The Mesilla Valley

On Sunday, we finally tried geocaching. Found it pretty quickly (it was an easy one!), but think we might be hooked.


Then we drove down to Las Cruces via NM 187, instead of I-25, taking a scenic country lane through Hatch (chile capital of the world). Love the little roads. Got to see field after field of red chiles, acres of pecan groves with golden leaves, cotton fields, and lettuce fields--very colorful red, yellow, white and green. Toured the New Mexico Farm Museum, a AAA "gem." It was indeed really neat.



We attended a dowsing demonstration, led by a 39-year Army veteran (and a civil engineer). Wow. I found out that I have a knack for it, so I spent $10 and bought a little booklet, some L rods, and a pendulum, and intend to practice this every day.

We visited the resident blacksmith, big Bertha the demonstration milking cow, and learned all about NM agriculture. Interesting factoid: one bale of cotton weighs 500 pounds and can produce 1200+ T-shirts, or 2000 socks, or 275 pairs of jeans. There was also a special exhibit on the history of NM schools....





Got the laundry done along with some necessary chores, and then Monday we decided not to drive. We were able to walk about 1.5 miles to the old plaza in Mesilla. A beautiful plaza, lots of neat shops, and a really great lunch.



When we got back today, we met Navion owners FROM GREENCASTLE, INDIANA. They saw "DePauw" on Lisa's sweat pants and stopped to say hello. Talk about a small world. And they're V/N Yahoo! group members, too.

We plan to head out early tomorrow for Carlsbad Caverns and another state park.