Greetings from Las Cruces, NM!

vraiblonde

vraiblonde

Board Mommy
PREMO Member
Patron
I haven't even been here 12 hours and I'm already stressing about leaving. Monello is going to have to drag me out of here kicking and screaming.

SO beautiful! We haven't seen much of the town at this point - just what we saw on our grocery run - but our RV park set the tone. In the morning the sun will rise over the Organ mountain range and that view will be spectacular from our front patio. We have an enormous site - room for the RV, both cars, a large patio area with a table and benches, both of our camp chairs and two drinkie tables, Apollo's play yard, and tons of space still.

It just feels good here. It's a good vibe. I can't explain it, it's just that glad to be alive feeling.

There's a lot more to Las Cruces than I thought. It's a small city - 100,000 people - but it has a very active community. Our calendar is filled with things to see and do, local events, and places to visit. Rodeo season starts this week, and they're having Space Week, and there are farmers markets, and enormous flea markets, and free movie nights and special events at the Rio Grande Theater, and a Jewish Folk festival, and they have a roller derby team (!) with a home game while we're here. Then there are the towns and historic sites: Mesilla, Alamagordo, Truth or Consequences, White Sands, Hatch.....

We need to eat green chile cheesburgers, and biscochitos, and pinon coffee (which I'm drinking right now), and carne adovada.

I already know I'm going to love it here, and that's bad because it's clear across the US from my other happy places, making things a journey rather than a hop. So I kind of hope I'm wrong and I only like it a whole lot. I don't really need anymore happy places. That's the problem with travel: so many cool places, and I want to be in all of them all the time. I have no doubt I'll fall madly in love with Williams when we go to Grand Canyon, and then there will be another damn happy place. At least that's close to Las Cruces, but so far away from Panama City Beach, Gatlinburg, South Padre Island, and Cody.

I can't wait for tomorrow so I can go out exploring!
 
vraiblonde

vraiblonde

Board Mommy
PREMO Member
Patron
Yesterday we went to Mesilla, which is a town about 2 miles from Las Cruces. We love these little towns! So inviting and entertaining.

For @luvmygdaughters :


Sunrise over the Organ Mountains. This is from our campsite patio.
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Downtown Mesilla shop in a little recess
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Tons of Native American art all over the towns
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Many of the restaurants have patio seating
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Downtown inn and pub
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Monello

Monello

Smarter than the average bear
PREMO Member
Yesterday we rolled around the little town of Mesilla. A lot of the travel and tourists articles said to not miss this spot when visiting the Las Cruces area. So that was our first stop. We often do what I call a windshield tour. Drive around and get a feel for the area. Then go back and park at the more desireable areas.

Mesilla has a population of 2,200. So you know how big we are talking. They have a town square that is the center of town. The church, the basilica of San Albino is the anchor at 1 end of the plaza. The other 3 sides have various commercial establishments. Most offer local products including pecans and pistachio products that are native to this region of the country.

Here's the town's tourism video:


Some more video


Walking around you know with out a doubt that you are in the US south west. Everything reminds you of it. The landscape, the buildings, the plants, the colors, the way people dress, the music, the humidity or lack of it, the warmth, even the dirt screams southwest US.

Our next stop was back in Las Cruces, to take a quick ride through downtown. Not too much history was preserved. It's more modern than retro. Then we went crosstown to the newer part of town. They have a mall and all the stores that come with medium sized city living. They do have a fantastic grocery store. We got 2 artichokes that were the largest bulbs I have ever seen. They were just under softball size. Vrai could only fit 1 in the instantpot at a time.

Our final stop was to a suggested bakery. We had the address and followed the GPS to that part of town. The place was tucked in the corner of a small strip mall. It was more like a cluster of stores with a parking lot. The place appeared closed. There didn't seem to be a list of store hours. It was the middle of the afternoon, when they should have been open. On closer inspection there was a small doorbell. Ringing the bell brought out the baker who let us in to 1 of the smallest retail spaces in the history of bakeries. They had a few offerings of biscochitos in several varieties. We got a 3 pack with cinnamon, raspberry jalapeno and powdered sugar. The cookies are small diamond shaped Mexican shortbread. They are the official state cookie of NM. Who knew?

Ositos

If you order some cookies from them, tell them Vrai & Monello recommended them to you. They won't have a clue what you are talking about.
 
luvmygdaughters

luvmygdaughters

Well-Known Member
Great Pics, thanks for sharing. Sounds like a great place to visit. I have a cousin who lives in New Mexico, just not sure which part.
 
Monello

Monello

Smarter than the average bear
PREMO Member
A lot of the stores and homes here have a bunch of dried peppers hanging near the entrance. It's some sort of native/Mexican welcome. It's called a rista. I'd get some for the motorhome. With my luck, I'd touch it then rub my eye or worse take a leak without washing my hands.

There is also controversy on how to spell the word for the pepper. Chili & chile are used in the same manner and mean the same thing. Chile is the spanish word but the gringos insist on spelling it c h i l i.

Ristras-in-old-town-albuquerque-650x423.png
 
lucky_bee

lucky_bee

RBF expert
Monello said:
There is also controversy on how to spell the word for the pepper. Chili & chile are used in the same manner and mean the same thing. Chile is the spanish word but the gringos insist on spelling it c h i l i.
Click to expand...

I always thought c h i l i was for the stew, like a bowl of chili. And chile were the actual peppers, like green chiles in the cans.
 
Monello

Monello

Smarter than the average bear
PREMO Member
lucky_bee said:
I always thought c h i l i was for the stew, like a bowl of chili. And chile were the actual peppers, like green chiles in the cans.
Click to expand...

Are you most people?

Depending on where you go, it is either “chili pepper”, “chilli pepper”, or “chile pepper”. Take your pick!
“Chilli” is more commonly used in England and Europe. “Chile” is by far the most commonly used in America’s Southwest regions and particularly in New Mexico. “Chile” is actually the Spanish spelling and pronunciation of the word. However, “chili” is far more common in general usage and spelling, an Americanized spelling of the original “Chile” spelling that came out of Mexico.
Die-hard chile pepper lovers argue that “Chile” is the only proper spelling, and that “Chili” refers only to the delicious food with meat, beans and chili spices that you eat out of a bowl, but most people use “Chili” or use both “Chili/Chile” interchangeably. Unless you’re from the U.K., then it’s probably “Chilli”, though they recognize all variations as well.
Click to expand...
 
Monello

Monello

Smarter than the average bear
PREMO Member
The RV's updated travel map. 31 states down. I should do 1 for Apollo, he's a well traveled pooch.

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