And after living in a blast-furnace called Texas for 5 years in Houston and 18 years in Austin, I really do mean never-- for me.
"Bitterly cold" is like Evanston Illinois, where it was about -30 all winter (sorry to those who are on Celsius and are going, "huh?") .
I'll bet anything it's still colder in Denver than it is here.
I'm not cold yet, but the forecast puts our high temp tomorrow at 10 degrees!
Another minor point.
While we don't have mosquitoes or cockroaches here, we do have more brown recluses and black widows than you can shake a stick at.
I think "the Land of Enchantment" is much like "the Land" in many ways.
Every time I go to Texas, I have to drive through Roswell. There's a huge ridge of land along the Pecos which always reminds me of Landsdrop.
The Land has its Illearth Stone and New Mexico has vast naturally occouring deposits of our own Illearth Stone-- Uranium!
One of my favorite places is a mountain lookout at around 10,000 feet (I only have to drive 8 miles to get there!) and it reminds me of Kevin's Watch.
Lincoln National forest, the first national forest in the USA, is my own personal Andelain.
In Albuquerque, there are a lot of Sikhs, and they kind of remind me of the Haruchai, even though I always viewed them as Bengalis.
Santa Fe is said to be a powerful spiritual place, which seems to me like earthpower. We have a large population of Natives here (my fiancée is a Native American and she has never seen so many natives as we have here) and they remind me of the Ramen.
The Wild Mustangs out here are from the first horses introduced to the Americas, from the conquistadors, and that would be your Ranyhyn.
White Sands reminds me of Bhrathairain.
I don't know when Donaldson moved to NM, but if it was prior to writing the chronicles, I'd bet moneys that this place inspired him.
Lord Zombiac, you write with such passion about your area of the world that like Gimli in TLOTR, I am compelled to build it into my future travel plans!
Where I live is the most awesome paradise I've ever beheld, but it is not Andelain-- it is far too mountainous.
the cold here is never bitter, and the heat here is never scortching. There are small rivers that leap with life and health, and actually contain much gold. There are slow, languid creeks that form lakes and pools. Thickets of willow shade some of the mountain streams, and the rocks and faces of the land afford spectacular vistas. There is much wilderness, places where you can get lost and see no trace of man. Tall ponderosa pines shadow and grace our mountains and frame wonderful meadows, and even when walking among nettles I have never walked anywhere in the forest that I could not walk completely barefoot.
In the hills around Capitan junipers grow lush and inviting. In the peaks where you may spend many a summer nights glad for a coat and a fire, there are tall, beautiful aspens. Pinion, wild rose hips, strawberries (if you can find them before the deer do) wild onions, elderberry, apples, and many other delightful foods can be found here.
Many animals roam here. In the heart of our village, deer wander amidst the touristy storefronts.
Yarrow and Mullein are the chief of our herbs. Certain mushrooms which many consider to be sacred gifts grow here too.
This is the most wonderful, healing, powerful place I have ever lived and I will never call another place my home.
It is not Andelain, but if anything like Andelain exists, it must be close by, somewhere in "the Land of Enchantment."
Why else would Stephen R. Donaldson have made New Mexico his home?
