Travelin' and Tellin' Tales

Dr. Deb; acupuncturist, masseuse and very cool person. 

Travel writing is my ideal profession. It is, after all, a combination of my two favorite things. I use to see covers of my father's National Geographic Traveler magazines and it would provoke bouts of envy. Who were these lucky journalists who got to write AND travel AND got paid to do it? Turns out, it is really is all about luck. During one of my low career moments, I searched around on the web, hoping to find job postings for travel writing. Instead, I found an article bluntly stating that a lucrative  or even a steady job in travel writing is fantasy. My hopes were dashed. I was down but not out. Turns out you can be travel writer; you just need to some grit and a generous boss.

My first take on travel writing was when I did a day-trip travel section at the Los Alamos Monitor. I wrote about hiking to see Nambe Falls and touring different area wineries. Then, when I started writing for the Los Alamos Daily Post, I created a "Middle of Nowhere" travel column. Together with my mother and sometimes father, I wrote about the beauty of the ruins of buildings in Tierra Amarilla, the strength of Corrales to resist blending into Rio Rancho's urban sprawl, and the expedition undertaken to find the church in Hernandez that Amsel Adams made immortal in his black-and-white photograph. But as more small towns were scratched off the list, the harder it came to find new ones. Writing for the column halted and so did my travel writing. Until today. 

I started paginating the Valley Daily Post and the paper's publisher decided to do a travel section of Northern New Mexico. In an act I consider incredibly generous and kind, he asked if  I would write some of the stories. 

I picked Jemez Springs and Taos. I have been to both numerous times but writing about a place changes things. It makes me see things differently and speak to people I wouldn't normally approach. Armed with a camera, a notepad and pen, I feel equipped to do anything. The only problem I foresaw with my first assignment, Jemez Springs, was who would join me on the trip. My parents aren't around, they were on far bigger and grander travels in Barcelona, Spain. My sister's schedule keeps her busy. I invited a good friend of  mine to join me and she happily accepted. So today we drove along a road that winded up a mountain road then cut through state parks and ran along the Valles Caldera to get to the tiny strip of downtown Jemez Springs. We strolled through a memorial park and while my friend checked out wares on display at an outdoor market, I marched up to another vendor, a woman wearing peach-colored shirt and a black eye patch, whipped out my notepad and began conducting my first interview. The woman, Dr. Deb, works in acupuncture and massage while also creating her own line of herbal creams and ointments. I discovered through my interview, she is a wonderful person, warm and friendly. She pointed out to me the farmer's market under the park's pavilion and the garage sale happening in a tennis court. She told me about her work with cancer patients. The interview ended with Deb saying how important it was to have fun. To love and enjoy your work. Scribbling away on my notepad and photographing the sights around me, I couldn't have agreed more.