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Winter Trip - January-March 2019
New Mexico
New Mexico Itinerary
Organ Mountains Desert Peaks National Monument
Cowboy Days @ New Mexico Farm & Ranch Heritage Museum
International UFO Museum and Research Center
Route 66 Auto Museum
Organ Mountains Desert Peaks National Monument
Organ Mountains Desert Peaks National Monument abuts Las Cruces, NM. We visited the "Dripping Springs" section of the monument. We walked the Dripping Springs Trail. Along the trail we stopped at:
- The Coach Stop - three buildings that were used by stage coaches to refresh passengers & horses.
- Boyd Sanatorium - a late 19th-early 20th century facility for treating tuberculosis patients.
- Dripping Springs - well named as there is a trickle of water running down the rock wall.
- Dripping Springs Resort - just ruins remain of the buildings.
To help preserve the sites we were not allowed to enter any of the buildings, which for safety sake is a really good idea.
On the way to the monument we stopped at a grocery store to buy some food for a picnic. At the monument we ate lunch at La Cueva Picnic Area.
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Cowboy Days @ New Mexico Farm & Ranch Heritage Museum
On our way to Organ Mountain Desert Peaks National Monument we saw a place named New Mexico Farm & Ranch Heritage Museum. We had planned on visiting Veterans Memorial Park after going to the monument. Since neither of us is a veteran and we would not know any of the local people on the walls at the veterans memorial, we decided that a farm & ranch museum sounded more interesting to us. When we stopped at the museum we noticed "Cowboy Days" was going to be held the next two days. We went back to the motel and extended our reservation by one night after changing the reservation at our next destination.
The next morning we went to "Cowboy Days". We went through the museum which had some interesting exhibits. We then went to the courtyard where Ernie sat and listened to some local performers singing cowboy music while Dale visited some of the vendors setup around the courtyard. At the end of the day we returned to the courtyard to watch a square dance demonstration, they asked if anyone wanted to learn some square dance moves, naturally Ernie joined them.
We visited the dairy barn, livestock pens, and sheep & goat barn. At the sheep & goat barn we watched the Sheep to Shawl program, this consisted of stations where wool was being carded, spun into yarn, and woven & knitted into wool products. Dale spent a considerable amount of time talking with the spinners, weavers, and knitters while Ernie talked with the shepherd about the sheep and the carding process.
We watched two shows: "Parade of Breeds" & "Cowboy Mounted Shooting". Parade of Breeds was a very interesting presentation of different types of cattle breeds. There was a mounted cowboy narrator and another mounted cowboy rounding up the cattle to bring into the ring. Sometimes the narrator would have to assist the other cowboy. It was really interesting watching them herd the cattle into the ring and providing information about each breed.
Cowboy Mounted Shooting was exactly what the name says. Balloons were set up on posts in a predetermined pattern, then the shooter would ride between the posts shooting the balloons in a certain order. Each rider was timed with certain number of seconds added onto his/her time for missed balloons and/or knocking over posts or barrels. The shooters would have to lean close to the balloons as there were no projectile in the bullets so they would have to be close enough for the flame and concussion from the shot to break the balloon.
We were glad we stayed the extra day to do this.
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International UFO Museum and Research Center
We went to the International UFO Museum and Research Center in Roswell, NM. When we arrived we were told that the interactive time line section was being remodeled so it was closed. They only charged us a dollar to get in, so it was OK that the section was closed. The museum is mostly news reports about ufo sightings and alien abductions. There are several quotes by presidents, other politicians, military brass, NASA personnel, and other famous people, stating why they believe there have been visits to Earth by extraterrestrial beings. There are also a few hokey displays. Not an awe-inspiring museum, but an amusing few hours. Almost every business in Roswell tries to cash in on the UFO hype.
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Route 66 Auto Museum
Our next longer stay was in Tupelo, MS, though there was a much shorter route we decided to go via I-40 so we could make some quick stops. The first of the stops was in Santa Rosa where we had hoped to visit the Blue Hole, but it was too cold for Ernie to swim and he did not want to just look at it. We will probably stop there at some other time.
We did do the other two things we wanted to do in Santa Rosa. We visited the Route 66 Auto Museum and ate at the Route 66 Diner.
The Route 66 Auto Museum in Santa Rosa is different from most auto museums we have visited in that all the cars belong to the man who owns the museum. Not only does he own them he has restored/customized all of them. The most impressive customized vehicle is a 1947 Ford COE
. We did not think to take a picture of the before photo of it so we downloaded a picture
of a similar vehicle. The one he customized was in much worst shape.
The Route 66 Diner looked like a late 1950's-early 1960's diner. There was nothing special about the food, but there was good older music playing. It is billed as diner, the receipt says restaurant, and the back of the counter seats spell cafe
so we guess you can call it what you want.
Though we had not experienced snow in Roswell, on the way to Santa Rosa there was still snow on the ground
from the storm that had past along and north of I-40.
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mar 18 2019