction to the mountains came Hahn’s love for New Mexico, however, came from through his father, Ronald Hahn, a former Yosemite his mother’s side of the family. They’d settled in Albuquerque in the 1930s. “Some of my earliest memories are these road trips to New Mexico,” Hahn tells me as we ride Lift 4 to the base of Kachina, a steep peak formerly accessible only by a 45-minute boot-packing slog. Last year, however, Taos’ new owner, Louis Bacon, built a chairlift up the side that reaches 12,481 feet, the highest elevation of any triple chair in North America.

“Even from my earliest years, I remember being fascinated by this state. I was blown away by the mountains, the physical beauty of the area, and the long history of the Spanish and the Indians,” Hahn says. “When I got out of college I didn’t know what I wanted to do, but I knew I wanted to go to New Mexico.”

Hahn moved from upstate New York to Albuquerque, then quickly migrated north to teach skiing at Angel Fire Resort. But he spent all of his days off work skiing at Taos. In 1985 Ernie Blake hired him as a ski instructor. In 1991 Hahn earned a coveted spot on ski patrol.

Three decades later he’s just another patroller, even if he does live in a renovated adobe house on the same road as Julia Roberts and Donald Rumsfeld.

“A continually cool thing about patrolling is that when I come across someone on the mountain who’s in trouble, they don’t care about my resume,” Hahn tells me before he skis off to deal with a distress call. “They are focused on whether I can help them then and there.

That’s a good grounding for me.”

99 PENNINGTON PLACE Telluride, CO 81435

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C A L L F O R P R I VAT E S H O W I N G 917-494-2261 www.99pennington.com JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2017 • DORADO

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TAN, TRIM AND TAP

Clockwise from left: Since the 19th century, Yoakum has been Texas’ land of leather; cutting a tanned hide at Carl Ammerman Saddles; Brushy Creek’s handcrafted belts, Ammerman’s design sketches; embossing a saddle at Circle Y.

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CULTURE

A L EGAC Y IN L E ATHER Scores of skilled artisans in the self-proclaimed ‘Leather Capital of the World’ still craft saddles the old-fashioned way — one at a time.

Susan L. Ebert browses the artisan workshops of Yoakum, Texas P H OTO G R A P H Y BY B U F F ST R I C K L A N D

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s I breeze down through rolling, verdant pasturelands south of Austin, the sunrise has just breached the horizon. I take the turnoff from U.S. Highway 183 onto State Highway 111 leading to Yoakum. I glance at my Jeep’s clock, hoping I’ll complete the two-hour drive in time. You see, my first stop in Yoakum is always the H & H Café & Bakery, and although it stays open through lunch, my goal’s to get there before the morning’s fresh-baked kolaches run out.

I wheel up to the curb as the local breakfast crowd filters out and breathe a sigh of relief when I step inside, spotting the tray of plump pastry pillows glistening jewel-like behind the glass. Peach? Apple?

Cherry? Why decide? I shrug, opting for one of each.

Taking my prize, I stroll up Lott Street, munching contentedly.

Yoakum, girdled to the south by Big Brushy Creek, originated as a Spanish land grant in 1835 and served as a gathering ground for cattle drives up the trail later named for Jesse Chisholm. And it might well have just remained as that dusty footnote in history had the San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railroad not come to town in 1887, bringing with it Benjamin

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More than a dozen leather companies — many with lineage tracing to the original tanneries through bloodlines, employment or both — dot the town.

Yoakum in the late 1880s, the long cattle drives — swallowing profit margins with cattle mortality, disease and weight loss — ended, replaced by the more cost-effective rail shipping of chilled hanging beef.

Mounds of cowhides grew into mountains on the outskirts of town, piquing the interest of a young saddle-maker, Carl Welhausen, who was searching for the ideal location to start his own saddlery business.

In 1919, he opened the doors of his Texas Hide and Leather Co. — the original name of today’s Tex Tan brand — later expanding his leather-crafting to include bridles, AMAZING SADDLES harnesses, belts, holsters and billfolds. As Circle Y Saddles’ new facility north of town continues the brand’s word spread of his saddle-making prowess, tradition of crafting beautifully leather artisans looking for both steady detailed leather goods. work and a steady supply of leather flocked to Yoakum, and its population swelled to 7,500.

Franklin Yoakum, its cracking-with-energy, earnest Flash-forward nearly a century to today, with vice president and general manager. more than a dozen leather companies — many with Heralding the arrival of the rail line, this “wide lineage tracing to the original tanneries through spot on the trail” would adopt his name as its own. bloodlines, employment or both — dotting the town Ben Yoakum, considered a visionary by his coland international sources ranking Yoakum as the leagues, would later engineer one of Texas’ first third-best place in the world to buy leather, trailing roundhouses in his eponymous town and grow what only Milan and Barcelona. would become the largest railroad system in the A block up Lott Street, I pass the former offices country under a single control. By 1896, the flourishof Circle Y Saddles, which for years operated out ing town boasted a population of 3,000 with a school of a cobbled-together network of restored downof 700 students, numerous general and specialty town buildings before building its state-of-thestores, and two weekly newspapers. art facility north of town across from the rodeo A massive shift was also underway in railroading arena. The old St. Regis Hotel that Circle Y once at this time. The post-Civil War North’s appetite for used as a factory has a new sign, “St. Regis Past & beef, spurred by the thousands of cattle driven by Present.” Intrigued, I step inside to warm greetings Texas cowboys up the Chisholm Trail to the Kansas from proprietor Dennis Kaiser and his mother, feedlots, showed no signs of being sated. So when Barbara, along with vistas of antiques and collectBen Yoakum ordered the newly patented mechanibles stretching throughout the early 20th-century ically chilled refrigerated boxcars to be brought to hotel’s expansive first floor.

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CANYONSUITES.COM 800 888 8234

2016

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Kaiser, a San Antonio-based architect, purchased the hotel nine years ago, leasing it to Circle Y until its transition to its new headquarters in 2010. “We didn’t open until a couple years ago,” he says, showing me where he’d painstakingly removed plank floors to reveal the hand-laid mosaic tile in the former lobby.

Kaiser’s goal is to reveal even more of the three-story, 42-room hotel’s original structure, but the constant influx of consignments and estate sales keeps them well-occupied. I swoon over both the quantity and quality of the antiques — as well as the fact that they’re priced well below the Austin market. I don’t leave empty-handed.

Stashing my finds in the Jeep, I continue up Lott Street to the Double D Ranch outlet store. Since Double D first rocketed to acclaim in 1989, it continually ranks in the upper echelon of Western fashion, earning the McMullen family the prestigious Mary Jane Colter Award from the National Cowgirl Hall A COWBOY'S TOUCH of Fame in 2015. Since my husband’s not Double J Saddlery builds intricately tooled and here tapping his foot in the doorway and embellished, ergonomically I’m fueled up on kolaches, I can shop precise, handcrafted saddles. leisurely. A turquoise-hued dress that I fall in love with will need just the perfect accessories to set it off.

Fortunately, I know just where to go, as another and embellished, ergonomically precise, handcrafted spunky set of designing sisters is right down the road. saddles — some in the range of $5,000 or more.

Double J Saddlery may have only launched as its While sons Josh and Jesse run sales and operaown brand in 1991, but its roots run deep in Yoakum. tions respectively, daughters Chaedrea and Kristyn Owner John DeBord spent nearly two decades DeBord design and market the women’s collections, learning saddle-making at Circle Y before stepping including purses, belts, boot bags, luggage and cellout on his own with his wife, Nancy, daughter of phone cases, many studded with Swarovski crystals Circle Y’s founder Leland Tucker. Concentrating on in cowhides dyed in signature Double J colors and the high-end tack, Double J builds intricately tooled trimmed with intricate hand-tooling.

Stepping into Double J’s 5,000-square-foot retail store, it’s especially thrilling to know that everything’s made just beyond the showroom doors into the building’s remaining 20,000 square feet. “What began YOAKUM: IF YOU GO as just a way to use smaller scraps after cutting the SADDLE-MAKERS AND POINTS OF leather for saddles has become a robust part of our LEATHER GOODS INTEREST business, thanks to Chaedrea and Kristyn,” says John Double D Ranchwear DeBord, as he surveys shelves brimming with belts, Circle Y Saddles Outlet Store 1708 N. South St., (800) 531-3600 bags and purses.

509 Lott St., (800) 899-3379 circley.com A stadium purse in mint chocolate chip-embossed ddranchwear.com Double J Saddlery crocodile completes my ensemble, and it’s back in the H & H Café & Bakery 2243 Highway 77A South, Jeep for a quick jaunt over to the Yoakum Heritage 719 Lott St., 361-293-3232 (800) 669-2535 Museum. Here, I’ll stroll through this restored doublejsaddlery.com St. Regis Past & Present Victorian antebellum mansion to admire the vintage 612 Lott St., 713-303-6399 Tex Tan hand-tooled saddles in the Leather Room and 808 U.S. Highway 77A S., Yoakum Heritage Museum browse among the artifacts from Yoakum’s railroad 361-293-2314, textan.com 312 Simpson St., 361-293-2309 boomtown days before heading home with my own haul of goods.

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W I L L I A M H E N R Y . C O JM ANUARY/FEBRUARY 2017 • DORADO

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PEOPLE

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he dog comes to me like a spirit on Halloween night, with a call from the man I am dating.

“Kel, you’ve got to come down here,” he says.

“This little dog jumped in my arms. I can’t find his people, and Nala isn’t having it.” Nala, the Rottweiler, is of Olympian build — all lean muscle and shiny coat and strength of jaw and speed and spirit. She is the type of dog I thought I’d have one day — a bulky, strong-legged bear to keep me warm in a tent, to climb mountains ahead of me, to run and swim and lay waste to the car windows with drool.

But when I open the gate to fetch the little dog that night, 6 pounds of white fluff and fox ears and blue-green eyes stare at me, shaking in the chill of nearNovember. This is not my bear-dog.

Still, “I’ll call you Pete,” I say.

We go home.

After a bath and a street-dog dinner of scraps of deli meat and Kelly Vaughn had always wanted bacon, the dog curls up next to me on my bed. We sleep that way for a giant adventure dog with seven hours. The next morning, I buy dog food. whom she could explore Arizona’s For three weeks, I knock on doors and post to community rugged outback. Then, Pete boards on social media and in the neighborhood, trying to find arrived — a small-but-tough street Pete’s people. At the end of the first week, I take him to what I call my “baby hill,” the mile-up, mile-back pup with an intrepid spirit mountain near my home that I run to train for bigger things.

“OK, dog,” I say. “If you can make it up this mountain, I might fall off it.” He makes it. Running. I stay on my feet and fall in love.

Still, we search for his family. No microchip. No response.

A week or so after his first climb, I take Pete to try a hike with the man and Nala. The drive itself is long. The Jeep bounces over rocks and through washes. Dust sneaks through the air vents and cracked windows. Pete sits on the center console — our navigator — occasionally stretching his hind legs back so they hang off. Yet, it makes me think of those cat clocks that click back and forth, the tail moving in motion with the time.

He hikes 8 miles that day, finding his trail legs behind Nala.

She learns to love him, too, and they still see each other from time

MY TR AVELS WITH PETE THE DOG

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ROCKY ROAD

Clockwise from left: Exploring the red rocks of Sedona's Bell Trail; always up for adventure, Pete and the author scale rugged Humphreys Peak; Pete surveys the Phoenix valley from Shaw Butte.

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A DOG FOR ALL SEASONS

to time and fall into their old routine of wrestling. Nala is gentle. Pete is brave, as though he saw his shadow once and thought himself a lion. “ Dogs are our link to paradise. They don’t know evil The vet, though, tells me he is part Chihuahua, part terrier (what kind or jealousy or discontent. To sit with a dog on a she doesn’t know). My children call him a fox. A unicorn. Buddy. hillside on a glorious afternoon is to be back in Eden.”

Since that hike, I’ve lost count of how many miles Pete and I have traveled together. No one claims him. legs would wear. He fights to be put back down. The dog I pray, still, they won’t. summits on his own four paws. I struggle on my two.

The day before I am to take a friend to the very top We sit at the top for a while, he and I, and I am of Arizona — the summit of Humphreys Peak at 12,637 reminded of something I read long ago — some piece feet — my dog sitter cancels. There are no other options. of a Milan Kundera quote about dogs and paradise: Pete will have to make the climb, too. We camp at an “Dogs are our link to paradise. They don’t know evil or elevation of 9,000 feet, warming up on a segment of the jealousy or discontent. To sit with a dog on a hillside on Arizona Trail near Flagstaff ’s sacred San Francisco Peaks. a glorious afternoon is to be back in Eden, where doing I let Pete off-leash, as I’ve done a dozen times before. He nothing was not boring — it was peace.” bolts. I run after him but can't find him. My friends calls It’s true. and searches. I ask mountain bikers and hikers if they’ve As we hike down, I force Pete into my arms. His seen him. Four minutes feels like 40. And then, he comes small-dog strength is pulling me too hard, the terrain trotting out of the woods, covered in leaves and dirt and — all tundra and rock and slick — is dangerous with the pine needles. Clueless. Happy. pull of gravity. People clap, cheer and pet Pete, small The next morning, we begin the hike up the mounand mighty and stubborn, the dog who conquered the tain, maneuvering crowds and terrain and the slow suck mountain. And I wonder where we’d go next, knowing of oxygen from our lungs. I pick Pete up, thinking his we’d find Eden there.

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KELLY VAUGHN (5)

From left: Pete's first snow day, outside of Payson, Arizona; atop Humphreys Peak, the highest point in Arizona.

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STREET STYLE

Downtown Flagstaff retains much of its Western, smalltown architectural character.

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Small Towns

Big charms Sporty mountain villages. Bucolic farming communities with deep roots. Spa towns and college towns. These 12 Special spots offer unique Southwestern appeal, whether you’re looking for scenic outdoor adventures, Old West character or festival-season getaways

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2017 • DORADO

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Kerrville

TX

TEXAS HILL COUNTRY DELIGHTS WITH SPECTACULAR LANDSCAPES, ANNUAL FESTIVALS AND ARTS EVENTS GALORE

The loping terrain of Texas Hill Country and the cypress-lined Guadalupe River make Kerrville a destination for nature and fitness buffs alike.

(People come from all over to train for triathlons in the abundant hills, which also house several vineyards within a 20-minute drive.) “It’s also one of the most beautiful places in Texas — with the water, the hills and the wineries, it’s comparable to the south of France,” says Keri Kropp, who moved to Kerrville from New York 13 years ago and runs interior design and retail stores in a historical mercantile building downtown.

Even the less industrious can still enjoy the town’s River Trail, which follows the rustic Guadalupe as it meanders among some of the town’s 19 parks, including the Riverside Nature Center. Another essential outdoor experience: the 18-day Kerrville Folk Festival, which draws thousands for concerts by artists like Emmylou Harris and workshops where attendees can hone their own songwriting or blues guitar skills.

“We’re not a ‘tourist town,’ where the downtown is littered with ice cream, T-shirt and candle shops,” Kropp says. “Here, it’s about a unique and true small-town Texas experience.”

“ We’re not a ‘tourist town,’ where the downtown is littered with ice cream, T-shirt and candle shops.”

Residents and visitors alike praise Kerrville for its rural, only-in-Texas vibe.

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CO

COME FOR THE HOT SPRINGS — STAY FOR THE OUTDOOR RECREATION AND COMMUNITY SPIRIT

T

here’s a saying in Pagosa Springs: If you get bored here, the problem is with you. Three spas draw mineralrich water from the Great Pagosa Hot Springs — the world’s deepest, according to Guinness World Records.

When Jim and Debbie Hepler came for a day visit in 2009, they knew they’d found the community they wanted to retire in. “In all our 10 years of research, this was what we had always been looking for,” says Debbie, who still works as executive director at New Mexico’s Ghost Ranch. They easily found an affordable house they loved and were impressed by the friendly, genuine people they met. In a town where a traffic jam is two cars at a red light, there are meetup groups and clubs, activities and restaurants far beyond what you’d expect, says Jim, a retired minister. Easy hiking to spectacular waterfalls is just outside town, and it’s 25 miles away from Wolf Creek Ski Area, one of the smaller of Colorado’s ski destinations but boasting the best, and most, snow in the state.

BOTTOM LEFT: SUSAN ROADS, KERRVILLE FOLK FESTIVAL; TOP RIGHT, COURTESY OF VISIT PAGOSA SPRINGS; OPPOSITE: JEN JUDGE

TOWN AND HILL COUNTRY

PAGOSA SPRINGS

GLASS ACT

The Spencer Theater for the Performing Arts attracts big-name acts and touring groups year-round.

R UI D OSO, NEW M EX ICO

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A MILLION ACRES OF NATURAL AND MAN-MADE BEAUTY SURROUND THIS ALPINE VILLAGE

When you go to Ruidoso, don’t forget to take pictures — from the soaring vistas of Lincoln National Forest and Sierra Blanca Peak to the jutting planes of the white limestone-and-glass Spencer Theater for the Performing Arts in nearby (and aptly named) Alto.

In Ruidoso, stucco-clad shops and log-paneled cabins commingle to lend a South-meets-West vibe to midtown’s Sudderth Drive while whispering pines line the highway that leads to the Hubbard Museum of the American West, an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution. It’s part of the Billy the Kid National Scenic Byway, which allows history buffs to retrace the path of the famous outlaw.

Many visitors take their Ruidoso experience to new heights: The gondola at the top of the Ski Apache resort takes them to 11,500 feet, where they can schuss down in winter or zip line at speeds up to 65 mph in warmer months. (Whenever you’re outdoors, keep your eyes peeled for a glimpse of regional wildlife, including mule deer, elk, mountain lions, horses and turkeys.)

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FA R M I N GTO N, NEW MEX ICO SOUTHWEST ADVENTURE WHERE FOUR STATES AND THREE RIVERS MEET

whimsy. The totem pole-like, fantastic rock formations — some with wings that defy gravity and extend 20 to 30 feet long — are even harder to believe at night. The Farmington Museum offers guided full-moon tours if you time it just right.

After getting dirt on your boots and breathing in the wide open spaces of the American Southwest, polish off your days with Farmington’s New Mexican cuisine — a heady meld of Native American, Mexican and Spanish flavors that leans heavily on red and green chiles used in everything from enchiladas to ice cream.

IN OVERDRIVE

Big adventures await in Farmington, which attracts mountain bikers, hikers and offroading enthusiasts.

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Farmington owes its name to the “farming town” once fueled by the welcome waters that ribbon through this desert region. Located 180 miles northwest of Albuquerque, Farmington is a magnet for families who love to play. The town boasts 73 parks for its 43,000 residents, as well as the Animas River Trails, a beautiful 8-mile system of paved, dirt, wood chip and cobblestone trails.

Not too far from the ’hood are the hoodoos, the surreal sandstone, silt and volcanic rocks at Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness that were carved by wind and erosion and Mother Nature’s

palestine

TX

STATELY ARCHICTECTURE PROVIDES A SCENIC BACKDROP FOR THIS CLOSE-KNIT COMMUNITY

Let’s just get this out of the way: It’s pronounced paluh-steen. And here, community is more than a group of people who share a ZIP code — it’s a way of life.

“Everywhere you turn you see someone you know.

Everyone is there for each other. You don’t even know it until you need it,” says Vicki Braly, co-owner of Braly Builders Supply Co., a fourth-generation hardware store where customers still have charge accounts and aisle numbers are scrawled on chalkboards originally from the retrofitted 1938 elementary school building.

About 100 miles southeast of Dallas, Palestine is dotted with stately homes, historical buildings and a county courthouse whose look-at-me beauxarts architecture harks back to French ideas of beauty in this small east Texas town. (Visitors can climb the double-spiral staircase to see the beautiful stained-glass montage in the dome during normal business hours.)

As with any Texas town worth its salt, Tex-Mex and barbecue are ubiquitous, but Palestine knows highbrow, too. At Red Fire Grille, chef-owner Christian Mailloux serves up locally sourced entrees with well-conceived wine pairings. For more ambience, wine and dine aboard a Texas State Railroad Pullman car.

“ Everywhere you turn you see someone you know.

Everyone is there for each other.”

THIS PAGE: TOP, JULIE FOSKETT; BOTTOM, STUART WHITAKER; OPPOSITE: FARMINGTON CONVENTION & VISITORS BUREAU.

queen creek

I

AZ

FARM CHARMS AND DELICIOUS TREATS JUST MINUTES FROM PHOENIX

ts population has more than doubled over the past decade as denizens hunt for a friendlier, small-town alternative to the suburban sprawl of nearby Phoenix, but Queen Creek’s rural and agricultural heritage remains core to its modern identity. Miles of equestrian and bicycle trails run past the cotton fields and pecan groves that sprout alongside some of the town’s major thoroughfares, named after founding families who still farm the land today.

Each spring, visitors to Schnepf Farms can literally pick their choice from seven varieties of peaches off the trees in orchards opened just for guests each spring; during the rest of the year, the family-run farm hosts everything from monthly artist markets to seasonal pumpkin-and-chili hayrides. Another agritourism favorite, Queen Creek Olive Mill, celebrates the annual harvest of its 7,000-plus olive trees with a monthlong Festival of the New Oil early each new year, while welcoming visitors for tours and events year-round.

HOUSE BEAUTIFUL

Historical art deco, beaux-arts and Victorian buildings lend Palestine a graceful air.

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alamosa

CO

IN SOME WAYS, ALAMOSA FEELS MORE LIKE IT BELONGS IN NEW MEXICO THAN COLORADO

Sometimes called Colorado’s “cradle of Hispanic culture,” Alamosa has a rich heritage — adobe buildings mixed with its newer brick and wooden structures, and plenty of green chile on restaurant menus.

Some families have ranched and farmed the land for many generations, while some newer arrivals are drawn to the growing arts community and access to nearby mountains, rivers and the Great Sand Dunes National Park.

“Alamosa’s culture is welcoming and hospitable, but also really proud of the deep roots,” says Luke Yoder, executive director at the Alamosa-based Center for Restorative Programs.

January’s Rio Frio Ice Festival draws both locals and out-of-towners for a race along the river, bonfires and live ice sculpting. And one of the town’s newest eateries, Locavores, has quickly become a community gathering spot, serving up food from the farms that dot the 125-mile-long San Luis Valley and surrounding region. No matter, when you arrive, there’s only way to see the best of the valley: aboard the Rio Grande Scenic Railroad.

“ It’s a place where relationships matter, and getting to know people is possible and important.” winter park

T

CO

his celebrated ski destination doesn’t shut down when the snow stops — it loves to have fun, no matter what time of year. In winter, behemoth alpine lodges and multilevel wood-framed condos alike are packed with skiers looking for easy access to Winter Park Resort’s 143 ski trails, and in warmer seasons, outdoors enthusiasts hit different trails instead, with new rushes provided by downhill or cross-country mountain bicycling, whitewater rafting, zip lining (pictured), hiking and horseback riding.

The tiny town’s permanent population is less than a thousand, but a constant rush of visitors easily sell out summer festivals at downtown’s Hideaway Park, like July’s Winter Park Jazz Festival, featuring high-profile performers like Jonathan Butler and The Isley Brothers. Missed jazz fest? Drink away your sorrows at the Winter Park Beer Festival in early August, where more than 40 microbrewers offer tastings.

Or the Winter Park Uncorked wine and food festival a few weeks later. Or the town’s newest distillery, Idlewild Spirits. (Hey, we told you this town likes to party!)

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THIS PAGE, BOTTOM LEFT: AL AMOSA CVB; TOP RIGHT: IGNITE IMAGES; OPPOSITE: AWE COLLECTIVE

THIS FUN-LOVING, SPORTY TOWN IS UP FOR A PARTY — ALL YEAR LONG

FLAG STA F F, AR IZONA EQUALLY LOVED BY HIPSTERS, HIPPIES AND HIKERS, 'FLAG' MAY BE ARIZONA’S MOST ENVIABLE LOCALE

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

With summertime temps that stay put in the 80s, mountainsides that shimmer with aspens in autumn, 108 inches of average annual snowfall and a spring that bursts with blossoms, this northern Arizona town has something much of the state lacks: four seasons.

“Flag,” as the locals call it, pulses with its own college-town vibe — a mix of eclectic and electric verve where Northern Arizona University students clad in hoodies, jeans and chunkysoled shoes are every bit as much at home as Native Americans, young families and seasonal cabin dwellers.

Historical downtown Flagstaff — where the “It happens” running scene in Forrest Gump was filmed — boasts a foodie culture that long ago shed its up-and-coming status. Park yourself for farm-to-table excellence at Brix, a small building that 20th-century banker TE Pollock constructed to house his wife’s fancy new car. There’s European-style Coppa Cafe, Criollo’s Spanish-inspired cuisine (pictured) and the trendy Tinderbox Kitchen. For a seasonally inspired lunch, try Simply Delicious Café. Locals love it (and know how to find it – it’s in an old brick Foundry building behind a used-car dealership off Route 66).

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HOME SWEET HOME!

colorado springs

Sugar Land began as a master-planned community for the Imperial Sugar company.

CO

I sugar land

TX

A 1950S COMPANY TOWN IS NOW A MODERNDAY UTOPIA FOR FAMILIES AND RETIREES

With a name like Sugar Land, city officials pretty much have no choice but to get it right. And here, 20 miles southwest of Houston, statistics show that they do. In a recent citizen survey, 99 percent of Sugar Land citizens say it’s an excellent or good place to raise their kids.

If recent statistics are the measure of Sugar Land’s sweetness, the town’s history sets the table for how it became a hub of entertainment, shopping and dining. Sugar Land’s utopian feel was born during its 50-year run as an Imperial Sugar company town. The company provided housing, schools, medical care and, of course, employment. By the time Sugar Land incorporated in 1959, it already was a master-planned community. Residents were co-workers who had grown up around the same ideals and identity. This is not to say that Sugar Land is homogenous or closed-minded — it has consistently been recognized as a “Community of Respect” by the Anti-Defamation League for its efforts to foster respect and reject prejudice. But it does hint at how and why the city functions with a true community feel — why the 560 acres of developed parks, new performing arts venue and walkable downtown streetscapes brim with people who are proud to call their little slice of life home.

In a recent citizen survey, 99 percent of Sugar Land citizens say it’s an excellent or good place to raise their kids.

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t was 14,115 feet above sea level, atop Pikes Peak, which rises above modern-day Colorado Springs, where Katharine Lee Bates was inspired to write the words to one of the country’s most famous patriotic songs: America the Beautiful. Today, visitors looking for awe-inspiring vistas can hike the mountain, bike or drive the long, winding road to the crest, or hop aboard the Broadmoor Pikes Peak Cog Railroad. Closer to town, hiking trails wind through the Garden of the Gods, whose towering red sandstone rocks attract technical climbers, mountain bikers and day trekkers.

Colorado Springs is home to several highereducation institutions, including Colorado College and the Air Force Academy, and hosts the U.S. Olympic Committee and an Olympic Training Center.

Still, downtown has a remarkably small-town feel, says Derek Koch, who grew up in the area. The downtown arts scene has blossomed in the four years since he returned home following college in the Midwest and work in Portland. “You can catch a theater show just about any weekend downtown.”

RED LIGHT SPECIAL

A recent Dale Chihuly exhibition at Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center Museum.

THIS PAGE, TOP LEFT: R ANDY KOZLOVSK Y / SUGAR L AND CVB; BOTTOM RIGHT:COURTESY OF OLOR ADO SPRINGS CVB; OPPOSITE: TODD POWELL, COURTESY FRISCO CVB

INSPIRATIONAL NATURAL BEAUTY MEETS HIGH CULTURE IN THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS

COME TO SLEIGH

With fewer crowds and more afforable prices than its neighbors, Frisco may be Colorado's best-kept winter secret.

F R I SCO, COLOR ADO SKI OR SLED, HIKE OR BIKE — JUST GET OUT AND ENJOY THIS FRESH-AIR RETREAT

Just 75 miles west of Denver along Interstate 70, nestled in Ten Mile Canyon, the little town of Frisco is in the center of some of Colorado’s best-loved outdoor attractions. Billed as the Main Street of the Rockies, Frisco was founded in 1873 as a mining town but nearly disappeared during the Great Depression when its population fell to just 18 people. Some of the historical wooden and log buildings still stand in the Historic Park & Museum. Today, Frisco hosts a mix of Old West and modern construction, and its population grows to some 7,000 people during the winter ski season. Little wonder, it’s the perfect base for getting to six of the region’s ski areas, all 30 minutes or less from town. For outdoor activities in town, the Frisco Adventure Park features summer bike and skate parks, disc golf and mule-drawn chuck wagon rides to an old-fashioned campground. The 25-mile shoreline of Dillon Reservoir curves into town and provides a launch point for sailboats, kayaks and paddleboards, and fishing.

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APRÈS-SHOE

The reward for an expedition through the snowy backcountry of Beaver Creek, Colorado: warm, savory cheese fondue.

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THIS PAGE: DAVID NEFF. OPPOSITE: MERC67/ THINKSTOCK.

Beyond the perfectly groomed slopes of Beaver Creek, Colorado, AMIEE WHITE BEAZLEY sets out on the ultimate cold-weather, hot-cheese adventure

SNOWSHOE

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SAY, CHEESE!

A one-pot meal enjoyed family-style, fondue is the ultimate comfort food to share with friends and family after a day in the cold.

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IT’S THE

LAST RUN

OF THE DAY

THIS PAGE: COURTESY OF VAIL RESORTS, INC. OPPOSITE: ALEX FARNUM/AUGUST IMAGE.

and my quads are torched. At 7 a.m. that morning, I had rolled out of my warm king-sized bed at The Osprey resort and pulled back the curtain. Just out my window the lift was already running and there was 6 inches of fresh snow on the ground. I had dressed quickly and run downstairs, where a ski butler handed me my snowboard.

With a White Glove First Tracks pass, I had been one of the first on the mountain, lapping the powder of Larkspur Bowl with my guide, instructor John Bell. After a full day I could easily go back to my room and take a nap, or have a massage, or spend hours in the outdoor heated pool, but there is another side of Beaver Creek I still need to see.

After riding down the mountain to the bottom of Strawberry Park Express lift, I drop my board and swap my helmet for a wool hat, my snowboard boots for waterproof hiking boots, and turn around and walk the 100 yards to the Beaver Creek Nordic Sports Center. There, the center director, Nate Goldberg, is waiting for me with a pair of Atlas snowshoes and Leki poles. I am here to experience one of The Osprey’s rotating lineups of gourmet snowshoe experiences: Shoe and Fondue. For the next 90 minutes, I will be guided along the hidden trails of Beaver Creek, an activity then followed by a fondue-and-wine

experience at The Osprey Fireside Grill.

“This is a way to take in all the things you don’t see when you are skiing fast down the mountain,” Goldberg says. “You can experience those senses — the sound of wind through the pine trees or just the sound of silence. You can slow down and really experience the beauty of nature.”

Nick Fickling, our group’s guide, has been taking people through the mountains of the Beaver Creek Resort for 15 years. After a quick ride up the Buckaroo Express Gondola, we slip our feet into our snowshoes and start our hike.

WINTER WINE EXCURSION This January and February, Beaver Creek is offering the Winter Wine Excursion, a snowshoeing adventure that takes advantage of the resort’s snowshoe trail system and culminates in with a charcuterie and wine-pairing feast. beavercreek.com

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AGAINST THE WHITE BARK OF THE

ASPEN TREES

DAVID NEFF

I MAKE OUT DARK MARKINGS LEFT

BY THE ELK, WHERE THEY HAD RUBBED FELT OFF THEIR

ANTLERS.

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SNOWSHOEING IS AN

ANCIENT

ENDEAVOR.

From the time of the first settlers crossing the Bering Strait, there have been those who needed to travel atop the snow in order to stay alive.

Although the stakes may not be so dire today, snowshoeing is still used by some as winter transportation, and even more for winter exercise and exploration.

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Its popularity is growing among both the young and old looking for areas off the beaten track and for cardiovascular benefits, which I quickly discover as our group makes its way to the top of Nottingham Ranch, the site of the original ranchland that eventually became Beaver Creek Resort. The snowshoes are stable and agile, and soon every pole plant and step is in sync.

As we follow Nick, my heart pumping and packed snow crunching underfoot, he tells us stories about the settling of the American West, pointing out the old barbed-wire fencing and wood posts that once divided the ranch, a feature I had no doubt passed earlier that day without so much as a passing glance.

Soon we are traversing into a dense oldgrowth forest known locally as Aspen Glade.

Against the white bark of the aspen trees, I make out dark markings left by the elk where they had rubbed felt off their antlers in the fall, and chunks missing where new mothers had bitten into the trees to access the natural painkiller inside the bark. Some trees have bear claws and others just the signature ocular knots that seem to watch us as we quietly pass through their world.

“Who wants to give the powder a shot?” Nick asks. I raise my pole in the air and step over the edge of the groomed run down a steep embankment and into the glade where snow had been accumulating all winter long. For a second I’m floating, but on the second step I fall forward and am completely engulfed in white. “There’s nothing like fresh powder,” Nathan Goldberg of the Nordic Sports Center reminds me later. “You go from a groomed trail to powder and its the same thrill skiers get. It brings out the kid in everyone.” With help from Nick, it takes some time to pull myself free from the weight of the snow, our hearts racing and breaking a sweat from the happy struggle.

After an hour of exploration, following the tracks of small alpine animals like fox and

COURTESY OF VAIL RESORTS, INC. (2)

ptarmigan birds on the snow, we make our way out from the glade. The sun is setting, sending hot pink streaks across the Western sky. The Rockies are illuminated around us. We hike toward the setting sun, the Beaver Creek village below seemingly unaware of the life and activity on the mountain after the lifts had closed. A light wind makes my eyes tear and my wind-burned face sting — but more than that, I’m hungry.

I hand my snowshoes off to Nick and say goodbye to the cold midwinter chill in exchange for the warmth of a roaring fireplace and a glass of pinot noir at The Osprey Fireside Grill. I feel worked to the core, but with it, the elation of knowing I have pushed my body and my senses to their limits. Now it is time to pamper, nourish and give thanks with the ultimate alpine aprèsshoe feast: fondue.

If you ask me, fondue is to skiing as cold beer is to mountain biking, the peanut butter to jelly, the ketchup to fries. There is something about sitting around bubbling cheese and wine with a group of friends — dipping toasted bread, cornichons, gougères pastries and raw veggies into the pungent, bubbling, golden lava that makes any distance worth the hike.

As if something besides a fire, wine and

fondue could please me any more, there isn’t just one round of fondue to be shared but three: a three-cheese blend of aged Gruyère, raclette and fontina; roasted artichoke; and medium-sharp cheddar from Colorado. Each is paired with wine selections from Oregon to South America.

When it comes to fondue, I lean as close to traditional as possible. The sharp smell of Gruyère, white wine and garlic is a bouquet that one’s nose, over many après-ski sessions, not only becomes accustomed to but craves. Losing track of every small bite full of warmth and creaminess, cut by sour pickles, green apple skin, or surrendering yourself to full comfort-food mode when edging a chunk of crusty bread into the boil. I know eating a bowl of melted cheese is contradictory to all my hours of exercising in nature, but this is the balance. Good for bad — and God knows how good fondue can be.

At the end of the night I walk down the hall to my room where the lights have been dimmed, classical music is playing and the linens are turned down to welcome me home. There is nothing better than the feeling of having sucked the marrow of life from its bones, or in this case, the cheese from the bread, and falling into a deep sleep, dreaming of deep powder and then doing it all over again.

WINTER PLEASURES

The Osprey resort in Beaver Creek offers a rotating lineup of gourmet snowshoe experiences, from hearty feasts to elegant wine-tasting flights.

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THE

T U RQUOISE

REVIVAL Long treasured by Native people and valued as a traveler’s keepsake, turquoise is an icon of Southwestern style. Melissa Liebling-Goldberg appraises the semiprecious stone’s past and why it’s become fashion’s sentimental classic

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X XTHIS X X X PAGE: X X X X XDEWEY XX NICKS/ TRUNK ARCHIVE. OPPOSITE: SUTI / ISTOCK

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THIS PAGE: JTGR AFIX / ISTOCK. OPPOSITE: DEWEY NICKS/ TRUNK ARCHIVE.

when summer temperatures routinely crossed the 100-degree mark during my childhood, my mother turned to every indoor activity she could think of — including lots of time spent playing dress-up with her jewelry box. Inevitably, I’d toss aside the sparkly costume jewelry for the pieces that she’d collected during a late ’60s stint in Tucson, Arizona. In particular, I was always trying to make my teeny fingers balance a massive dome ring of a constellation of bezel-set turquoises, deeply veined with black spiderwebs. That ring set my imagination alight, offering up shimmering desert mirages of Native American tribes, white pueblo houses and all those kachina dolls my mother had also collected (which never failed to scare me in the nighttime shadows). As I grew up, the turquoise pieces fell out of my rotation as I gravitated toward whatever was trendy and available at the local mall, but I never stopped having a deep affection for and affinity with the deep-blue stones.

Turns out that I’m not the only one who associates loving turquoise with her childhood. Marin Hopper, founder and creator of Hayward, a luxury fashion line, points to “wearing it and collecting it during the summers I spent with my dad [actor Dennis Hopper] and our extended family in Taos, New Mexico. My cousin, Duane Hopper, had a great jewelry store in the Taos Plaza dedicated to turquoise jewelry and the artistry of Native American Indian designs.” Hopper recently had the jewelry designer Anna Sheffield design an exclusive array of

repurposed Southwestern turquoise pieces for her flagship store in a townhouse on the Upper East Side of Manhattan — a far cry from the sands of Santa Fe. The collection benefits the Future Heritage Fund, which works with the New Mexico Community Foundation to support artisans working in traditional crafts.

In fact, turquoise has been popping up everywhere from French Vogue to W magazine to the upper echelons of the red carpet. With turquoise taking its place amongst the iconic metallic pyramids of the Valentino Rockstud collection and remaining a constant in Ralph Lauren’s Southwestern-inspired collections, the stone has clearly cemented its place in high fashion 3,000 years after the ancient Egyptian rulers started to wear it. Named after its route into Europe from Turkey in the 13th century, turquoise is actually an opaque mineral, a hydrous phosphate of copper and aluminum. And while we might all be able to look at the sky-blue stone and call it one name, Native American tribes legendarily had as many words for turquoise TRUE BLUES as there were languages spoken.

The blue-green For contemporary art jewelry gemstone ranges from pale blues designer Mark Humenick, it to deep teal, with all begins with the color. “I was variations in black and brown veining. always drawn to turquoise,

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There is a movement afoot to remake existing turquoise pieces into new, more modern jewelry without having to mine additionally.

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MODERN MIX

that it is largely passed down among families or close friends.

Each piece has so much history and character following it throughout the years, it’s hard not to appreciate these fabulous pieces.”

Humenick echoes the emotional connection his clients feel to his pieces, calling them life markers.

"When and where they purchased it and the memories associated with it, what occasion they celebrated and whom they were with, [they are] all memories and stories [that] the piece of jewelry represents.”

But if you aren’t buying a new or contemporary piece, making traditional turquoise feel modern can represent a challenge. Marlow suggests a more-ismore aesthetic, that echoes much of the recent streetstyle take on turquoise. “I like to mix vintage chunky silver rings among my larger turquoise rings, and you better believe every finger is covered! Nowadays I have seen a surge in girls piling it all on, wrists, necks and fingers! It’s awesome!”

So whether you’re piling it on or choosing one statement piece to carry your whole look, there’s no right or wrong way to wear turquoise. What is clear is the emotional attachment to the stone, often stemming from childhood — all the jewelers we talked to pointed to their youth as the aha moment for them with turquoise. “I read that turquoise is the most popular stone in the world, crossing all cultures,” Humenick says. “It has also been stated that it is the only stone that complements all skin tones — truly a magical stone.”

What else would you expect of a stone that was once believed to appear in the damp ground at the end of a rainbow? As for me, I’m planning to immerse myself in my mother’s jewelry box once more, with all the magic that childhood love can muster.

Anna Sheffield restores and resets vintage turquoise pieces with a contemporary twist.

ARDEN WR AY ( ANNA )

the color of the sky — in the Southwest, at least,” Humenick says. “Turquoise is a spiritual, religious color to me — a special, natural color.”

The connection to the Native Americans of the Southwest might be the strongest association with turquoise for most Americans, with rich legends of healing and strengthening properties attached to the stone. For example, an Apache shaman could not be properly recognized without his turquoise, while the Navajo used it to help summon rain with sacred sand mandalas.

The Apache believed attaching the turquoise to the bow of a warrior improved his aim. “I hold dear and deeply believe that turquoise is a protector,” says Jen Marlow, silversmith and owner of Sweet Leaf Silver. “It wards off bad juju and it is believed that if you own a piece of jewelry with turquoise and the stone begins to crack, it has warded off evil and protected you.”

The first turquoise mines in the Southwest are believed to have begun more than 1,000 years ago to feed the cultural obsession with the stone, but thanks to a long mix of government regulations, over-mining and high costs, most turquoise is now found as a byproduct of copper mining.

Luckily, there is a movement afoot to remake existing turquoise pieces into new, more modern jewelry without having to mine additionally. “I felt [Anna Sheffield] was a great inspiration with her ability to take vintage pieces from the past and celebrate them by restoring and resetting missing pieces in modern designs with repurposed diamonds and the like,” Hopper says.

Marlow has amassed over 25,000 followers on Instagram for her mix of reworked and vintage pieces, which are primarily turquoise and silver. “The stone has so much deep respect and is so uniquely distinct that it has not been able to fade away,” Marlow notes. “I’ve noticed with turquoise jewelry

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: RARE BIRDS

These vintage Navajo turquoise earrings are handstamped with stylized eagles, a sacred animal for the Native American tribe. $250, Sherwoods Spirit of America, Santa Fe

SET WITH STONE New and vintage turquoise accessories shine with modern style and a nod to Southwestern heritage

DREAM TEAM

Designer Mark Humenick’s geometric gold earrings dazzle with creamy Sleeping Beauty turquoise stones. $590, Dolce Jewels, Telluride

STAR STUDDED

The Valentino Rockstud spring 2017 collection features Southwestern motifs and turquoise studding. $5,245, Valentino, NorthPark Center Dallas and Houston Galleria

DIAMOND IN THE CUFF

Diamonds are Anna Sheffield’s best friend when she revives vintage pieces missing stones. $2,800, Hayward House, New York City

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Gone W ld Despite some success stories, many native Southwestern species face extinction.

Richard Parker explores the remote locales where our vanishing wildlife are finding their last sanctuaries

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FREE REIN

Just an hour from Phoenix, some 100 wild horses roam Arizona's Salt River. Experts and activists debate whether this symbol of the American West should be protected or removed from the environmentally sensitive area.

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DESERT ISLANDS

From top: Southern Arizona’s Chiricahua Mountains sky islands, where the rare jaguar and ocelot have been spotted; the Mount Graham red squirrel.

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WITOLD SKRYPCZAK / GETTY IMAGES (MOUNTAIN); ANDY2673 / ISTOCK (OCELOT); JOEL SARTORE / NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CREATIVE (SQUIRREL). PREVIOUS SPREAD: JILL RICHARDS.

Drive east from Phoenix and leave the interstate behind for the Beeline Highway. Turn toward Saguaro Lake — down in the bottomland of the Salt River, a scene emerges: wild horses whisking their tails in the shade on the sandy banks.

About 100 horses of the Salt River herd still wander here, a short drive from the nation’s sixth-largest city. Amid the dust, they are a vestige of a vanishing American West. Elsewhere wild horses and burros not on the range before 1971 have been rounded up,

sold or slaughtered. These European invaders can destroy native grasses and saplings, which form roosting areas for endangered birds.

For years, the federal government has wanted to round them up, arguing these are just unwanted strays that have wandered through in recent decades; horse lovers have argued the herd has been around since the 1880s. Now, the state is resisting, and the whole matter seems to drag out in an extensive federal study. One option to rounding them up, euthanizing them or selling them is employing birth control, a tactic that has worked clear across the country on other horses.

Wild or merely feral, the horses are an embodiment of the American West. Dozens of colorful, exotic and even endangered creatures are clinging to survival, sometimes with man’s help — and sometimes in spite of his resistance. These include squirrels isolated by the Ice Age, endangered jaguars and ocelots, and one of only two parrots native to the United States, the other already extinct.

Passing through the Arizona mining town of Globe, U.S. 70 flat-hats across the San Carlos Apache Reservation. Near Safford, the green ribbon of the Gila River passes into view on the left as an imposing mountain range rises on the right: the Pinaleños Mountains. Head south, and the desert falls away. In just 35 miles, a traveler rises from palo verde and ocotillo to grassland and oak, overlooking the Gila River far below. Higher still, streams run and butterflies flit through meadows and quaking aspen.

The trip up, to nearly 11,000 feet above sea level, is frequently likened to traveling from Mexico to Canada in 90 minutes.

SPOTTED!

Cameras installed in the Chiricahua Mountains by the University of Arizona have captured images of three wild ocelots, which are about twice the size of the average house cat.

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SAFE HAVEN

Sightings of jaguars in Arizona have prompted the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to try to declare 838,000 acres of sky islands protected habitat for the endangered cat.

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FREETRANSFORM / ISTOCK (MAP); JOEL SARTORE / NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CREATIVE (PARROT AND JAGUAR);

was declared endangered in 1987, and 10,000 acres Amid the maple and box elder are trees that were were set aside for it. saplings when France’s Louis IX launched the Eighth It turned out, though, that the squirrel liked the Crusade in the 13th century. In these cool woods lower reaches of fir and pine, too, according to a dwells a tiny mammal thought to have vanished 60 University of Arizona study. The population peaked years ago. One of a couple of dozen subspecies of the at about 600 in the 1990s, and more squirrels were common red squirrel, this one has a peculiar backencountered down the mountain. However, now the story — as well as an uncertain future. Tamiasciurus population has tumbled to under 300, according to hudsonicus grahamensis lost contact with its cousins the state, and scientists are weighing as the last Pleistocene Ice Age studying further, setting aside still ended 12,000 years ago. more land or introducing captive Isolated, the Mount Graham red squirrel did not learn the vocal squirrels. skills of its kind. Even today it is More than mountains, the ARIZONA generally silent, only making a Pinaleños form the gateway to a high-pitched trill when frightseries of sky islands — namely the ened. Weighing about 8 ounces Madrean Sky Islands of Arizona, SAGUARO LAKE and standing about 8 inches tall, New Mexico, Chihuahua and the squirrel was hunted for meat Sonora. One of 40 such nearly PINALEÑO MOUNTAINS and rendered homeless as the self-contained ecosystems in the CHIRICAHUA mountain slopes were logged bare. world, these mountains formed 13 MOUNTAINS In the 1920s, the squirrel million years ago as the desert floor faced a new threat: another squirrel fell. Mantled by snow in winter and species introduced — by people — drove the wreathed by clouds much of the native up the mountain. By the 1950s, the native time, they contain a third of America’s bird species was believed extinct. Then in the 1970s, a couple and half the mammal species. of dozen were discovered atop Mount Graham, About 100 miles southeast, the road over the the peak of the Pinaleños. By then, the University Chiricahua Mountains is closed in winter. This is of Arizona was set to build a colossal observatory. where the Madrean Sky Islands got their name. In Two things stood in the way: the Apache people, 1943, Arizona writer Natt N. Dodge likened the who considered the mountain — which they called Chiricahua to a “mountain island in a desert sea.” In Dzile Nchaa Si’An — sacred, and the little squirrel.

1967, Wildon Heald published the book Sky Island, The rodent made the more persuasive argument; it describing the ride through elevations and ecosystems from his home in Rodeo, New Mexico.

In recent years, these mountains have seen the return of two nearly mythical cats: the jaguar and the ocelot. Until recently, it was thought that the last female jaguar in the United States was killed in Arizona in September 1963. Yet, since 1996, five of these apex predators, common to the rain forests of Latin America, have been photographed in Arizona. The latest, nicknamed El Jefe (or “The Boss”) isn’t shy about making himself known. He has tripped automatic trail cameras hundreds of times.

Side by side, a male jaguar weighs about the same as a mountain lion, between 110 and 210 pounds. Cougars opportunistically devour small game while jaguars rely on big game for over 80 percent of their diet, according to studies. And while the mountain lion has been known to withstand up to 12

GONE FOREVER?

The colorful thickbilled parrot was last seen more than a decade ago in northern New Mexico.

attacking wolves, the jaguar exerts the most powerful, bone-crushing bite of any mammal in the world.

Their sightings have prompted the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to try to declare 838,000 acres of sky islands protected habitat for the endangered spotted cat. However, the state of Arizona has argued that so few jaguars have been sighted that any conservation efforts should be limited farther south in their range: Mexico.

The same automatic trail cameras installed by the University of Arizona have also captured three ocelots in a single year. About twice the size of the average house cat, the spotted cat is also usually found in Latin American rain forests. But they do range into the Sierra Madre in Mexico. In Arizona, they have been found sitting on the front steps of a mine and napping in the boughs of a tree.

Protected by the Endangered Species Act, they are also now the subject of a federal lawsuit, as environmentalists ask a judge to block the use of lethal — and common — traps for bobcats, which the plaintiffs say can incidentally ensnare the ocelot.

A winged creature of the Chiricahua appears to have met a less fortunate fate: the thick-billed parrot, Rhynchopsitta pachyrhyncha. Feathered in bright green, with cherry-red eye patches and a wingspan of 30 inches, its range has been reduced to Mexico.

During the day, the birds greedily dig seeds they dig from pine cones. According to a 1917 account by Alexander Wetmore, written in the Chiricahua: “In Rucker Canyon at the time of my visit the ground under many trees was still covered with cones from which the seeds had been extracted. The parrots pulled out or twisted off the heavy scales so that the fibers remaining gave the cone the appearance of

Mantled by snow in winter and wreathed by clouds much of the time, these sky islands contain a third of America’s bird species and half the mammal species. having been shredded more or less completely.”

Wetmore counted 1,700 birds in Cochise Canyon.

But logging and hunting to the point of eradication meant the last big flock was seen here in 1938. Of all the creatures of the sky islands, the parrot is the one clearly the one that may have already lost its fight.

It was listed as endangered in 1973, and efforts to introduce captive birds in the Chiricahua failed. The federal government gave up in the 1990s. Today, practically none exist in the United States and just 2,500 survive in Mexico.

So far, the efforts of another Rodeo, New Mexico, man, Chris Biro, have not met with the success of Wildon Heald. The government blocked his attempts to introduce captive parrots into the wild. The last bird sighted flew far from home, across northern New Mexico, over a decade ago; not another has been seen since.

Chelsea Verstegen contributed to this article.

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“Live the Dream in Salida, Colorado” Enjoy Majestic Views, Skiing-Hiking, Biking Trails, Arkansas River

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AT HOME

REFINED SOUTHWESTERN LIVING AND STYLE

Polished to Perfection Shiny metal and smooth marble come together in all the right angles

BY CELESTE SEPESSY

1

Modern Mobile

Himmeli, traditional Finnish ornaments, get a graceful makeover in these geometric brass mobiles and wall sconces. The Traditional, $330, handmadesammade.com

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Book Nook

Only the finest of works belong in this midcentury rack, which wraps natural cotton rope around a bronzed steel frame. A-Frame Storage Rack, $184, schoolhouseelectric.com

Q&A

Samantha Leung Handmade Sam*Made

Modern himmeli maker Samantha Leung shares how to turn cold angles into soft, Southwestern design.

3

Rock Bottom

A marble base steadies an elegant brass arch in this table lamp that’s sure to lead the way (to your favorite reading chair). Winding Course Table Lamp, $248, anthropologie.com

5

Get Wired

Catch books, winter scarves or even your pup’s fanciest toys in these modern starbursts, available in silver, copper or gunmetal. Beam Basket, $20-$30, cb2.com

4

Polar Coasters

Whether black volcanic hexagons or crisp, white marble, you’ve found the perfect coasters to complement your favorite copper Moscow mule mug. La Piedra Coasters, $55, the-citizenry.com

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What exactly are himmeli?

Himmeli are traditional Finnish ornaments, a mobile made out of straw. They are typically extremely ornate and suspended above the dinner table during the holiday season. It is thought that the larger the himmeli, the larger the rye crop will be in the coming year. My designs are a modern take. I have designs that are on one end extremely stark, minimalist and modern, and on the other end, incredibly ornate, layered and traditional.

What’s the allure of geometric design in the Southwestern home?

Geometric design is sleek, cool, modern and timeless. And it’s so easy to incorporate into any home or office.

Design is cyclical, and this pull toward the modern and simplistic is a relief from the shabby-chic trend.

Stylistically, what materials lend themselves to geometric designs?

I am partial to metal, wood and pottery. All of these materials feel so natural and organic, which balances out the structure and hard lines of all of the angles and sharp edges.

It seems like too many right angles may make a home feel stark. How can you soften the look?

When you couple industrial and monochromatic color schemes with angular furniture, it can start to feel extra masculine and cold. A modern update to these traditional mobiles is to incorporate air plants. I love how the bright green and wild leaves look when they are paired with angular and structured himmeli.

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JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2017 • DORADO

Location: Alpino Vino, elevation 11,966ft, highest wine bar in North America

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AT HOME

Barn Raiser PHOTOGRAPHY BY EMILY REDFIELD

Erinn Morgan discovers how an Aspen homeowner transformed a snowfall-collapsed structure into an equestrian stable of dreams

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overed in Colorado-served fresh, powdery snow, the exterior of the expansive, towering structure is flanked by an army of pure white aspens. Its rough-hewn, reclaimedwood-and-stone walls are dotted with welcoming lights and paned windows with working shutters.

While it may appear to be a luxurious, finely crafted yet downto-earth home from the outside,

this building is, in fact, a stunning equestrian stable with a highly mindful and focused design.

The genesis of this unique structure was a heavy snowfall in 2008 that doomed the original stable of a legacy property in the stunning Rocky Mountain town of Aspen. This weather event, which also claimed a wealth of brand-new ranch equipment, cleared the way for a completely new beginning.

“It was an old building and a total collapse — and that really gave us the opportunity to reimagine what the new stable would look like,” says Robert Sinclair, AIA, principal of Robert G. Sinclair Architecture (RGSA), the Aspen-based firm that oversaw the design of the new equestrian stable.

The owner of the original stable, which was part of a large, distinctive property with several building sites on it, approached RGSA about constructing a stable that would last for generations to come but, at the same time, appear as though it had already been there for a century. “I gave Rob the freedom to design with the authenticity and attention to detail warranted by the reclaimed materials and traditional assembly methods … as if it had been there for generations. He achieved a functionally beautiful stable for our prized horses, with all of the character and charm that I was hoping for,” says the property owner, who prefers to remain anonymous.

How would these seemingly divergent yet at once perfectly congruous architecture and design goals be met within the parameters of this project? “The client gave us some latitude to really suggest and imagine what this could and should be to complement the broader property, so we started looking in the direction of the original stable, which dated back decades to the ’40s or ’50s,” Sinclair says. “But then we

thought, ‘What if we doubled that?’ What if the end result looked like it were here for 100 years?’ ” The result is an impressive blending of the old with the new. Inside the stable structure, soaring ceilings are punctuated by sunlight-drenched skylights, beautiful handwork appears on everything from railings to doors, and painstaking details like brass-colored lighting fixtures and paned windows heighten the entire effect.

The finished structure is divided into three equally standout zones, all heated by radiant modular heating. The first zone is a shop built of reclaimed, hand-hewn oak, with a loft above crowned by an opaque skylight. The second, built of reclaimed fir, features six 12-foot module-type stalls, two wash stalls, and a foaling stall, with a hayloft above. The third is a two-story tack room, also crafted out of fir. It boasts an impressively scaled, double-sided fireplace with a one-piece stone mantel.

Even outside, the design of this equestrian stable is in perfect alignment with the old-meets-new ethos.

Just outside the barn doors lies a round pen and paddocks that flank the structure’s stone-clad exterior, which is graduated in size from top to bottom.

According to Sinclair, the critical means to achieve the proper historical design was to employ a true timber frame structure with authentic detailing, historically accurate assembly methods and the right patina. It was also critical to ensure that the new stable was sourced entirely from reclaimed materials. “Almost all the materials used in the new stable are at least 100 years old: the decking, siding, timber frame, lumber,” Sinclair says. “We even did a reclaimed slate roof — when no one else was doing reclaimed slate roofs yet. We had to wait an entire 12-month period to get the slate roof we really wanted [which was reclaimed from an old church in the Northeast], but the client said, ‘I want to this to be right,’ so they were willing to wait.”

VINTAGE APPEAL

To achieve the proper vintage look, the architect designed a true timber frame structure, complete with authentic detailing, historically accurate assembly methods and reclaimed materials.

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AT H OME LIGHT BRIGHT

Soaring ceilings punctuated by sunlight-drenched skylights and brasscolored lighting fixtures brighten the structure's heavy woods and stone.

Sinclair also notes that the full range of reclaimed materials for the new stable structure was sourced from a wide network across the country. “It was a really big undertaking, with timbers coming from various states like Pennsylvania and Indiana,” he says. “It was all consolidated by a single supplier in Utah, and then refabricated in Michigan.”

And because reclaimed wood does not come structurally rated, RGSA’s team had to grade each and every timber, beam and column. Sinclair says this important step took three full days. Then, they took their engineer to the fabricator’s location in Michigan and literally assembled the entire stable right there, with all of the parts and pieces. “It was an incredible 3-D jigsaw puzzle,” says Sinclair. “Everything is where it is because we put it there.”

To keep in step with the historical look of the project, RGSA also employed mortise and tenon joinery (a traditional, historical way of joining timbers together without mechanical nuts and bolts) when the structure was constructed on-site. “There was a real frontier atmosphere when we were raising this barn,” says Sinclair. “It felt like we were really somewhere out in the middle of nowhere.”

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“There was a real frontier atmosphere when we were raising this barn.

It felt like we were really somewhere out in the middle of nowhere.”

From start to finish, this unique architectural project spanned a full 2 1/2 years. And, the end result is a perfectly successful marriage between the old and the new. The owner’s — and the architectural firm’s — original goal was fully realized.

When asked about his favorite feature of this spectacular stable, Sinclair’s passion for the historical is more than evident. “I truly love that every stick of timber is reclaimed,” he says. “We did all reclaimed oak for the center bay; and for the stalls and tack room, we did reclaimed fir. It really gives the notion of this being designed and built some time ago.”

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JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2017 • DORADO

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M Y DOR A DO ANGEL PEAK, NEW MEXICO

It was the beginning of a road trip through the Southwest. My dad and I do this a lot. I like talking with him, and I do most of the navigating. We have been to the Grand Canyon, Carlsbad Caverns, Yellowstone and many other places. My favorite thing is how cool the mountains look if we get someplace good right at sunset.

D R E W B A C R A N I A , 7, S E C O N D - G R A D E R A N D S E A S O N E D S O U T H W E S T E R N R OA D -T R I P P E R F R O M L O S A L A M O S , N E W M E X I C O

Photograph by Minesh Bacrania

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Tag your photos on social media with #MyDorado to show us what you love about the Southwest. We’ll share our favorites at doradomagazine.com.

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Land of Enchantment.