Spencer Lyle

Smoke drifting across a two-lane highway is the best road sign in New Mexico, and it never shows…

By Spencer Lyle · Oct 6

Mud, straw, and stubborn hands built some of the oldest buildings still standing in New Mexico, and many…

By Spencer Lyle · Oct 6

Red chile has a way of sneaking up on you, earthy at first and then warm all the…

By Spencer Lyle · Oct 5

Blackberry cobbler served at almost 10,000 feet was not on my list of things to expect from a…

By Spencer Lyle · Oct 5

Six hundred feet of empty air can change your whole mood in about two seconds. New Mexico is…

By Spencer Lyle · Oct 4

Forty miles of twisting mountain road and zero bars of cell signal stood between me and a pool…

By Spencer Lyle · Oct 4

Green chile on pepperoni pizza, served inside a little log building miles from the nearest stoplight, was not…

By Spencer Lyle · Oct 3

Hash browns were the first clue that I had stumbled onto something special in eastern New Mexico. They…

By Spencer Lyle · Oct 3

The smell hits you before the sign does, a smoky, sweet cloud drifting across the highway that makes…

By Spencer Lyle · Oct 2

Crunch was the last thing I expected to hear from inside a warm tortilla, yet there it was,…

By Spencer Lyle · Oct 2

Mud, straw, and sunshine built some of the toughest buildings in America, and many of them still stand…

By Spencer Lyle · Oct 1

Corn husks piled in a paper sack on a counter were the first clue that the plain little…

By Spencer Lyle · Oct 1

Red chile on one half, green on the other, and a stranger behind the counter asking about your…

By Spencer Lyle · Sep 30

Warm chips arrived in a basket before I had even settled into my chair, and the salsa beside…

By Spencer Lyle · Sep 30

A skateboard deck painted by an Apache artist was the last thing I expected to see on a…

By Spencer Lyle · Sep 29

My first real taste of New Mexico came not from a fancy plate but from a puffy pillow…

By Spencer Lyle · Sep 29

Six in the morning, a car line already snaking toward a tiny pay shed, and a tortilla so…

By Spencer Lyle · Sep 28

My stomach was growling on a routine errand run when a plain little counter shop finally lured me…

By Spencer Lyle · Sep 28

My first real bite of green chile in New Mexico didn’t happen at a fancy table with white…

By Spencer Lyle · Sep 27

Imagine walking into a room where the walls practically hum with color, and a stranger behind the counter…

By Spencer Lyle · Sep 27

A wooden loom clacking somewhere in the back of a quiet shop is not the sound most road-trippers…

By Spencer Lyle · Sep 26

The first bite made me forget the long stretch of highway behind me. Somewhere in New Mexico, a…

By Spencer Lyle · Sep 26

My afternoon plans fell apart the second I spotted a warehouse-sized building along a busy stretch of road…

By Spencer Lyle · Sep 25

My shoulders dropped the moment I stepped through the gate, like someone had turned the volume of my…

By Spencer Lyle · Sep 25

Miles of open highway can leave you dreaming of a warm plate of pasta, and New Mexico hides…

By Spencer Lyle · Sep 24

Finding a warm, sandy beach in the middle of the New Mexico desert feels like a happy trick…

By Spencer Lyle · Sep 24

Winding up into the mountains east of Albuquerque, my stomach started growling long before I spotted a green-roofed…

By Spencer Lyle · Sep 23

Something about a good rummage makes your heart beat a little faster, especially when the air-conditioning hums and…

By Spencer Lyle · Sep 23

I walked in fully expecting to keep my hands in my pockets, and twenty minutes later I had…

By Spencer Lyle · Sep 22

The first thing that catches your eye is the color, splashes of it on old wooden buildings that…

By Spencer Lyle · Sep 22

Halfway between one distant town and the next, along a lonely stretch of highway in New Mexico, sits…

By Spencer Lyle · Sep 21

My fork hovered over a plate of lasagna so tall it needed its own zip code, and I…

By Spencer Lyle · Sep 21

A road trip through New Mexico can turn ordinary when you finally slow down and stop chasing the…

By Spencer Lyle · Sep 20

Imagine following a random search on a road trip and stumbling into a shop that smells like fresh…

By Spencer Lyle · Sep 20

My plan was to keep driving, but a wisp of steam rising near a low desert building made…

By Spencer Lyle · Sep 19

Some of the best meals hide in the most forgettable-looking buildings. Out in a tiny New Mexico village,…

By Spencer Lyle · Sep 19

Some of the best meals in New Mexico hide at the end of a winding road, far past…

By Spencer Lyle · Sep 18

Imagine driving through miles of wide-open desert in New Mexico, with mountains circling you in every direction, and…

By Spencer Lyle · Sep 18

Engines hum, tires squeal, and somewhere between the pines a kid’s laugh cuts through the mountain air. I…

By Spencer Lyle · Sep 17