I've been through there dozens of times but I think this is the first time I went to Albuquerque. In my head it's an in-between place.
Yeah but I thought New Mexico managed to push Purgatory up into Colorado. Mainly 'cuz I sprained my ankle there as a kid and crutch-walked myself around the the Anasazi ruins near four corners. I thank my family and my own clumsiness for the opportunity.
My childhood bedroom contains a printed-on-wallboard "map" of all the ski areas in northern New Mexico/southern Colorado as seen orthographically and as presented by Coors. It was probably printed in the '70s. By the mid '80s, when I got it, half of them were gone. Three or four of them I'd never heard of. I'll bet there are even fewer now. Haven't seen that map since 2012 'cuz I enjoy not going home. A Texan injuring himself in the snow around Durango? Story checks out. As to the "Anasazi ruins near Four Corners" that was where, for some reason, I had to spend a lot of Thanksgivings. I suspect it was related to my mother's disinterest in spending time with either her family or my father's. As a result, "eating dead buffet as the only family in the restaurant of the Best Western in Farmington" became one of the principle reasons I reclaimed Thanksgiving for my own.