A day in Las Cruces and Mesilla

We took a day off from our labors today and headed to Las Cruces for some shopping and pizza. This time we tied in a little sight seeing too. We started by stopping at the rest area above the city. This is the view from the top of the hill showing I10 and the city against the mountains.

Also at this rest stop is this giant road runner sculpture (I am standing by one of the legs). It is a wire frame filled with junk. The breast is all shoes.

People have added graffiti (of course) and other junk like these yellow duckies. We go by this stop each time we go to Las Cruces, but this is the first time we stopped. Very interesting. We like giant sculptures and junk art.

This sign was posted on an old adobe building in old downtown Mesilla. It is a store now (I added to my wild sock collection with a purchase here), but the sign tells its own story. From here the kid went to Lincoln where he escaped. We stopped at the Visitors' Center, then walked around downtown. This little town is interesting historically. The buildings are all one story adobe except the church. Most of the buildings are original. There are several little shops in the square. The streets are paved, but the sidewalks are bricked. We found a chocolate shop and got some yummy stuff, but otherwise left empty handed.

Here lies sheriff Pat Garrett, slayer of Billy the Kid. He and his family are buried in the Masonic Cemetery on the south side of Las Cruces. He was originally buried across the street in the tiny Catholic cemetery, but someone stole his headstone, so now he is here. He is said to have shot Billy in the back. Interestingly enough, Garrett was also shot in the back--in a dispute over goats!

In between this stop and Mesilla, we tried another restaurant in our ongoing search for good pizza. This time we tried Red Brick Pizza. Pretty good, but we still put Dion's first for now. Next time we want to try Chicago Uno. We shopped in the mall. Barnes and Nobel didn't get our money this time, but Penney's did. I got a new pair of casual pants for work and a new pair of jeans since mine are literally coming apart at the seams.

To round out our sight seeing day we stopped on the way home at Akela. Just off the interstate there is a little shopping strip with all kinds of stuff. We got some prickly pear jelly and some saguaro honey. THEN we went home!


Basta por hoy!

Louise and Duane