The Sandias: A Focal Point!
I can still remember that first breath-taking sunrise over 12 years ago as a new day was breaking beyond the Sandia Mountains. I stood spell-bound looking out east from the living room window of our daughter and son-in-law's apartment in Rio Rancho. I said to Melissa, "This is beyond beautiful! Look at that sunrise! Your picture window is just that... a picture of God's handy work in New Mexico!" The Sandia Mountain range stretches throughout Bernalillo and Sandoval Counties some 17 miles north to south and is 8 miles wide east to west. It distinguishes the Albuquerque metropolitan area. This mountain is not only a beautiful focal point framing the eastern edge of the Albuquerque basin, it also represents a reference point for anyone wanting to learn how to drive around the entire area. New Mexicans of these parts know that as long as you can see "The Mountain" (as it is often simply described), you have some sense of what direction is east, north, south a...