Drassal Family Christmas

We arrived at the Temperate Zone RV Park, which is about 15 miles north of Deming, NM.  I chose the park because it said it was a small, quiet park with mountain views.  Well - this time of year it is REALLY quiet!

Yes, we are the only ones in the park.  But we are loving it!  There is a great road with little traffic to walk on, mountain views in every direction, flocks of sandhill cranes flying over every morning and every night and the owners are very nice.

We were really excited to have Brooke & Johnny and Alycia join us for Christmas.  Tried to make it festive in our little space

They weren't very impressed with the beauty of the winter desert, but we took them to see some of the sights of the area. 

First up was the Deming Luna Mimbres Museum.  It is an amazing museum located in the former armory built in 1916.  It contains many collections, dolls, silver, china, plus Native American and Hispanic artifacts.  It is run by volunteers and most of the collections were generously donated to the museum.

Beautiful Native American rugs, baskets & pottery.

Loved this Tamale cart!

Beautiful collection of Western memorabilia including tooled cowboy boots.

 

Our next trip was to the City of Rocks State Park.  It was formed by the Kneeling Nun eruption 34.9 million years ago, which was 1000 times greater than the Mount Saint Helens eruption.  Today, it looks like this strange pile of rocks in the middle of the desert.

City of Rocks from above

Some of the rocks balance on what looks like nothing.

We all enjoyed walking through and climbing up the rocks.  It was a bright sunny day, but a little windy.

Luckily, just down the road was the Faywood Hot Springs, where we rented a private pool and soaked off our aches & pains and warmed up. 

 

Our next outing was to Deming's two award winning wineries, Luna Rossa & St. Croix Winery.  Both have beautiful tasting rooms, and delicious wines. 

St. Clair Winery is the largest winery in New Mexico.  They offer a huge selection of wines.  The most unique, and a favorite of ours are the Red Chile Wine and the Green Chile Wine.  They also offer custom mixed bulk wine.  They have a sweet & dry version of both red & white wine, and you tell them how much sweet or dry you want.  We picked up a bottle of red & a bottle of white for our Christmas eve.

 

We spent Christmas eve in the "Clubhouse" at our campground.  It is a great space with a pool table, dart boards, karaoke machine, TV and kitchen.  We were so thankful to be able to spend the day with the whole family together.

The kids flew home on Christmas day, so Ron & I relaxed, feasted on leftovers and napped. 

We hope all of you had a very merry Christmas and wish you a wonderful New Year!

 

 

 

 

 

It's beginning to look a lot like....

SAND!!!

 

As we traveled across the southern part of New Mexico, we made a stop in Alamogordo and took a trip to White Sands National Monument.

The entire area is 275 square miles of sand dunes so white they literally look like snow.  There is only a small area that is open to the public, as the White Sands Missile Range is also located there, but it is well laid out with an 8 mile drive and hiking trails. 

The dunes are constantly shifting, so the hiking trails are marked with stakes.  The walking can be deep at times!

The sand is sugary fine - it is gypsum sand, rarely found because it is soluble in water.  Rain & snow dissolve the gypsum in the mountains and carry it to the Tularosa Basin.  Because there is no river that drains the Tularosa Basin, it stays in the form of crystal beds that through freezing/thawing & wetting/drying break down into sand particles light enough to be carried by the wind.

They have to plow the sand off of the roads!

Somehow the plants and animals have adapted to live in the ever moving white dunes.  We didn't see much for wildlife, but some of the lizards, rodents and insects have adapted their coloring over time, so at White Sands they are nearly as white as the sand!

Plus, it has one of the cutest visitor centers ever.

 

Alamogordo is also known for its pistachio & pecan production and it has two wineries (plus another winery just north of them in Tularosa).

Ron & I at the world's largest pistachio!

 

The RV park we stayed at had pistachio, almond & pecan trees.  The owner invited us to gather as many pecans as we wanted.  How fun was that!  The other nut trees were past their picking season, but we came out of there with about 25 pounds of delicious pecans!

 

Changing weather (yes, winter was finally coming to New Mexico) sent us skedaddling south.  We arrived at our home for the next month just outside of Deming.  Looking forward to exploring the area & spending Christmas eve with our kids.

 

More about that to come!

I heard this is what Santa uses in the desert!

 

 

 

 

 

Exploring Artesia & Carlsbad

We have really enjoyed staying put for the last month at "The Ranch".  The RV park and people are great.  We've found some great hiking areas, done some minor repairs on the trailer, ridden our bikes and explored a little of Artesia & Carlsbad.

Artesia is a town just north of us.  In its "Old Town" it has some phenomenal large bronzes.  One is of an oil rig, commemorating the men(& women)who spawned the oil industry in the area. It covers 1/2 of a block.  My favs are three bronzes on street corners that form a triangle of a cattle rustler, a ranch hand and the trail boss.  They are all in action - the ranch hand is firing a gun to let the trail boss know that he has spotted the rustler.  The trail boss is spurring his horse forward to get the rustler, and the rustler is on the ground with the rustled steer - reaching for his gun and his horse.

This is the Trail Boss.

 

We also took a couple of trips to Carlsbad.  It is a good sized town with lots to see.  For Christmas, they do "Christmas on the Pecos", which is a ride on the Pecos River in a boat to see the Christmas lights on all of the houses that go all out along the river.  There is also an Old Town area, that includes the beautiful Eddy County Courthouse.

We also went to a wine tasting at an old redone hotel - The Trinity Hotel.

Outside of town is the Living Desert Zoo & Gardens.  It is a beautiful place, even in the winter when a lot of the animals are hibernating (yep- even here) and the trees are  bare.

There is a 1.3 mile trail that takes you through the variety of habitats found in the Chihuahuan Desert.  It was fun to learn the names of some of the plants we've been seeing.  There were a few animals to see in the zoo along the way.  Mountain lions were almost as interested in us and we were them.  There were some endangered species that the zoo is trying to help.  They have a successful Bolson Tortoise breeding program.  The adults were walking around while we were there.  We also saw an endangered Mexican Wolf.  It was HUGE - and quite beautiful.

 

This was another of my favorites - a Burrowing Owl.  They live in burrows other animals have dug and are active during the day.

Not a favorite, but fascinating to see anyway, were the snakes in the Reptile house.  All different sizes and species - I was shocked at all of the different kinds of Rattlesnakes.  It was a little unnerving to see one shaking his tail, poised to strike.

 

Another day, we made the decision to drive down to Carlsbad's claim to fame - the Cavern.  What a lovely drive!

and this was the view from the top looking toward Texas!

There are two self guided cavern tours, that are free with park admission (thanks to Ron's Life Time Senior National Park pass that was free too!). One starts at the Natural Entrance.

The trails were steep, but beautifully maintained, and the cave was breathtaking. 

The trail went on for about 1.25 miles and believe me, we oohed and aahed the whole way.  I was amazed after the narrow passageways in Wind Cave, at how big the rooms were.  I hadn't seen anything yet.  The Natural Entrance trail brought us to the second free tour - the Big Room!  It was huge!  The trail around it was over a mile and you can't keep your mouth closed, it is that beautiful.

My pictures don't begin to do the Cavern justice, so if you are ever anywhere near Carlsbad, make it a point to go.  Or, if you are a fan of caves, plan a trip to see it.  It is truly spectacular.

 

Well, we are heading west soon.  Happy trails!