Land of Enchantment, Leasburg Dam SP, Las Cruces, NM

12/24/08

Yes, we arrived in New Mexico today at Leasburg Dam State Park just north of Las Cruces. From what we saw of Las Cruces from I-25 it looked pretty good, certainly more appealing than El Paso.

The park is smaller than most we have seen. It is located along the Rio Grande but the campground does not have a view of the river. We bought the out of state annual pass for $225. We thought that the pass got you a site for half price and free for boon docking. No, it cuts the rate for water and electric from $14 a night to $4 a night and free for boon docking. That is one amazing bargain and we are on a fixed income, you know.

They have a Uno pizza place here and next to Randy and Sunaree’s cooking we love pizza best so headed there first. Then went to Mesilla, NM, which is actually a suburb of Las Cruces. It has a historic downtown and they had put out luminaries and had caroling in the square. If only we could have had a postcard it all it would have been perfect.

12/27/08

It has been cold and very windy the last couple of days so we used that time for laundry, reading and not much else. Today it only got into the 40’s and is supposed to be in the low 20’s tonight. It is supposed to warm up in the next day or two.

We went to White Sands Missile Range, toured the museum took some photos of the missiles and the most interesting stuff was the testing of the atomic bomb in the 40’s.

On the way we stopped off at Aguirre Springs Campground which is a national campground, no hookups but beautiful. We had snow flurries last night which didn’t stick here but there was still some snow at this higher elevation.

Later this afternoon we took a National Park Service guided tour to Lake Lucero.

This is part of the White Sands National Monument which we have not yet seen. However, the only way you can get to it is by a 17 mile drive through the missile range. They only allow this once a month. You drive your own car and follow the ranger to the trailhead and then it is a 3/4 mile walk. Interesting spot and the crystalline formations of the gypsum are interesting to see. Click the Lake Lucero link above for more info.

As usual, I posted more photos of the area at the more photos link in upper left. Also, you can click on any of the pictures on this picture to see a larger version.