Las Cruces, NM

Our first excursion in Las Cruces was to the Farmers and Craft Market.  It is located on the downtown streets in Las Cruces on Saturdays and Wednesdays.  Luckily we went on Saturday as this is the biggest and best showing from the local vendors.  It reminded me of the early Alley Fest events in Longview, mostly due to its size.  We were told the harvest months would have a lot more locally grown items adding to the vendors that regularly show up.  We found some local jellies and apple butter to purchase, not to mention local baked bread.  Since lunch was upon us, we sampled Joshua’s Pizza.  We had a green chile pizza.  It had ham and bacon and cheese with a green chile sauce as toppings.  Yummm, yummm, good.  Even Bibi liked it which you know she doesn’t eat a lot of spicy things.

The whole crew at Farmers and Craft Market in Las Cruces, NM

The next day we ventured out to Old Mesilla and ate at a 100 year old plus Mexican restaurant named La Posta de Mesilla.  It came highly recommended by Manny at Holiday World.  It was good and the food was very fresh considering it was 100 years old.  This area was where Billy the Kid was tried and held in jail, until he escaped.  This is also the spot where James Gadsen signed the treaty that bears his name, between Mexico and the U. S. on December 30, 1853, known as the Gadsen Purchase.  Of course you remember from your U.S. history class that this bought us a 29,670 square mile portion of Mexico that eventually became part of Arizona and New Mexico for $10 million.  (Nope you are right, I did not remember that either and had to look it up.)

During the week we went out to White Sands Monument, which is one of our National Park sites.  We were curious why some places are referred to as ‘parks’ and others are known as ‘monuments.’  Since the National Park Service oversees both, it was a question worthy of research.  It seems the primary difference is twofold, the first difference being preserving the land versus preserving a site for its historical significance.  Secondly, from a bureaucratic perspective Congress designates national parks and presidential proclamations establish national monuments.  Herbert Hoover established White Sands in the last days of his presidency

Arriving at the White Sands Monument you see these welcome signs at the entrance and close to the visitor center.  Then you drive into the area before stopping to see some of the features.  Luckily for us we managed to visit when the sun was a little lower in the sky creating just enough shadows to distinguish features.  The sand is just like snow and flattens out in pictures which do not do justice to what your eye actually sees.  Nevertheless, our photographers were able to get some pretty amazing shots of the scenery.

David and Sophie knew a couple of volunteers who were working at White Sands as interpretive guides.  They worked with them when they served as volunteers at the Chickasaw National Recreation Area in Sulphur, OK this past summer.  So they arranged a breakfast meeting with them to catch up on things.  It is neat to catch up with folks you meet along your journey.

The dunes in White Sands are very unique.  The sand is from gypsum that dissolved in water and then formed from the selenite crystals as the water evaporated.  These crystals/sand grains accumulated in this spot adjacent to the San Andreas Mountains.  So why do the dunes stay there?  The answer lies in the water table just inches from the surface.  It provides the glue to keep the sand from blowing away.  The dunes are constantly shifting and the wind makes new dunes all the time.  The sand is so white, it looks like snow.  You can even sled down dunes, similar to sledding down a snow covered hill.

Dudes and Dudettes at the Dunes

Notice snow on mountain in background

 

To get to the monument, you have to go through a pass at Organ Mountain.  Just as you top the crest of the pass, you are treated to a panoramic view of the valley spread out before you.  The valley is the White Sands Missile Range and is adjacent to the monument.  To access the monument you drive on Route 70 for about 50 miles to reach the entrance.  This route is subject to being closed during missile tests and that also closes the monument since it is located within the range of the missile base.  We stopped at a pull off to take a picture of the mountain range with its snow on top of the ridges and a view of the valley below.

The area in white is part of the White Sands Missile Base.

We will post more about the Las Cruces stay in a few days.  We are enjoying the journey and hope everyone reading the blog is enjoying our adventures as much as we do.  Until next time, be safe.