I have a timeshare and I can trade and book into different places so we decided to use Ruidoso NM as our base and starting point. We only had occasional Internet service so I didn't post anything along the way except a few pictures on Facebook.
RUIDOSO, NEW MEXICO
It rained for most of the 3 1/2 hour drive to Ruidoso. We got there just in time for the wind to blow at 30 mph and gust to over 50. Next morning it was still raining and blowing and the electric was off. We went out for breakfast and it seemed like most places had power. Ruidoso is a nice place and I'll come back here in the summer or spring for fly fishing or horse racing at Ruidoso Downs.
Since the weather was bad we went to see the Hubbard Museum of the West. This is essentially a large exhibition space that has a large collection of horse-drawn carriages and wagons. I was interested in the "formal" carriages and the variety of utilitarian wagons and carts. The museum has a photo exhibit and a number of saddles and other donated items. We watched a video of a man "breaking" a horse that was wild in the morning and would allow him to ride it after a few hours of persistent reasoning and communication using body language and some basic guide tools and a lariat. Jill thought it was inhumane and unnecessary but his method was fast and painless except for the apparent fear the horse had at the start.
WHITE SANDS NATIONAL MONUMENT
The weather cleared up on Sunday so we took a drive over to see White Sands National Monument south of Alamogordo. It was a pleasant drive but we saw a little more evidence of the huge forest fire - the Little Bear Fire - that went through here in 2012. Much of the forest we drove through on the way into Ruidoso was burned with thousands of dead trees as far as you could see.
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| Snow-capped Sierra Blanca in the distance |
White Sands is a gypsum sand desert covering a large portion of the Tularosa Valley. The park is surrounded by White Sands missile range so it is shut down occasionally when the military is launching test missiles. The park is fairly large and offers a great opportunity to explore and photograph the unique plants and what few animals are evident. If you are a geologist this would be your kind of place just to see the different types of dunes and how they change and move. This is a place to come back to and spend a couple days...and nights...but it closes one hour after sunset.
White Sands is relatively young...only about 10,000 years old and the local animals are not totally adapted to living on the sand so there are fewer animals here. They seem to come out at night and leave their tracks showing they have been there but you don't usually see them in daylight.
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| Coyote tracks over the dune |
GUADALUPE MOUNTAINS NATIONAL PARK
On Tuesday we headed south and east through Roswell and Artesia to Carlsbad. This was not a very scenic route and there seemed to be a lot of chemical or oil related air pollution in Artesia. We had lunch at a restaurant in White City, close to Carlsbad Caverns. We opted not to go to Carlsbad Cavern on this trip...not enough time.
Just a few miles south of White City we crossed into Texas and encountered the Guadalupe Mountains. Most of this range is in New Mexico but the most prominent part is in Texas. Guadalupe Peak is the highest point in Texas. The Guadalupe Mountains National Park is fairly new and isn't all that big but it offers a lot of back country for day hikes or longer backpacking. Although the mountains appear to be dry and stark, the back country is lush and green...according to the Ranger we talked to.
We were on a tight schedule so we only stayed about 45 minutes and took some pictures. We took a short detour to see some local salt flats. There has been so much rain that the salt flats were a shallow lake that offered unique reflections of the looming mountain range a few miles away. My friend, Betty, has a family owned ranch next to the park and salt flats...it looked very green compared to the local desert.
MARFA, TEXAS
This part of west Texas is sparsely populated with many miles between towns. It's 64 miles from the park to Van Horn and then another 74 miles to Marfa with nothing much in between....except for a Prada store sitting all alone out on the deserted highway. You have to have a sense of humor to survive. This is a local art project...a fake Prada store in the middle of nowhere.
We finally made it to Marfa and El Cosmico, our "glamping" destination for the next two nights. We reserved two safari tents for the first night and a tepee for the second night. The safari tents were nice, equipped with a queen size bed, side tables and a chair all on a raises wooden floor. There was a hanging pendant light as well as a reading light. The best part was the heated mattress pad. It was pretty cold -- down in the low 40s -- and the heated bed was great. My problem was with my CPAP (yes, my sleep apnea rears its ugly head). Each tent has electricity but the cold temperature caused the vapor to condense from the CPAP and it kept dousing me with water every few minutes. That made sleeping impossible. Jill had a much better experience. I opted to sleep elsewhere and made plans to stay at a local hotel the second night. 
We were hoping to see a dark night sky and thousands of stars but it was a full moon and we mostly saw the moon. We could walk anywhere at night without a flash light because the moon was so bright.
BIG BEND NATIONAL PARK
We spent a day at Big Bend National Park...about two hours south and east of Marfa. I wasn't sure what we were going to see since we were on the road four hours out of the day but we were able to get through the best part and still get back to Marfa before dark. The Chisos Mountains make up the most prominent part of the park but there are miles of desert and the Rio Grande river and valley/gorge runs along the south edge of the park...the border with Mexico.
The geology is a mix of things but a good deal of volcanic relics. There are prominent dikes where magma or lava seeped into cracks or faults and solidified and now appears as natural walls running through the mountains once the softer material eroded.
There was a small community living in the area back in the early 1900s that raised cotton on the farmable parts of the Rio Grand valley. A few ruined buildings are left behind from that era.
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| Rio Grande and the Mexican cliffs looming over the river. |
I was surprised to see that they did raft float trips down the Rio Grande. The park cautions boaters not to purchase items from people on the Mexican side. They are trying to establish a port of entry to allow park visitors to cross the river and visit the Mexican park on the opposite side of the river.
Santa Elena Canyon is on the Mexican side of the river but is very impressive. Apparently the Rio Grande somehow changed course and carved the canyon while the rock wall was being slowly uplifted .
We were visiting in November and most of the vegetation was going dormant for winter or because of the drought. We saw a few lingering flowers and the Ocotillo cactii were in bloom.
We exited the park over a 13 mile gravel road that was a challenge in some places. In wet weather it would be impassable.
The trip back to Marfa was uneventful except for a stop by the Border Patrol at one of their checkpoints.
HOTEL PAISANO - MARFA, TX
I already mentioned that I opted to stay at a local hotel the second night in Marfa. The Hotel Paisano is a historic hotel on the national register, built in 1930 and designed by Henry Trost. The hotel was used during the filming of the Edna Ferber classic "Giant", which was James Dean's last movie.
My room was next to the room Elizabeth Taylor stayed in during ther filming of the movie. Maybe James Dean or Rock Hudson stayed in my room?
The hotel is restored (somewhat) and is well maintained. They seem very proud of it and its history. The public areas are nicely kept and restored while the rooms are well maintained but in need of a little more restoration...like new carpet and some fresh paint.
My room was nice and roomy with some nice period (1930-40) style furniture. It had French doors leading out to the balcony overlooking a large courtyard with a fountain. It was a little too cold to take advantage of the balcony.
The hotel has a nice and popular restaurant. The food was good and plentiful but the prices were a little high.
RACING FOR HOME
Beginning about Tuesday we began hearing horror stories about how bad the weather was going to get starting on Thursday. Snow, ice, sleet, rain and high wind was in the forecast. When we left Marfa on Thursday morning we decided to try to get all the way home. The only problem was that we had to get back to Ruidoso to check out of the condo and pick upur other luggage. We got an early start and decided to go on the interstate through El Paso and then pick up US 54 and go north through Alamogordo to Ruidoso. The trip was OK...no bad weather. The check out process was quick and we were loaded up and back on the road in about a half hour. We ran into deteriorating weather by the time we reached the Rio Grande valley near Soccorro and it was blowing drizzle in a few places. Of course, we reached Albuquerque at evening rush hour so it took a while to get all the way through town and then through the perpetual construction work at Bernalillo. We made it OK and were able to go pick up our cat, Watson, before thbe animal hospital closed.
The weather threatened all day Friday and then we woke up with a light dusting of snow on Saturday. It snowed a little until Monday morning but never amounted to much.
