Blogs from Alamogordo, New Mexico, United States, North America

blog 03-14-19 Pi day and Happy Birthday Pat We woke to the sound of nothing. The wind had stopped! Watson went outside and walked around his pen in the sun for the first time in 2 days. By 9 am it was too warm for my sweatshirt because the sun was so intense. I put Watson's fence back in the car, took him for a walk and realized I had time to go down the street and wash poor Petunia. It was a do it yourself place and I put my quarters in and soaped and brushed then rinsed and got it all done for 8 quarters. It's not the best but she sure does look better. We finally pulled out about 11 am and headed north on 285 toward Artesia. It was much easier getting ... read more

Geo: 32.8992, -105.96Our visit to Southwestern New Mexico first included two nights in Alamogordo where we hiked a bit near the little village of Cloudcroft, then the Dog Canyon trail in the Oliver Lee State Park, and, at the end of a busy day, took a ranger led walk over the dunes in White Sands National Monument. Then, after we had traveled to Southeastern Arizona (see next page) we drove to Silver City where we did a little bit of hiking in an old abandoned mining area, called Boston Hills, that had been turned into a "green space". We stayed in an old hotel in the historic downtown area for one night before returning to El Paso on Friday and our flight home on Saturday. I'll include pictures from both of these New Mexico areas below. ... read more

We're on a three week holiday in Texas and New Mexico! Some of our friends thought it was a bit of a boring part of the USA to visit, but we're having a lot of fun and seeing lots of different places. Our friends, Liz and Steve, live in Amarillo, and we wanted to spend a bit more time with them this time compared to our last visit five years ago. We've taken the opportunity to stay at their cabin in New Mexico and do some trips from there. First up was a drive out to the White Sands National Monument. Water, sunscreen and sunglasses are essentials here! What a bizarre place. The enormous dunes of dazzling white sand give the impression that you are out on snowy pistes, yet the blistering heat soon gives you ... read more

Very Cool day trip on our way out of Elephant Butte....White Sands National Monument A large spread (+/- 257 acres) of pure white sand dunes made up of the mineral Gypsum, remnants from when the area was covered by a shallow sea. We got there early to hike the dunes before the sun set in. There's a few hiking loop options, we choose the longest one at 5 miles. For us that really didnt sound like a big hike....then it sunk in that we were hiking in soft sand, UP and DOWN giant dunes where one step forward was one step back. We also choose to hike barefoot which was pleasant at first but feet got sore towards the end. We hiked for what seemed like a while and came to the sign saying we'd gone ... read more

BRONCO SUE YONKER Bronco Sue was a lusty Welsh girl who turned out to be every buckaroo’s sweetest dream and worst nightmare rolled into a cyclone and hammered out with soft curves and hard edges. Men would fight and die for her affection and then run for their lives when they got it. Some of them did not run fast enough. Susie Warfield burst onto the scene in Wales on September 11, 1854 and immigrated to the United States with her folks and was raised in the Nevada mining camps where she became a daring horsewoman and a crack shot with a six-shooter. At age 15 she married a rich mine promoter named Tom Rapier and had two sons, but when he went broke as most mine promoters eventually do she left him. Susie Rapier next ... read more