OH, CANADA
In July, DANIEL ARREOLA of Placitas took a Canadian vacation in Newfoundland and Labrador. In Twillingate, a small fishing village in Notre Dame Bay, he visited the Isles Wooden Boat Museum. Inside, the museum displayed a list of foreign countries from which their visitors had come, including Germany, New Zealand, Scotland, the Netherlands, Australia, Malaysia, and ... New Mexico! When Arreola advised the staff that it was a U.S. state, not a foreign country, a staff member solved the problem by “promptly drawing a line through New Mexico.”
SOUTH BY SOUTHWEST
One Christmas, LAWRENCE LEAKE flew from New Mexico to visit family in Virginia. Finding that he had too many gifts to bring back on his return flight, he mailed a box to Las Cruces. After a few weeks, Leake asked the post office to track the package. Eventually, it was located and forwarded. When it arrived, it became clear why it was delayed. “Cleared for Customs” was stamped on the box. “We learned never to write out our state name, just ‘NM,’ ” Leake says.
DRAWING A BLANK
When GARY THORNHILL’s Ohio-based doctor told him he would need some specialized blood work, he didn’t think getting it done in his part-time home of Las Cruces would be an issue. But then a nurse informed him that “no labs near there perform blood tests we can use.” Thornhill was shocked since there are at least three regional hospitals. The nurse then clarified that blood work from foreign countries is not acceptable. “I explained that New Mexico is actually one of the 50 states,” Thornhill says. “If that is the case,” she replied after a beat, “then you can go to any doctor or lab in Las Cruces.”
have a “missing” moment?
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