Wine, Pecans and a Slot Canyon

 

The view from Baby at the Rio Grande Winery in Las Cruces..

The covered patio at Rio Grande

Inside the Winery

Las Cruces is studded with pecan orchards and wineries. The pecan orchards stretch out for miles all around the city and there are 9 wineries. As far as we know there is only one slot canyon and we found it - and it wasn't easy. Pecans and wine on the other had were - we went to 2 wineries and the Pecan Fest in Mesilla. This is our third time visiting the Rio Grande Winery, a Harvest Host location. It's a beautiful spot with very good wine, live music and food. And it was a Saturday night. But we had a surprise when we sat down, only one red wine available! That afternoon they had a Pickleball Tournament and then there must have been a big celebration! But the wine and band were great so another lovely night. Another night we visited D.H. Lescombes Winery and Bistro and had an excellent dinner overlooking the mountains. And there were lots of wine choices there.

A view around the Pecan Fest

Basilica de San Albino

The Pecan Fest was set in downtown Mesilla, mostly in the central square. There was live music, lots of vendors and some very good BBQ. We discovered the trail to Slot Canyon on All Trails, which we belong to. The reviews were all raving about the canyon but there were buts... The first one was the entrance. "Either climb the 5 foot fence or go under the barbed wire". What? And concerns about finding the trail as it wasn't well marked. But we thought we'd at least take a look. Scott downloaded the map so we knew we could find our way home. We went under the fence, and loved the canyon!

Crawling under the barbed wire - folks before
us had dug a depression.

The Slot Canyon is narrow.

And it was a hot day so the shade was welcome.

This was our second time staying at the Hacienda RV Park and it is very nice with a big hot tub, which we used several times. We managed to see 5 museums while visiting there. The biggest is the Farm and Ranch Museum up near Dripping Spring. We found the history of farming and ranching here very interesting. New stories to us were the range wars, lawlessness (Billy the Kid is big around here) and especially when it changed dramatically as a result of WWII. A lot of farms were confiscated to build the White Sands Missile Range and Test Facility. Now Spaceport America and Virgin Galactic are just north of there. 

I love these slices of life long ago. What's scary
is, a lot of things look familiar from my past!

There were a lot of vehicles in the Farm & Ranch
Museum, this hearse was my favorite.

Another day we visited the Railroad Museum and the Museum Complex which includes an Art Museum, and a Nature and Science Museum. Lastly we toured Fort Selden which is now a ruin but once housed a large number of "Buffalo Soldiers", African-Americans who joined the army after the Civil War. As a testament to their bravery nine Buffalo Soldiers received the Medal of Honor while serving in New Mexico. 

The 1910 Depot of the Acheson, Topeka and 
Santa Fe railroad. Now the Railroad Museum.

I loved this story about the first woman Engineer. 
She was quite famous nationally as a result, 
made the cover of Redbook. A third generation
railroad worker, it didn't hurt that she was lovely!

There were two huge model railroad set ups. So detailed and fun.

But now it was time to head west again. We had two great couples to visit in southern Arizona: So next stop Green Valley!

The ruins of Fort Seldon just outside of Las Cruces and near the Slot Canyon.