Las Cruces and Albuquerque

We got underway before 9 AM on the 10th, heading for Las Cruces, NM.  The trip was less than 400 miles, but took almost ten hours.   The slow trip was the result of a combination of factors; we stopped a lot, but also fought a headwind, and rush hour traffic in El Paso.  The scenery was desert, similar to Big Bend, but less varied.

When we arrived at Chris and Gill's house in Las Cruces, we were able to pull into their side yard and plug in, replenishing our batteries, depleted after a week on generator power.   They took us on a small tour of Las Cruces, and then we had dinner at a Mexican restaurant, La Posta, in a historic building in nearby La Mesilla.

We visited the Museum of Art and the Museum of Nature and Science, next door to each other.  Perhaps the most interesting exhibit was Permian Trackways, with animal and insect tracks from pre-dinosaur times, about 280 million years ago.

Chris cooked us a nice dinner, and we said goodbye, knowing that we would leave early on Sunday.

At 7:30 AM Sunday, we pulled out and headed for Our Lady of Health Catholic Church, to attend the 8 AM Spanish Language mass, on the feast of the baptism of Jesus.   I found it comfortable to be there, kind of like going to church in Mexico.  After mass, I chatted with the lady doing the readings, who explained that some of the people at mass were from Mexico, but many of them were local.  Cynthia thought that many of the people seemed very devout.

After mass, we started our drive north.  Unlike our drive from Big Bend, we started with a full tank of gas, and only stopped once along the way, so we made good time to Albuquerque, arriving at the Isleta Pueblo Casino campground before 2 PM.  We headed over to the Casino to watch the Bronco game, and were pleased that the Broncos won.

On Monday we headed for downtown Albuquerque.  The telephone museum was inexplicably closed, but we wandered around Old Town, visiting shops, and then had a good lunch as the Church St. Cafe, green chili with chicken.   

We had signed up for a 1 PM tour of the Turquoise Museum.  It turned out that we were the only people on the tour.  Our guide was a member of a family with five generations in the turquoise business.  We learned about mines in the US and around the world, types of turquoise, and how turquoise is processed.   We also learned about natural, enhanced, chemically stabilized, and blocked turquoise.  The natural is the best and most expensive.  We thought that our tour was excellent (fabulous, says Cynthia).   The tour was supposed to last 90 minutes, but we asked a lot of questions, so it lasted two hours.  Very enjoyable and educational.  Unfortunately, photos were not allowed.

After the Turquoise Museum, we visited the historic Philip Neri church, on the plaza, stopped by the supermarket, and headed home to the campground.   Tuesday we drive to Santa Fe.