More of New Mexico

Albuquerque (ABQ)

Our adventures in New Mexico continue.  Our campground –American RV Resort was the first one we’ve been in that served us a continental breakfast.  This campground was an improvement over the last, especially the well maintained roads.  And we always appreciate a good laundry.

We left Santa Fe and arrived in Albuquerque on Thursday, October 19^th.  On Saturday we went to the Nuclear Science and History Center right next to Kirtland Air Force Base.  We saw a movie about the early moments in our country’s history of nuclear weaponry.  The exhibits gave us lots more info.  We saw a replica of the Enola Gay and were intrigued by “the Gadget” hanging outside the building.

Petroglyph National Monument

On Sunday we went to Petroglyph National Monument.  I might have mentioned what a poor hiker I am.  So, it’s hard to believe, that without a moment’s hesitation, fortified by my sturdy hiking boots, my trusty hiking poles, a water bottle, a hat to keep the blazing sun off my face, and my strong and reliable Doug by my side, I stupidly climbed the rocky mountain trail.  I wanted to see the petroglyphs!

Going up was hard – I was still panting because of the altitude as well as the exertion.  I went almost all the way up, up the trail – Doug did the last bit alone.

But what goes up, must come down and down was way scarier to me.  The “trail” between the rocks was too narrow for my feet and there was the dreaded loose gravel.  I had to carry my poles because there was no place to put them down.  A few places on the trail totally freaked me out and I just froze.  Crying doesn’t help.  Either does shaky legs and arms – clammy hands – and poor Doug, who tries to help, but there’s not much he can do when I dissolve into that state.  Eventually, I made it down to level ground.  It wasn’t a pretty descent, that’s for sure.  I made a firm resolve NOT to do that again!

BUT, I wanted to see the petroglyphs!  And in spite of my trauma, they were amazing.  Ancient symbols, communications between the travelers, the patiently etched notes made by shepherds.  There was a very old four-pointed star that was perfectly preserved.  The interpretive signs along the trail suggest that we don’t try to interpret the meanings of the symbols – our own cultural biases would probably get in the way of knowing the originator’s intent.  So we looked and marveled at as many as we could find.  An amazing place!  And there were hundreds and hundreds of petroglyphs located conveniently on level paths – so I really didn’t have to risk my life to see them – something to remember next time a rocky mountain trail tempts me.

Old Town Albuquerque

The next day, we visited Old Town Albuquerque.  Another place we’ve been to before and one we love.  We spent a few hours checking out the shops and galleries and looking for the elusive spicy chile-laced chocolate I remembered.

We spent a few quiet days doing chores like washing and waxing the RV, laundry, and grocery shopping.  I started baking my holiday stash of biscotti.

Alamogordo and Pistachios

We left ABQ for Alamogordo.  Our new Boot Hill campground was across the highway from McGinn’s Pistachio Farm.  The Giant Pistachio (the world’s largest!) could be seen from our front window.

Boot Hill was another great place to stay, with the exception of the dust.  Doug had spent 2 days carefully washing and waxing the RV.  Most campgrounds prohibit this because of the water usage, but Boot Hill allowed it with a charge of $20.  It’s a big rig when you take on this task.  But we weren’t meant to have a clean shiny RV.  Boot Hill’s maintenance staff chose to rake the gravel all day after Doug’s efforts.  The red dust the raking kicked up just attached itself to not only the outside but also a fine layer inside.  Oh well!

Alamogordo (which means big fat cottonwood) will always be synonymous with pistachios to us.  Our camp hosts gave us coupons for the nearby pistachio farms, so, of course, first thing we did was check out the stores.  We liked McGinn’s best for two reasons –  they had a whole salad bar space of free samples of flavored pistachios, pecans and peanut brittle.  I went back for thirds of the chocolate-covered green chile brittle and we tasted enough pistachios to know that the green chile flavored one were just the perfect spicy for us.  And when in New Mexico, green chile is always the best flavor!  Also McGinn’s gave us a big bag of pistachios for our free gift.

Heart of the Desert Pistachio Farm was fancier – no Giant Pistachio but Painted Horses – you had to ask for a specific sample and after we bought a metal flower for outside the RV, we got a very small bag of pistachios as our gift.

White Sands National Monument

After this fun morning of eating and shopping for our favorite nuts, we drove to White Sands National Monument.  The drive there through the mountains and Chihuahua Desert with cloudless blue sky and perfect temperatures was a treat itself.

I was picturing some large sand dune – like the shore without the ocean.  But it is immensely more spectacular than that.  It is 225 miles of glittering white gypsum forming endless moving mountains.

We took the mile long nature trail.  Along this route, fortunately staked with trail markers, you see the fragile foliage that finds ways to survive this harsh environment.  We were lucky to see what was left of the fall yellows and oranges on some of the trees.  We saw children sledding down the dunes on plastic saucers.

But the remarkable sight is the white!  Huge expanses of white.  So much more than I expected.  After the first beautiful hike up and down and across the dunes, we took a short break and then drove out to the Alkali Flats.  There we saw less foliage and even more pure white mountains of gypsum.  The park wasn’t very crowded (plus it’s so big you hardly have to be near anyone else) so we felt like we were alone in this vast sea of purity and silence.  Once in a while you could see another human crest a distant hill.

Trekking through this white vastness is like being on the floor of an ocean – instead of water rippling the sand, it’s the wind that ruffles it.  The gypsum is the remnants of an enormous lake bed so we were sort of walking in on an ocean floor.

We took one more short hike on the Boardwalk Trail where the interpretive signs helped us identify the plants and footprints we were seeing.

We were thrilled to have seen this overwhelmingly beautiful natural wonder and so when we overheard another tourist say she was “underwhelmed”.  We were speechless.  This is a must see sight and one we will no doubt travel back to.

Las Cruces – Hatch and Green Chiles

(Is it “chile” or “chili”?  In New Mexico, chile refers to a capsicum pepper, either red or green, somewhat spicy, and grown locally in New Mexico.  And green chile is the official taste of New Mexico.  Chili refers to any hot pepper –ancho, jalapeno, pasilla, Serrano.  In 1983, Senator Pete Dominici entered the “chile” spelling into the Congressional Records as the official spelling for the New Mexico chile pepper.)

We left Alamogordo on Saturday, October 29^th (with lots of good pistachios) and landed in the Las Cruces KOA.  Doug loves green chiles and there is no place better than Hatch, New Mexico to get some.  So our first trip was to Hatch. It was another beautiful drive through mountains and desert.  Hatch is a small (very small) place, surrounded by fields of chile peppers and orchards of pistachios and pecan.  Doug had investigated a few places to eat lunch and we settled on the Pepper Pot (an excellent choice, filled with locals).  There our cravings were fully satisfied – a green chile cheeseburger with homemade potato chips for me and two huge green chile rellenos with rice and beans for Doug.

We had pretty full stomachs but we managed to cross the street to a little shack where we found frozen green chiles.  This was great since first of all it is very convenient to have a neat package of frozen, roasted and cleaned green chiles and also the green chiles were just out of season and the stores only had fresh red chiles.  At this little shack we also bought chili lime seasoning, ground green chile flakes, Mexican oregano, chipotle flakes and a pretty tri-colored ristra.  The prices at this stand were much better than the others we checked out, so on the way back we stopped in for some more items.  Now we are sorry we didn’t buy more of the delicious frozen roasted green chiles!

Dripping Springs and Mesilla

We spent our last full day in Las Cruces at Dripping Springs National Monument.  The long road into the monument had a few tarantulas walking across it.  The sight of them was enough to keep me in the car (my biggest phobia!)  So we ate lunch in the car.  Doug took the three mile hike without me while I stayed back and studied our Volunteer Handbook for our upcoming gig.  He enjoyed hiking at his own much faster pace and shared his photos of the old ranch, sanitorium and water dripping from a pipe.

We finished our afternoon at Old Mesilla – more pretty shops and galleries around a plaza.  Lots of original adobe homes and buildings in this sweet old place.

We spent our last night visiting with Louise and Richard – new friends living the full-time RV lifestyle.  We shared stories of our travels and our lives and found lots of similar interests.  We’re hoping to reconnect with them – hopefully in Tucson in February.

Willcox and Home

Today, November 1^st, we left Las Cruces and will arrive soon in Willcox, Arizona.  This will be just a one night stay before we get to Catalina State Park, our home away from home near Tucson.  We are at the Willcox-Cochise KOA, which is brand new KOA, under some construction, but will be a really nice place to stay.

It’s good to be back in Arizona where we will be for the next five months!