Fiona Gates

Wax paper, a walk-up window, and a burger dripping with roasted green chile turned an ordinary pit stop…

By Fiona Gates · Oct 6

Roasting chile smoke drifting across a two-lane road is the best map New Mexico ever handed me. Follow…

By Fiona Gates · Oct 6

Wood smoke drifting through tall pine trees was the last thing I expected to smell on a mountain…

By Fiona Gates · Oct 5

Grilled cheese croutons floating in a bowl of soup were the first clue that I had been underestimating…

By Fiona Gates · Oct 5

A cherry croissant turned two grown adults into a pair of squabbling kids, each reaching for one more…

By Fiona Gates · Oct 4

Roasting drums were still turning on the roadside when I pulled into a gravel lot, expecting nothing more…

By Fiona Gates · Oct 4

Foil crinkles, steam escapes, and suddenly a gas station parking lot at 7 AM feels like the best…

By Fiona Gates · Oct 3

Crystal water in a glass jar was the last thing I expected to be offered while browsing a…

By Fiona Gates · Oct 3

Whispering is the house rule, and after about ten minutes in the water you will not want to…

By Fiona Gates · Oct 2

Cinnamon and warm lard hit me before the door even closed behind me, and I forgot all about…

By Fiona Gates · Oct 2

A box of Green Giant corn is hiding somewhere on a wall covered in toys, and finding it…

By Fiona Gates · Oct 1

Koi the color of ripe chile peppers came drifting straight toward my shoes, mouths open, as if they…

By Fiona Gates · Oct 1

Cottonwoods turn the color of butter for only a few short weeks in New Mexico, and the best…

By Fiona Gates · Sep 30

Steam fogged my glasses before the first spoonful ever reached my mouth, and I knew the plain little…

By Fiona Gates · Sep 30

A road sign caught my eye during a drive through central New Mexico, and I almost passed it…

By Fiona Gates · Sep 29

A milkshake should not need its own backup tin, yet here it arrives with one, sweating and full…

By Fiona Gates · Sep 29

Drums were the first thing I heard, drifting across a parking lot I almost drove past on my…

By Fiona Gates · Sep 28

Twenty-nine point nine seconds sounds like nothing until you are gripping a steering wheel and chasing it lap…

By Fiona Gates · Sep 28

Broken windows and towering brick walls might make you wonder if you took a wrong turn somewhere in…

By Fiona Gates · Sep 27

Craving a cannoli so fresh the shell still crackles when you bite it? New Mexico might not be…

By Fiona Gates · Sep 27

My stomach growled somewhere along a quiet stretch of road in New Mexico, and a weathered old timber…

By Fiona Gates · Sep 26

Walk in hungry with a group of eight, and somehow everyone leaves happy, from the picky kid who…

By Fiona Gates · Sep 26

Walking into a place that smells like incense the moment you open the door tells you right away…

By Fiona Gates · Sep 25

My favorite kind of road trip in New Mexico always starts with a plain building and a question:…

By Fiona Gates · Sep 25

Sizzling meat, a sauce bar that changes with the seasons, and a grill built right into your table…

By Fiona Gates · Sep 24

Walking a narrow dirt-old lane in New Mexico, you might stroll right past a low adobe building without…

By Fiona Gates · Sep 24

A gravel road, a few crumbling walls, and a mine tower standing quietly against the mountains is not…

By Fiona Gates · Sep 23

A quick trip for a bag of green chile turned into one of the tastiest detours I never…

By Fiona Gates · Sep 23

The smell hits you before anything else does, a soft wave of lavender rolling across an open field…

By Fiona Gates · Sep 22

Driving down a busy boulevard, you would never guess that one small storefront hides shelves of imported chocolate,…

By Fiona Gates · Sep 22

My first bite of crispy lumpia in a strip-mall parking lot somewhere in New Mexico rewired how I…

By Fiona Gates · Sep 21

Some places in New Mexico feel like a secret the whole state agreed not to spoil. Drive far…

By Fiona Gates · Sep 21

Somewhere between the mesas and the mountain passes, there are towns in New Mexico where a modest monthly…

By Fiona Gates · Sep 20

My grandfather always said the best movies weren’t the ones on the screen but the ones you watched…

By Fiona Gates · Sep 20

Behind a drive-through emissions station in a plain New Mexico strip mall, someone is folding pillowy dumplings by…

By Fiona Gates · Sep 19

Some of the best nights in New Mexico happen in the most unexpected places, like a wide-open lot…

By Fiona Gates · Sep 19

My road trip through New Mexico took an unexpected turn the moment I spotted a giant vintage figure…

By Fiona Gates · Sep 18

A cream puff so tall you’d struggle to fit a proper bite in your mouth sounds like something…

By Fiona Gates · Sep 18

Some of the best stops in New Mexico hide in plain sight, tucked along an old adobe street…

By Fiona Gates · Sep 17