Continuing to Sunspot, continued

We bypassed the town of Alamagordo and continued towards Cloudcroft and Sunspot. We passed through a tunnel along the way and then started driving up the mountain.

We didn't go to Cloudcroft but continued up to Sunspot stopping along the way at a few viewpoints. Most of the view showed the Tularosa Basin with White Sands and the mountains faintly in the distance. The road to Sunspot is considered a National Scenic Byway. We arrived at Sunspot at 12:15, took a short self guided tour and left at 12:50.

While at Sunspot we enjoyed wildflowers, an unusual lizard and smelled the bark of a Ponderosa Pine. Did you know that Ponderosa Pine bark smells just like butterscotch? We learned that on a ranger hike too.

After leaving Sunspot we drove down the mountain to Cloudcroft, while enjoying the clean cool mountain air of about 65-70 degrees and the lovely views. When we arrived in Cloudcroft we found a little park for our picnic. It was still quite cool, but refreshing. We walked around Burro Street after lunch and browsed the shops. We didn't go to The Lodge, but it is a neat old hotel with a great Sunday brunch at the restaurant called Rebecca's. Rebecca is the resident ghost at the hotel so there is lots of interesting history. On the way back to Las Cruces we stopped at a place called McGinns Pistachio Store. They had all flavors of pistachios and pecans of various flavors, wines, and cherry cider. All of these things are grown and produced locally. I would not have thought that the southwestern desert would be an area where you would find this but since there are various elevations with the mountains, I guess it works. We bought Ranch flavored pistachios and Atomic Hot Pistachio Chile Brittle. The brittle could definitely become addictive. The drive back to Las Cruces was a sky show. The thunder showers that are typical of the Monsoon season in July and August were in full swing. The intensity of the rain was like a midnight blue wall horizontal from sky to ground.. it almost resembled a twister with frequent lightening strikes. Seeing the storms against the backdrop of the mountains as we approached Las Cruces was a great way to top off the afternoon.