What town is this?

August 26, 2021 6:43 AM

Flying from Miami to San Francisco, I saw a town sited on three natural cliff-like terraces, probably in New Mexico. What was I looking at?
posted by namret to Travel & Transportation (4 answers total)

Possibly Acoma Pueblo? I feel like that would be pretty striking from the air.
posted by theodolite at 6:57 AM on August 26, 2021 [2 favorites]

FlightRadar24 can show you the most recent routes a particular airline's flight took. Here's AA 2045 from the morning of August 25th, from Miami to San Francisco. Depending on where you were (were you looking out the left or right side of the plane?), you could cross-reference with Google Maps Satellite View and see what looks likely.
posted by mdonley at 7:19 AM on August 26, 2021 [4 favorites]

Could you tell if they were pueblo-style houses or if they were more modern? Los Alamos sits on several different mesas. The buildings are distinctly more modern looking than Acoma. The airport runway is also distinctive. And there's a giant caldera just a few miles west of Los Alamos (Valle Grande) which you might have noticed.
posted by Nelson at 8:34 AM on August 26, 2021 [2 favorites]

Of the two great suggestions made so far, I think Los Alamos is more likely what you saw from airliner height. Acoma's small size and natural color of paths and structures would blend in with the background from that altitude.
posted by M.C. Lo-Carb! at 9:59 AM on August 26, 2021