A "Drive By" Tour Through Farmington

As most have heard by now, my husband's company has been running out of work in our current city and state for quite some time. In the meantime, they secured a job up in Farmington, NM so we will be packing our bags (actually, boxes...lots and lots of boxes) to relocate in January. We think we'll be there for about a year, although the amount of time we spend there could vary a little depending on how things go on the job site.

Having heard lots of mixed reviews on the area, we decided to set out on a little scouting journey to see the place for ourselves. Our goals were to get a feel for the area, locate Clay's future job site and possible local suppliers, and identify areas of town and neighborhoods in which we would like to rent a house. Oh, and have a little fun while we're at it!

All of my photos are literally "drive by" shots because with the amount of driving it took to get us to Farmington and back, we really were not able to spend much time there. So when we were there, we toured the area rather quickly by car. So, if you can live with the random guardrails and such in the photos, please enjoy this photo tour. ;-)

About 15 miles south of town, Clay's company will be building a couple of these...




so that the Navajos can water their lovely farm fields...




like this...





But what is this wasteland below?!

Okay, I promise this is not what the town looks likes. ;-) However, as we came upon the town from the south, we encountered these random sand dunes. You can see the trails in the dunes from the people who were out there with their ATVs. It's hard to see from this picture, but as you enter town, you are looking quite a ways down into this ravine.




This is a panoramic view of Farmington as we approach it. Notice, we are descending into the town. See the strip of green? Farmington has three rivers that run through town, so it sits in a fertile river valley. Large trees follow the course of the rivers, making the town more green than Clay or I imagined.




Here we are pulling into town. The large building at the end of the road in the distance is the hospital.



This is some of the land surrounding one of the rivers. Pretty. :-) Especially when you're used to seeing lots of cactus.



Here is one of the three rivers, but don't ask me which one. ;-) I'm still learning.





When you're in town, if you look to the south, you see these jagged cliffs, reminiscent of our long drive through New Mexico. :-)






Also looking toward the south side of town, depending on where you are sitting, you might see these comical signs. We saw many more church buildings and advertisements for churches than we expected which was fun for us! And who doesn't love the guts of this particular Catholic church who so strategically located this billboard advertisement?!



As I mentioned, we set out to find neighborhoods we would like to live in. Here is a view from the hill of one of the areas we would be happy to live in:
As in our current home location, it seems to be popular to landscape the yard with low-maintenance rock. However, there are also a fair share of homes with green grass and large trees in their yards. We're praying for something like that!





While "neighborhood hunting," we encountered this sweet lady. She did not seem to be afraid of us as we sat there staring at each other. We also saw a red fox (dead, but we know they have them now) and several prairie dogs.





We would also consider living just outside of Farmington toward Aztec (or even in Aztec) if something was available in our price range. Here is a shot from that drive in the country (if you can see through the blur and my reflection).





This is another picture of some of the country living available. This is out past Aztec, heading up toward Durango, so we wouldn't want to be that far from Farmington. But isn't it pretty to look at anyway?



Our day two of our scouting adventure, we took a drive first thing in the morning to Durango, CO (45 mins. away) - just for fun and because we have heard that it is beautiful. Here are some pictures from that quick journey:

This guardrail is blocking the view of part of the river, but this is the view in Colorado as you get close to Durango.





This is what greets you upon first entering the town of Durango. I CAN tell you that this is the Animas Rives, which flows down from Colorado and through Farmington.





This is Durango! It sits about 1000 feet higher and is smaller than Farmington but has a young, modern feel to it. It's metal-roofed buildings and looming mountains seem to beg for winter's snow. And it should - the town gets about 70 inches of snow a year, while Farmington sees about 12 inches of snow fall in a year. Just being there made me want to curl up with some hot tea, even though it is September. Yes, we will be visiting Colorado often! And who knows - we may even take up fishing as a family hobby!

That ends our tour! So unless you want to hear all the retail stores I was pleasantly surprised to discover (like JoAnn!), I'll leave you with a request to pray that we'll find a house that will suit our family's needs with a flexible landlord. (We could be there until the following winter...or possibly even as late as April.)

Want to come visit!? ;-)