During one of my recent photography trips, I spent the better part of a day in Las Vegas. Las Vegas, New Mexico that is!

Surprisingly, the Las Vegas in New Mexico originated decades before the one in Nevada. And, one of the appealing things about Las Vegas, New Mexico is its architecture. The city of 14,000 residents lists over 900 buildings on the National Register of Historic Places.

Here are a few images from my visit:

As I went into the train station to consider photo possibilities for some interior shots, I came across a man waiting for a train. He explained that he had come across hard times, lost his car and that he needed to travel across the state to land a job at a resort working in a kitchen. His problem was that he could save a significant sum of money by purchasing his ticket in advance. However, this required the use of a credit card--which he didn't have. Given that he didn't have a credit card, his only option was to pay by cash on the train with the resulting cost being nearly double that of the advance ticket.

At first, I was hesitant to try to help him because the whole thing felt like some sort of a scam. Why would a business charge someone nearly double to pay by cash rather than credit? But, after talking to him for several minutes, I decided to take a chance and purchase his train ticket on my credit card. After all, he was offering to reimburse me on the spot with cash.

Then, it dawned on me that my wallet was in my car which was parked nearly a mile away. So, I told the man that I would go back to my car, drive back to the station and then purchase the advance ticket with my credit card.

Later, I purchased the ticket, he handed me the cash and I was on my way. In the end, it wasn't a scam...and he was very grateful to save $50 on the ticket.