Sight seeing in New Mexico

We decided to make our way up to Santa Fe.  On the way we saw this monument of the Mormon Battalion in the middle of no where. It was sobering to think of these men walking so far in these conditions to serve a country that had been persecuting them.

 We then took the 14 or the famous Turquoise Trail back to our hotel. This is where turquoise was mined years ago. We thought we were going to see the mines and learn a bit more about the history. Instead we just saw a lot of desert. We stopped at a very tiny town  where there was supposedly an old mine but all we found was a petting zoo which consisted of a few goats and a llama and a very small mining museum which we didn't end up going through. We met the nicest man there though.

 There was this lookout that had some PVC pipes in the direction of certain landmarks. One said it was a forest, one a river, one a mountain peak, etc.  All I saw was desert. I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I need to work harder on finding the beauty of the desert. I came from the desert of Wyoming and just haven't learned to appreciate it yet. I love where I live!