04 - Scenic Driving Tours, NM

Avril the pebble pusher in City of Rocks, near Silver City



After our Spaceport tour we went for a short hike in the Las Cruces area. We drove East to the nearest hills and parked the truck and wandered on the trails. Although we had provisioned water for the 3 of us, we did not take into account the rocky trails would be too much on Catalina's paws. She did not show any distress during the 1.5 hr hike but by evening, she could barely walk on the gravel parking lot of our campsite. Suffice it to say, we took it easy for the next couple of days while Catalina's tootsies healed. We think she especially enjoyed being lifted in and out of the truck, talk about the royal treatment! We were able to occupy our time by spending more on our rv/truck system, namely an auxiliary fuel tank. We found a local supplier and they were able to install it the same day. The truck also needed a little tlc from the local Chevy dealer, so Dave took care of all things mechanical. On our last day of Catalina convalescing, we decided on a full day driving tour. We would head East of Las Cruces, through the Organ Mountains, towards White Sands, then Alamogordo, Cloudcroft, Sunspot Observatory, Ruidoso, Valley of Fires, and finally 3 Rivers Petroglyphs. It was a most enjoyable drive and when we returned back to the trailer, 15 hrs had passed, (we did stop for dinner but packed a lunch).

Whitesands, Missile Displays

A beach like setting, where's the water?




Ack! I've got sand between my toes!!!

  

So do I...



 



Dave's view from Sunspot Observatory





Avril's view from Sunspot Observatory!







 

Pathways around Valley of Fires lava flow formations, kind of like Hawaii







Sample of Petroglyph, this doodle is about 1000-1500 yrs old



City of Rocks was created from a volcanic eruption in Albuquerque!



Using Las Cruces as a base to tour from, we feel it worked out for the best. Driving the rv daily from one location to another would have turned out to be tedious. The downside to staying in the Las Cruces area is that New Mexico is such a large state and in order to see all what we wanted you have to drive! Sights on our list like Roswell & Carlsbad Caverns, Santa Fe & Albuquerque we decided will be visited on our return trip to Texas.

Green or Red ??? Which one is Hotter ?!?!



It's hard to believe that we had spent 5 days in NM and still had not tried the local cuisine. I kept hearing comments like New Mexicans consider chilies as one of their food groups. For our last night, we took the recommendations of the campsite manager and traveled 20 mins South to La Mesa for some hometown, home cooking.  Chope's is a house converted into a restaurant. It is run by 4 generations, with great grandma in her 90's still helping out in the kitchen! Prior to arriving at Chope's, I had heard that the green chili pepper is generally the milder of the two. This "rule" was not the case at Chope's... I told the waitress we were from the Houston area but originally from Canada, all of a sudden, everyone in the restaurant turned around to look at us...what? did I say something wrong??? The table beside us asked us how in the world did we find Chope's (guess it's a local best kept secret)...ah, they don't get many foreigners....



Food review: We ordered enchiladas (chicken & ground beef), rellenos, chile con carne, & tacos. The food was okay, spicy but not much different than Mexican in Texas. I had assumed NM food would have different ingredients like black beans & corn, or some different kind of seasonings that would make it just taste differently. Hard to judge NM food from one experience, maybe on our trip back to Texas we'll get other opportunities.

The next day was our last day in NM, we decided on another scenic drive but our plans were changed once we discovered a mass of cyclists racing in the "Tour of the Gila". The 2 hr (one way) scenic drive was supposed to be of the Gila cliff dwellings but instead at the beginning of the drive we were faced with a 4 hr, follow the race truck behind the cyclists. We quickly turned around and found other local attractions. City of Rocks was the main stopping point for us after we had a quick look in Silver City.

One thing we didn't expect while driving around was Border Patrol Inspection Stations.  They are permanent buildings along the interstate which every vehicle must stop and check in. Fortunately we have our passports and green cards but that was in the event we decided to travel up to Canada during this trip. So far no problems, wonder if these inspection stations serve a purpose and help with the illegal & drug smuggling in the area.



We now set our sites Westbound, Tucson, AZ. Our plan is to stay there for 3-5 days and tour the area then head North to Sedona, then into Utah.