Moon Handbooks New Mexico

Steve Metzger first traveled through the Southwest as a child, when each summer his father took the family to visit his hometown of Prescott, Arizona. Steve recalls sitting in the rear-facing third seat of the tan '65 Plymouth station wagon as desert miles rolled beneath the car's tires and, with his brother Rick, recognizing the landscape from their favorite western movies and television shows. He remembers being struck by the desert's harsh beauty and the squalor of the people who eked out livings selling frybread from roadside lean-tos (though it would be many years before he would actually use the words "squalor" and "eke" in sentences of his own making). These early road trips set the tone for his love of travel, and when he graduated high school, he lit out for the Colorado Rockies, where he truly thought he'd be able see it rain fire in the sky. After realizing that working ski lifts for $1.60 an hour held little hope for a future of continued travel, he returned to California, where he attended Marin Community College, Lake Tahoe Community College, and Chico State, earning both bachelor's and master's degrees in English. He has spent the last 20 years traveling-from the Sangre de Cristo mountains of northern New Mexico to the French and Italian Alps-as well as writing, teaching, and raising a family. In addition to the three books he has written for Avalon Travel Publishing (Moon Handbooks New Mexico, Moon Handbooks Santa Fe-Taos, and Moon Handbooks Colorado), he has written for the San Francisco Chronicle and for several magazines. He has also published poetry and short fiction in literary journals and is a member of the English and American studies departments at California State University, Chico. When he is not writing, traveling, or teaching, Metzger enjoys spending time with his family-wife Betsy and daughters Hannah and Gina-and their two yellow Labs, Nellie and Toby. He still loves to return to the Southwest of his childhood, where he has a broader appreciation of that land with which he fell in love so long ago. Sometimes, toward the end of a John Ford western in his American studies classes, if he looks closely enough, he sees that old Plymouth wagon bringing up the rear of the charging cavalry, and two young boys, wide-eyed and grinning in the back seat.Metzger, Stephen is the author of 'Moon Handbooks New Mexico', published 2003 under ISBN 9781566915809 and ISBN 1566915805.