This was not my first time in the county, so it’s nice to finally make it official. As for the courthouse, lovely, don't you think? I don't ever remember seeing a courthouse with a copper dome in it before so that's a new and different. One daughter chose to stay in the air conditioning while … Continue reading 318. Ashdown, Little River County (AR02) →

I'm sure some of you are thinking "Hey, Atreides? Can you actually finish a state before starting a new one?" And I'm sure my answer would be something along the lines of "I go where opportunity takes me!" That said, there's something kind of quaint about the birdhouse here on the courthouse lawn. For some … Continue reading 317. Texarkana, Miller County (AR01) →

Two years. If you had told me when I started this that I would still be writing this two years later, I don't think I would have believed you. Yet here we are. In fact, I'm not even current. I've got the next three weeks written and another three weeks worth of entries to do. … Continue reading A Second Year Gone By →

This is a lovely building. Sure, they've added a few side buildings to form a complex of sorts, but I have no doubts it is, on the whole, as functional as it ever was. But that, strangely enough, is the least important thing about being here. Do you know how I sometimes complain about not … Continue reading 316. Fort Sumner, De Baca County (NM16) →

Hmm... We've got one of those back home. The county, not this lovely, lovely courthouse! She's beautiful in that century old way that we just don't do anymore. I'm pretty sure the craftsmanship itself is gone, but let's face it: as much as I gripe about modern buildings, we build far more functional and comfortable … Continue reading 315. Santa Rosa, Guadalupe County (NM15) →

Calling Estancia a postage stamp of a town might be considered a mild castigation of philatelists everywhere. Or maybe that was just the oppressive heat trying to bring me down or dictate my mood. It wasn't spear of Apollo level like I'm used to in Texas. In fact, this entire trip through New Mexico for … Continue reading 314. Estancia, Torrence County (NM14) →

I don't normally like this style of courthouse, that "modern" construction of the 1960's that seems so emblematic of the 1970's. I guess that can be said of anything trying to broadcast modernity from the past, especially the recent (last 50 years) past. That said, even those things that are timeless now were modern once. … Continue reading 313. Los Lunas, Valencia County (NM13) →

So, I rolled into Albuquerque, the land of mythical meth, with a lot of fancy plans and pants to match. Normally, I spend thirty minutes or less in a county, this was special and I blocked off three hours to get some things done. While I was going around doing my photography, I unexpectedly ran … Continue reading Well, I Actually WAS In Bernalillo County… →

So this regional adobe thing? It's beginning to annoy me. Seriously? Who is enforcing this? Is it just a practical thing? Is the material cheap? I guess I should have known this would be a thing after having seen it in every media product about the region, but seeing it myself is creating a minor … Continue reading 312. Bernalillo, Sandoval County (NM12) →

If you had asked me to imagine what the courthouse here would look like, I think I would have imagined something like this. This, however, is a special and strange case. There are a few strange cases when it comes to courthouses, some I've thought about (there are counties that have no county seat) and … Continue reading 311. Santa Fe, Santa Fe County (NM11) →