After attending the home building show in LA a couple weeks ago (from which the best part was getting a free pumpkin and stumbling into a Hispanic heritage parade downtown afterward), our expectations for this one were tempered.

The show in NM, which included an eco/green building exhibit, was better, but not great. There was a lot on solar, which we are now already pretty well versed in. We did discover a new roofing material that we think might be a good option. We learned about geo-thermal, which was interesting, but not a good fit for us.

We talked to a couple designers. Neither was a very good fit, but talking to more people has helped me better articulate what we need and be able to judge potential fit in just a couple minutes. We’ll keep looking.

Like the LA show, there were an assortment of seeming unrelated exhibits, like cookware, knives, beauty products, teeth cleaning, jewelry, and even a Kumon booth. Apparently, the “lifestyle” part of the show refers to this, along with a general idea that if you have the money to remodel or build a new home, you have plenty of disposable income for this stuff too.

We spent a couple hours at the show before heading off to hike in Petroglyph National Monument.