Hatch, NM

 

A spicy welcome to Hatch

According to my pedometer I made made it the 281 miles from Tucson to Hatch on August 20.  I'm not sure how nine days have passed without finding time to post about it, but I'll just chalk it up, like all the other weirdness nowadays, to covid (thanks, covid!).

Hatch is a pretty cool little town that I've been through a few times, so I actually have real photos to post of the sites I'd be seeing if I'd actually walked there.

In case you didn't know, Hatch's claim to fame is that it's the Chili Capital of the World.  Each Labor Day the town (population 1,673) hosts the Hatch Chili Festival, which can host up to 30,000 visitors from around the world.  I've never been to Hatch during the festival, but I did purchase a couple of jars of local salsa once that aren't available in stores (Hatch brand salsas can be found in most major urban markets in the U.S.).  Let me just say that what you find locally and what's sold in stores are two very different animals -- I couldn't take more than a few teaspoons of the local stuff before I was breathing fire!

A large part of what I love about Hatch is the roadside attractions, and I say this with true affection.  I love roadside attractions.  Here are some that Hatch has to offer:

A chili for you, and a chili for you...everyone gets a chili!

I don't know what's going on here, but I love it

A Muffler Man and his Winnebago

I think the RV Muffler Man above is my favorite.  If you weren't aware, Muffler Men walk among us as 14 to 25-foot tall titans of fiberglass, holding anything from axes to candy canes to Winnebagos to...well, mufflers.  We even have one in Tucson named Glenn Stone, for the less-than-obvious reason that he's on the corner of Glenn St. and Stone Ave.  I was stopped at a light the other day right next to him, and captured this amazing photo:

I know, I know, I framed this photo perfectly

I thought it was cool that he was wearing a mask, if you can see it through the stoplights.  Speaking of masks, our local T-Rex is also sporting one:

It's so hard to find a mask that fits when your head's the size of a small boulder

You just never know when you might be asymptomatic, so it's good to see everyone (everything?) taking precautions.