My mamacita, sister and niece all came for a visit last week for the first time. They came from three states, IL, IN, and MI. We went to Mesilla, the Farmer's Market and one final big day trip to White Sands National Monument and Cloudcroft. I have done this several times before and I should know by now that you really can't do both places in much less than 7-8 hours but I love it and highly recommend it.
We left my house about 7:30 a.m. and headed over San Augustine Pass which is how you drive over the Organ Mountains on Rte. 70 going east from Las Cruces. The elevation is 5700 feet. We stopped at the Aguirre Springs campground entrance to take some pictures of the east side of the Organs. There was a recent fire there as you will notice in the above pictures.
On to White Sands: we had to go through the border patrol right before we got to White Sands National Monument. The border patrol personnel have to ask everyone if they are a citizen of the United States. They believed us when we said yes and waved us on. We arrived at White Sands and went to the gift shop. The museum is under renovation and will be finished by August. They have a wonderful gift shop so we spent about 30 minutes perusing jewelry, pottery, weaving, T-shirts, salsas, etc. Then we went on the drive through White Sands. At times you feel like you are driving through snow laden streets because it is nothing but white road and white dunes on both sides. But various plants manage to grow out of the dunes. There are several trails into the sands but we didn't choose to do them since my almost 85 year old mother would not be able to handle it. However, my niece did sled down a dune several times in a dish style sled. I will definitely try this next time I go there. Here are some pictures:
After leaving White Sands it is about another 40 minute drive to Cloudcroft where they say you leave your stress behind at 9000 feet. You start out in desert terrain and as you ascend you go through pinon pines then lodgepole and finally ponderosa pines as you wind around the mountain. Cloudcroft is an adorable little western town with a lot of history. There are some great shops and a few eating establishments on Burro Ave. Unfortunately, there was a recent fire, I think at the beginning of 2011, that burned down several stores, including my favorite, The Copper Butterfly. They are getting ready to rebuild and despite the loss of a few stores, we still had plenty of places to browse. We ate at the Western Bar and Cafe which has great atmosphere and food. I think the server said it was first built around 1915 and has been re-built several times. The bar always has some interesting locals around as well as tourists. I had the Chile con Queso burger which was absolutely fantastic. My sister had a burger as well and she said that she thought that the burgers looked like the kind that you actually pat together with your own two hands. My mom was thrilled to have some fried okra as well. After lunch and some shops, we drove a short distance to The Lodge. This is a historic hotel with a bar purchased from Al Capone's estate, a resident ghost named Rebecca, a spa, golf course, restaurant, and a couple of nice shops. People who have stayed there say it is very relaxing. Quite a few well known people have stayed there including Judy Garland and Clark Gable. They carved their names into the wall at the top of the lookout tower in the hotel. When you make the climb up the stairs to the lookout tower you are rewarded with a view of the Tularosa Basin which includes White Sands in the distance. The hotel has a lot of old world and western charm. They also have a great Sunday brunch which includes mimosas or champagne. Here are a few pictures of the hotel and view from the lookout tower.
My niece and I made the climb up the stairs to see the views. Our calves burned on the way up and our thighs burned on the way down!
We headed back down the mountain and stopped at McGinn's Pistachio Store at the bottom. We tried all kinds of pistachio and pecan treats, green chile pistachio brittle, ranch pistachios, white chocolate covered pecans; you get the picture.
On the way back to Las Cruces as we were driving across the flat basin where White Sands and the White Sands Missile Range are located, we saw the most well formed dust devil I have ever experienced. I wish we could have gotten a picture but it didn't work out. We watched it in the distance as we were driving west for quite a while. It looked to be about 25-30 feet high and it was a perfect straight up and down cylinder/ pipe shape. It looked like a little cyclone. There were several others but this one definitely was the best.
When we returned home, we were all pretty worn out and back to the intense heat of at least 100 degrees after being in 84 degree heat in Cloudcroft. However, we were rewarded with a few clouds over the Organ Mountains for the first time since I arrived 12 days before. I hope that is a good sign that monsoon season is on the way for the Southwest.
