Land of Enchantment (Part 2)

Still in Tucson!
Going to Buckeye (outside Phoenix) and then Cottonwood, AZ

Las Cruces! (The Crosses)

One of the big tourist attractions in Las Cruces is Old Mesilla.  It is a historical town with a wonderful Plaza.  Many of its residents are descendants of the original settlers in the mid 1800's.  The Plaza is flanked on one end by the church, Basilica of San Sabino.

The other adobe buildings are now shops and restaurants.  I really enjoyed the adobe architecture in all of Las Cruces.

The is an old theatre that has live music and runs art films.  Shoot, my finger is in the way!

The gazebo in the middle of the Plaza commemorates the date (the "M 54") of the Gadsen Purchase, the last major land acquisition of the contiguous United States in 1854.

Also, for all you Western fans, Billy the Kid stood trial here when this building (now a gift shop) was the Courthouse.  He was sentenced to hang. According to Johnny, he broke out of jail before the hanging took place.

We were lucky enough to be entertained by the brother of a long time friend of mine from ArcelorMittal (where I worked for a few decades).  Don Johnson's brother Jonathon has lived in Las Cruces for many years and gave us the inside scoop.

The bar we went to was very interesting.  It was 1/2 of the bar that Al Capone had in Chicago, so of course we had to go! The other half of the bar is in another city. And the Green Chili Bloody Mary's were awesome!

I thought the bar seating area was retro cool.

Jonathan told us about a great hike in Dripping Springs Natural Area (run by the Bureau of Land Management) that we took the next day.  It had beautiful views of the Organ Mountains.  And the hill didn't kill us!








After we arrived at the top of the trail, we were able to see the ruins of a hotel and sanatorium from the 1800's.  There is  truly a dripping spring! And people traveled 17 miles from Las Cruces to sit in the resevoir (the brick structure in the middle of the photo) that was built by the Van Patten family.

There was a hotel, chicken coop and livery that was built to support the customers of the spring.

On our way back to town we took a drive through New Mexico State University - NMSU.  I find the simplicity of the adobe architecture breathtaking. And the football field, of course.

 At the end of the day, we wanted to watch the sun set over these same Organ Mountains - so named because their peaks remind folks of the musical instrument.  I wanted to climb on those trailers for the perfect photo, but Johnny wouldn't let me.

Still beautiful.

I know this is almost a repeat photo, but this was the scene outside of our RV in downtown Las Cruces.