Roswell NM Visit

Yesterday we stayed in town and hit all the second hand stores in town, whoopy. I did find a very nice wooden pipe stand. Lynn did not find much but she did come home and collected pine needles for her new basket making hobby.
Today we went to Roswell NM to check out the UFO Museum. It was very interesting to say the least. In July of 1947 the year I was born a UFO crashed near Roswell and the Military picked up the remains and brought them to the base near by. This is a museum and UFO research center. Anything you want to know about UFOs they have here, sightings from around the world, crop circles, UFO abductions and Alain implants into humans. I took allot of pictures and have attached a few.

You can decide for yourself.
Click pictures to enlarge.

There are allot of top secret documents.

I don't need to see these guy's in person.

They claim to have found three Alian bodies and one Alian survivor.

The weather is taking a turn for the worst. Tomorrow is going to have 70 mph wind gust and cold. I was planning to leave tomorrow because Friday they are predicting a snow storm up here in the mountains. I don't know decisions, decisions I guess I will wait and see. We were planning to leave the condo Friday and head south into the desert. I will let you know if I have to by a snow shovel.

Trip to Alamogordo

Yesterday, Sunday we went for a ride to the Smokey the Bear  Museum. It was fun to see all the Smokey memorabilia, like lunch boxes, hats and dolls ect. I must be getting old I remembered most of it. Smokey was a real bear that they found clinging to a tree as a cub in a forest fire. He was burned so they brought him to a vet and fixed him up. After he was healed they moved him to Washington DC and put him in the zoo. From that time forward he was the mascot for preventing forest fires. Smokey lived for 26 years. After his death they brought him back to the forest were he was rescued and buried him in a park.
On the way back to town we spotted a Chevron gas station we were told about in our meet and greet at the condo. A little old mexican lady makes freash Green Chili egg and cheese Burritos and sells them at the station, boy were they good.
Last night after dinner we went to the pool and soaked in the hot tub and took a swim. We had the whole pool to our self.
Today we went on a scenic drive over to Cloudcroft, it sits high in the mountains and there is snow up there, (sorry for the dirty four letter word). This town is still back in the last century, with wooden sidewalks and very old buildings. We walked through town and did some shopping.

Smokey's Park

Smokey's burial site.

Some of Lynns friends.

A tunnel through the mountain.

A view of White Sands Missle site from the top of the mountain.

Now this is a big Pistachio.

From Cloudcroft we went down the other side of the mountain to Alamogordo. We went to see a movie at the dome roof IMAX theater. They were showng Everest and wow was it fabulous. The movie takes you on a climbing expedition up the mountain, we jumped out of our seats more than once. On our way home we spotted a Pistachio farm and decided to stop. They have a dozen flavored Pistachios brittle, cracked pepper, cinnamon, lime and many more. Believe it or not they even made Pistachio wine. We tried the wine and liked it so we bought a bottle and a bag of salted Pistachio nuts.

Ruidoso NM

Well we had a nice ride over o Ruidoso. The Condo is very nice it has two bedrooms and three baths and is a town house style. The bedrooms are down stairs and the living area is upstairs. We have come from an altitude of about 4000 feet to 7300 here at the Condo. We had to clear our ears a couple times coming up the mountain. The Condo is sitting on the side of Camelot Mountain and overlooks the town and the surrounding mountain peaks. The tall mountain to the south is snow covered and has a Ski Resort up on top that opened on Thanksgiving day.  Ski Apache peak is at 11,500 feet. they have a big tubing operation up at the ski resort that is very popular here. We have decided if we are going to go sledding we will go to White Sand Dunes and sled on the sand where it is warmer. The Condo will furnish us with sleds if we want to go. Saturday morning there was a meet and greet with coffee and rolls to give us new comers information on what to see and do in the area, wow their is allot to do. They gave us a list of 93 hiking trails with maps. Their is a hike to some Petroglyphs that we are going to try today, they say their were 24,000 Petroglyphs on this trail. Billy the Kid is from a town nearby and they have a museum. Their is a Space Museum in White Sands down the road. Smokey the Bear historical park is just out of town, that is where Smokey is buried. Spencer Theater is a world renown theater ranked sixth in the world for it's architecture. The sound proof doors weigh 2 1/2 tons and the theater will seat 550 people. The list goes on and on and we will never see it all in a week.

The Mountain pictures were taken from the balcony of our Condo.

This the vally looking North.

This is the town of Ruidoso looking South.



The living room in the Condo. It has a little more room than the motorhome.

This is the first deer we seen and Lynn thought it was a statue.

Their were about four bucks in this bunch.

These deer have no fear of people.

During our meet and greet they told us their was a family of a mother and two black bear cubs living under one of the condos. I guess mom comes out and throws trash out of the dumpster for the cubs. They also said their was a family of mountain lions near by with young and to keep an eye open. We took a drive up the mountain yesterday and seen a group of about ten Mule Deer that were not afraid of people. Here are a few pictures.

Thaksgiving Feast

Wednesday we took a ride to see Rock City. Rock City is about thirty miles out in the desert from Deming and was created about 35 million years ago. This one spot in the desert has huge rock formations sticking out of the ground that wind and rain have shaped for millions of years. They made this place State Park and it has a very nice campground and hiking trail. Lynn and I did the hiking trail and wondered through the campground. I have attached some pictures.
Thursday we had a great Thanksgiving Feast at the hall. There were seven tables with about 65 people in attendance. The park cooked six turkeys with mashed potatoes for a two dollar donation and everyone brought a dish to pass, that's 65 dishes. We had everything you can think of dressing with or without oysters, sweet potato's, fruit salad, been salad, relishes, squash, rolls, mac and cheese, pumpkin pie and apple pie, cakes and more. Believe it or not I ate too much, again. Tomorrow is leftover dinner, so we can do it all over again. We will miss the leftover dinner because we are moving on, back up into the mountains where we can see some trees. We invited our friends Kieth and Zillah and Duane and Louise over for cocktails this evening so say good bye and talk about all the fun we have had here, thanks to them. We will miss you and hope to see you again. Next blog from the condo.

You don't want to mess with the state insect.
Click on picture to enlarge.

Big rocks

A flowering cactus

You have to watch where you walk, I got a nasty scratch from one of these.

Retired and loving it.

Lynn holding up the rocks.

Our Thanksgiving Table



We all eat too much.

Duane and Louise.

Weekend Hobbies

This weekend we worked on our new hobbies. Saturday we went to the rock club and cut and polished rocks. We tried to make some jewelry from the stones we polished but I did not have much luck. Lynn did a great job making some pendents and a small ring. I just don't have the patients for this kind of work. in the afternoon we went to happy hour at the hall and met some new arrivals.
Sunday Zillah taught Lynn to make pine needle baskets. Lynn caught on and is doing pretty well with her basket. I decided to make a couple of walking sticks for her and I to use when we go hiking. I made them from the stem of a Yucca Plant, the part that has the flowers on it. The yuccas get big out here. Sunday evening we went to the hall for the ice cream social visited with our neighbor's.

This is what we hope to find when we cut open a Geo Egg. also called a Thunder Egg.
This one has red agate and Christal. The other one has Blue Opel.
You can click on the picture to enlarge.

This one has white Christal

These are the walking sticks I made from the Yucca

This is a large Yucca with it's staff.

I spotted this home made trike at Walmarts. I don't think I would ride it
it was a little rough.

Monday I took Lynn into town to get a haircut and go to the hardware store for some parts. In the afternoon I helped Zillah make some scrolls on the computer to advertise her Pine Needle Baskets. We have started getting ready for our move on Friday and the big meal on Saturday. Hear are a few pic's of our projects.

Having Fun in New Mexico

So to start up where I left off. Wednesday we went to Paloma's Mexico and did some shopping. Our main reason was to get my prescription drugs because I don;t have insurance until January. They were very reasonable. I could buy a years worth for the price of  a month here in the US and the other one was even cheaper, worth the trip. We had lunch at the pink store, that's the name of it and it was very good and cheap with free Margaritas. It was very easy to get in and out and no one with guns. I think we are going back next week with a group from the park.
Thursday we went to our rock club for a big Thanksgiving dinner. There were about eighty different dishes to choose from along with the turkey, mashed potatoes and dressing. I had to waddle out. There was allot left so we took some home and that's what I am having tonight, so much for the diet.
Today we went to La's Cruses with our friends Keith and Zillah and did some shopping. We went to Sam's Club and Hobby Lobby then had lunch at a new Italian Pizza place. The restaurant has all it's ingredients shipped in from Italy, even the flour for the dough. They bake the pizza in a wood fired oven. It was very good. After lunch we went to The New Mexico State University Geology Museum. They had a wonderful display of Petrified Wood and Dinosaur bones.

If you click on the pictures they will enlarge.
This is a Petrified tree cut in half.

The wood fired pizza oven.



The family Bluegrass Band.

This is the Pink Store in Mexico.

These are the grinders and polishers at our rock club.

Thanksgiving dinner at the rock club.

Tomorrow we are going to the rock club and work on our rocks, we only have a few days left to get the rocks done before we move on. We will miss all the friends we have made here. Until next time.

Busy Schedule in New Mexico

Storm coming over the mountain.

We have been busy with new friends and enjoying new sites and thing to do. We tried to take it easy Saturday and Sunday, so we did a little shopping and went to a flea market and the Rock hound State Park. Rock hounding is very big here with lots of Quarts Christal and Agates in the area. Monday morning I had a suspension stabilizer installed that is manufactured right here in Deming. The new friends we have met here recommended this unit and the motor home has been getting blown around on the highway so I gave it a try. I took it for a test ride on the freeway after it was installed and it made a big improvement when driving in the wind. We joined the local Rock Club so we could use their equipment to cut and polish the rocks we have found. We went to the club Monday evening and sawed our Geo's and thunder eggs. We found some very beautiful agates and Christal's inside. Lynn worked on making a Quarts Christal Pendent and I am working on a multi colored Christal Ring. We are going to polish some of the thunder eggs and display them at home. Today we went site seeing and rock hunting with our friends Zillah and Keith. We hiked up a mountain in the desert to see some petrographic pictures the ancient Indians had made, there were a lot of them. After having a picnic lunch and doing some target practice we went to visit an old ghost town that was built in 1881 around the largest Silver mine in NM. After dinner tonight we went to an RV Resort down the road to watch a family Bluegrass band perform. A mom dad and three kids put on a great show.
We are busy all week. Tomorrow we are going to Mexico for some medications and shopping, wish us luck. Thursday the rock club is having their Thanksgiving dinner, so we signed up to go to that, they furnish everything and it is free. There is a hundred people signed up to attend.
Friday we are going to the big city of  Las Cruces with Keith and Zillah. I think we need to take the weekend off to rest and work on our rocks.

Valley Lake Ghost Town

There are about a dozen buildings spred out around the mine

Our friends Keith and Zillah

Ancient Petragraphs

Sunrise at the RV Park

Remnants of the past

Demming Site Seeing

Well we have been here a few days and have met a bunch of new friends and are having a great time. The weather has been in the 50's and 60's during the day and 30's at night with lots of sun shine. Lets see what have we done? Wednesday we went to the local rock club and they invited us back to learn how to cut and polish the rocks we have found with agates, Opel's and Christal's in them. We also went to the local Museum and spent about three hours walking around, it is an awesome museum. This town has been here since the 1800's and I think they have saved everything and put it in this museum.
Yesterday our neighbors Kieth and Zilla took us to the largest Winery in NM and we tasted wine and ended up making some purchases and then coming back to our rig and having a wine party ummmm good. After cocktail hour we went up to the clubhouse for a chicken dinner that was very good. We also went to the post office and picked up our mail.

A button hook display for high top shoes.

A birthing chair. Push push

This is a Geod with a Christal inside.

Now I know why I don't like the Dintist.

This machine was in an old Hair Salon.
I think it was for perms.

Rock hounding at Bakers Mine.

Today our new friends Duane and Louis took us rock hounding to an old mine called Bakers Mine out in the desert and we found some real treasures, we think? We won't know until we cut them open with a saw, we know we have some nice Christal's because we can see inside the rock. We stopped in Columbus NM on way home and had lunch in a little Mexican cafe. Their were a bunch of Border Patrol guy's there getting lunch. Columbus is only about two miles from the border. We seen them again on the way back, they had a check point set up on the road and everyone has to stop and get searched by a drug sniffing dog. I was worried about my pipe tobacco and the pistol I had. We got through without a hitch and made it back to the park in time for the girls to attend the Thanksgiving dinner meeting and craft time. I think we will go over to Mexico for the day next week and visit some of the rock shops in town. Lynn says she is getting tired of all the activity and needs a day off to rest, I second the motion. Boy this is a rough life. Until next time.