The easiest way to get to Las Cruces is to fly into El Paso, TX and then drive ~40 minutes west. By New Mexico standards, Las Cruces is pretty large, and is home to a university, which definitely improves the caliber of the food and entertainment options. There is also a NASA research center and a missile range. Unlike most facilities, this one actually has a museum open to the public. So, if you want to go admire the missiles, or see what they claim is the most intact V2 rocket left in the world, Las Cruces is your destination.
For logistics purposes, the missile museum is located ~25 minutes from downtown Las Cruces, traveling East on Highway 70. It's basically the only right turn you can take after you cross over the pass for a good 40 miles, so its hard to miss. It is a military base, so you have to stop by the visitor center. You can get a temporary car pass, but the weather was fabulous, so we just decided to walk the <1/4 mile to the museum.
Mostly, we just relaxed and hung out eating Mexican food. There are some great options, ranging from the traditional (La Posta de Mesilla) to local (My Brother's Place) to homemade (disastrous). Mesilla is so close it's practically part of Las Cruces, though it's technically a separate town. It used to be a stagecoach stop on the old Butterfield trail route, and has a very cute old town square.
I celebrated my new mobile status with a little hiking in the Organ mountains. We didn't go all the way up to Hermit Pass (there was some snow at the higher elevations and I didn't want to push that far), but enough to do more than sit and eat. One of the real highlights of the area is getting to see the sunsets, which are pretty uniformly incredible:
Since I was visiting a friend, I didn't have to worry about hotel costs, though I have been there before and give the thumbs up to the Staybridge Suites and a qualified recommendation to the Encanto (qualified because, while it's a nice hotel, the service can be a bit uneven and they don't offer a loyalty program). If you're not that into Mexican, there's also surprisingly good Asian food, it is a college town after all, at Katana down on University, Thai Delight in Mesilla, and Asian/Southwest Fusion at Aqua Reef. If you're really hungry, eat at Tiffany's - a Greek and Italian place walking distance from the Encanto. The food is good (esp. the baklava) and the portions are enormous.
I did stay in El Paso the night before my flight at the Radisson's airport location. I prefer the Hyatt Place down on I-10, but it was booked (I'm guessing a conference?). The Radisson has some good points, such as the free cooked-to-order breakfast and the sleep number beds, so it's not that I object to staying there. The Hyatt is just a better fit for my taste and style. They also offer a more generous shuttle service, so I can return my car the night before. There's a little dive called L & J's near the graveyard off the freeway that is a favorite. Great food, but it can get a little noisy when there's a game going on.
In all, a great weekend. One of the best parts? It was the coldest week of the year in New England, and I missed most of it wandering around the warm southwest. Back to reality. It snowed yesterday. Only 2 inches or so, but enough to remind me its still winter.
Oh! And I finished painting the office! I'm very excited. I like the light blue with the curtains (a dark chocolate brown). Now I just need to paint the hall and the other guest room so I don't have to worry about getting paint on the new carpet that I hope to put down later this year. Yay for finishing something.
Finally, on a sad note, one of my favorite cross stitch pattern places, Witch Stitch & Bits (http://www.xstitchgirls.co.uk/WSnB/), is closing at the end of January. They're having a huge sale (though the patterns were never expensive) and one of the partners is continuing independently, but its sad to see any of the site go, there are so relatively few of them.
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