New Mexico really IS the Land of Enchantment

 Since my last blog about a week ago we have been enjoying the land, the people and the food of New Mexico immensely. We have seen some amazing things and learned a lot from talking to the people who are so friendly and eager to answer our questions.  We had some Internet issues and it seems the Vista on our old lap top had one last laugh at us and was not connecting to more and more wifi.  Sorta frustrating but we bought an inexpensive laptop that hooks up lickety split.  Of course that also means that I had to adjust to a new operating system and well, you know what they say about old dogs and new tricks.
While we were in Alamogordo Don wanted to check out the Space museum. 

There were many interactive displays inside and out.  We started out in the museum and Don tried to land a space shuttle.  Lets just say, it wasn't a successful landing.  Even the elevators were cool in this place, when you got on it made the sound like you would hear on a Space Ship and the inside looked like a space ship.  Then we went over to the Imax theatre and saw a movie about the Hubble space telescope.  This was very interesting,  although I had to close my eyes a few times as stars were flying at my head and I was getting oh so dizzy.  Pretty sure NASA would not be interested in me. 

 This is another interesting interactive display.  One person whispers in that little round circle on that post outside of the dish.

See how far they are apart? Well you could hear the other person plain as day.  Of course we both tried talking and then listening.  Fun stuff!
About a week ago we arrived in Los Cruces and we have had some down time to read and relax and see some great things.  The weather has been pretty warm but the wind has been a factor and a couple of the days there were wind warnings so we didn't venture out on the highway.  We have been in 2 dirt storms in our lives and it was 2 too many.
On November 13/13 - our anniversary we drove into El Paso, Texas to an outlet mall.  We bought ourselves a couple of clothing items and had lunch before heading back.
One day while I was sitting out just enjoying the sun, a road runner walked right past me.  Of course I did not have my camera which was super frustrating.

We went out in search of pecan farms but found this fluffy cotton as well.  It was across from the pecan farm.  We were not able to tour a pecan farm.  There used to be a huge one that offered tours and sold their product but apparently they fell on hard times when the economy went bad.  I did manage to find out about the pecans from a nice man at the farmers market.  He was selling his pecans and I felt bad that I had already bought some from a lady.  She didn't speak great English other than to tell me they were fresh.  I asked the man that had the pecans, shelled and unshelled, how come they were not red like I see in the store.  He looked at me like I was nuts!! haha ha  These were kind of an almond color with black spots.  He tells me that is mostly what color they are.  He picks them up off the ground (unlike the commercial growers who have machines to shake the nuts off and collect them).  He said they are just starting to fall off - the ones he had were just fresh out of the shell, not roasted or anything.  As long as he gets them all by December he says its all good.  Delicious!

This was the most beautiful tree, such a deep purple color.
I have some more pictures of the things at the farmers  market and the pretty down town area where they closed off a few blocks but my Internet is acting up and will not let me add them.  They had different things in this market, like fresh sprouts, beautiful sunflower sprouts that they grew in soil and cut fresh for you.  Flavored waters  - these were amazing, I got one with cucumber and strawberry  mmmm.  I bought some local honey - its a plain one that doesn't have a lot of flavor for when you want to use it to sweeten other things.  I also got some fresh made almond butter and of course my pecans. They had lots of beautiful jewellery and pottery as well.

We also managed to take in a couple of parks for nature watching and hiking.  The first was the Mesilla Valley Bosque State Park.  Bosque - pronounced Bohs-key is a Spanish word for forest.  It was an interesting area although I was disappointed as it was supposed to be a good bird watching area.  The volunteers at the park were very helpful and told us that there weren't many birds as they have pretty much pumped all the water away and of course the birds need the water.

 We did see some gambles quails and this is called four-winged Saltbrush and apparently they are the quails favorite food.

There was a lot of different vegetation including these salt cedar trees.  They are not native to North America and they tend to compete with native plants so they are actually removing them from this area.

There are so many grasshoppers here it is unreal.  They do not tend to jump on you and stick to your clothes which disgusts me in so many ways.  This one was bright green, huge and busy laying eggs.  We also saw totally black ones that had red wings when they flew.  There was another huge one but it was too gross to even take a picture of.  Don had to reclaim his quarter, or risk me screaming like a little girl if it jumped.
Today we went to the Dripping Springs Natural Area.  We went for a 3 mile loop hike. It went up to about 6000 feet on very rugged rock/gravel path.  Between the uphill and altitude for the first half I was thinking, whoa, I am sooo out of shape.  It was a bit of a rough drive out to this  area but we both agreed it was so worth it.

These mountains are the Organ mountains.  We have been admiring their rugged silhouette the last few days and it was great to get up close and personal.  Dripping springs was a resort in the 1870's.

These are the ruins of the 16 room resort. In 1917 it was sold to a doctor from San Francisco. The doctors wife contracted tuberculosis and he converted Dripping Springs into a sanatorium. New structures were built in different parts of the canyon to provide housing and care for the patients.

The rocks and plants and scenery along the way was just beautiful until Don shouted out  WATCH OUT . . .

Yup, its a tarantula, and I came very close to stepping on it.  My first impulse was to jump up on the tallest closest thing I could (which would have been Don) and call for my mommy!   This was a huge, huge spider, like nearly the size of my palm.

That is Las Cruces in the background.

After our walk we were both hungry so decided to have ourselves some wonderful Mexican food in Mesilla which is a little town that has basically become part of Las Cruces.  It has an old town feel and the streets and shops are very old and have a lot of character.
After lunch we stopped in the centre courtyard and watched the Mariachi festival that is on here right now.  These musicians are very talented and I would have liked to stay and watch for an hour or so.

 Most of the announcements were in Spanish so of course we didn't know what they were saying but there was sort of a duel with this trumpeter and another across from him.  I do not know how they could possibly hold notes that long.  I almost suffocated just watching them do it.

 He had a beautiful voice. 

I was hoping we would get to see some of these kids doing some dancing - they were so cute.
Heading to Tombstone and Tuscon and then on on to Mesa for Dec. 1 /13