First Couple of Weeks in LC

Well, we’ve been here in Las Cruces for a couple of weeks now and have really been enjoying our time here so far. We’ve found all the local Sonics and have our favorite one that makes the best Cherry Limeade. We’ve also found a place called Caliche's that is nothing short of pure evil. Frozen Custard…mmm….good. They advertise as being fat and dairy free, but isn’t custard an egg thing? What do I know? I know it’s good enough that I don’t really care.

We are staying at the Las Cruces KOA . This park is completely awesome and the owners are fabulous people. If you are ever in the area and are an RVer or Camper, make this a must stop and try out the park. They offer an awesome view of the Organ Pipe Mountains, as illustrated by my pictures here of both the sunrise over the mountains and the sun lighting up the mountains at sunset. Both of these images were taken standing behind out trailer. This next picture of Bill and I is taken of us standing at the back of our trailer where the sunrise and sunset pics were shot from.

We’ve found several local things that have become something quick and fun to do in a pinch. We’ve been down into Historical Old Mesilla several times. They have a market every Thursday and Sunday. It’s a very small market, but the history of the place still makes it fun to visit, not to mention the food. I’ll take and post more pictures as time goes on. We were walking into the plaza area when we walked right past these flowers. They were so bright and eye-catching I had to take a snap of it. I was going to take pictures of the plaza and the historical buildings and the market, but the honey stand sidetracked me. I found the best local raw honey. It’s produced right here in the Mesilla valley and it’s SO YUMMY. I picked up their Desert Wildflower Honey in raw for my allergies and Bill picked up some of their Red Chili Honey. It’s made from their wildflower honey but they’ve added powdered Hatch Red Chili’s. It’s amazing! Check them out at: www.zianet.com/sunmountain Another place that side tracks me when we go into Mesilla is The Chocolate Lady, need I say more? Evil, strictly evil…but OH SO GOOD! I tried to find a link to her online, but couldn't find it anywhere, I'll have to ask her the next time I'm in there...maybe today.

Moving along to my birthday...I knew that I wanted to go out to dinner for my birthday but I wanted to go where the locals go, not particularly where the tourists go. I asked around and had several people recommend Andele’s . I’m SO glad I listened. The Mexican food here near the border is different from what I grew up with in the Pacific NW. They cook with different spices here, or maybe they just taste different here. They also use a lot more salsas and sauces in the preparation of their food. I DIG IT! In the Pacific NW they cook primarily Jalisco style, which is a lot of cheese and ingredients, and light on the seasonings and sauces, I would always pick my favorite restaurants by their salsa since I was going to dump it all over my food. Here I don’t have to do that. The food here is awesome and Las Cruces is likely going to make my “10 places that make me fat” list. Good thing I joined a local Curves and have been working out, I’m going to need it.

Before gorging ourselves at Andele’s, earlier in the day we drove out to Dripping Springs Natural Area. We weren’t sure what to expect exactly and ended up deciding we’d have to come back another day to do the long trail (about 2+ hours). Instead just walked the 1-mile round trip trail out to La Cueva. The history of La Cueva is interesting, definitely read about it. One thing they don't mention is how the hermit used to light a fire every friday night so the villagers knew he was still alive. One friday the fire wasn't lit, so they sent some men up to check it out. They found the hermit dead at the entrance to the cave holding his curifix with a knife in his back. They still don't know who killed him or why.

When we visited Dripping Springs, it was a gorgeous day, high in the upper 70s, lower 80s, and the sky was such a deep blue. You don’t find skies this blue anywhere else but in the desert SW, incredible.

Along the path Bill took a couple of pictures of the Prickly Pear Cactus, and a heart shaped Prickly Pear that he noticed as we walked.

I really enjoyed by birthday, we’ve really enjoyed the couple of weeks we’ve spent here so far, and we are looking forward to experiencing more. I have several more restaurants I want to try, and of course as many trips to the The Chocolate Lady as possible.

Cheers for now~
;-)K