Arin McKenna

TRAINS, LIKE CHRISTMAS, have an air of magic about them, especially when they are historic steam locomotives. Merge Christmas with these antique trains and you have the formula for a magical adventure. That is why the Santa Fe Southern Railway's holiday trains have become a Christmas tradition for many families. And those holiday trains are just one part of the winter train runs available in the Santa Fe area. At Santa Fe Southern Railyway, the most popular run is the Story Book Train, which revolves around a reading of Chris Van Allsburg's The Polar Express.

Allan Houser (whose name was changed from Haozous when he entered elementary school) was born in Oklahoma in 1914. According to family history, he was the first child born after the Chiricahua Apaches were released from 27 years of imprisonment by the United States Government. His great-grandfather was noted Apache chief Mangas Coloradas and his great-uncle was Geronimo himself. His father, Sam Haozous, served as Geronimo's interpreter during the incarceration at Fort Sill, Okla.

After their release from captivity, Haozous and his wife, Blossom, decided to remain in Oklahoma rather than move to New Mexico. Although Haozous chose the life of a farmer and integration into the Anglo world, he...

For those raised on fast food, frozen dinners, prepackaged meat and stores filled with every imaginable product from anywhere in the world, it is hard to conceive of a time when families lived isolated lives and had to produce almost everything they needed.

Imagine growing crops and raising animals for food and hides and wool, finding ways to store food for the winter without refrigeration, preparing every meal from scratch, building your own home and all its furnishings and making all your clothing, including tanning hides and spinning thread.

For a taste of such a life, visit El Rancho de las Golondrinas.

This 200-acre living history museum illustrates daily life in New Mexico from...

When the Rev. Casimiro Roca became pastor of El Santuario de Chimayó, there were few visitors. Now hundreds of thousands visit each year. Many have reported being healed by the chapel's blessed dirt, earning the santuario the appellation "the Lourdes of the United States."

The santuario was built by Don Bernardo Abeyta in 1816 to house the crucifix of Nuestro Señor de Esquípulas. The cross is a replica of one in Esquípulas, Guatemala, in another shrine noted for its miraculous healings.

There are many legends regarding the crucifix, including one about Abeyta, who was a member of the lay brotherhood Los Hermanos Penitentes. Abeyta was performing his customary pe...

The Cumbres & Toltec follows the most scenic route of the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad.

But for many passengers, the sense of riding history is the major attraction of the trip. After all, the Cumbres & Toltec is recognized as a National Civil Engineering Landmark and listed on both the State and National Registers of Historic Sites.

The Denver & Rio Grande was founded by Gen. William Jackson Palmer, whose vision of a railroad that extended from Denver to Mexico City came to a halt when the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad won the access to Raton Pass.

Instead, Palmer refocused on the rich mining deposits in western Colorado. The line now run by the Cumbres &#...