Las Cruces and Old Mesilla Village, NM

Monday, October 13, 2014

Late this morning we left Deming arriving in Las Cruces about noon.

As we are getting closer to Las Cruces we can see the Organ Mountains.  Interesting looking mountains.

Here we are parked at Sunny Acres in Las Cruces.  We have an end spot that is nice and wide.  This park gives good discounts to Escapees members.

As you can see the gravel roads are nice and wide also.  We did use the laundry facilites and they were nice also.

Since we arrived early, after lunch we decided to go to the Old Mesilla Village and look around.
Mesilla ("Little Tableland") is the best-known and most visited historical community in Southern New Mexico. Since its' beginning, around 1848, Mesilla has had a major influence on the economic, cultural, historical, and political life of the Mesilla Valley. From the Gadsden Purchase, to the Civil War, to the Butterfield Stage Coach Trail, to the trial of Billy the Kid, to being a lively social center in the 1880s--Mesilla has been a prominent part of the rich history of the Southwest.

This is the square.  It was decorated festively.  We are not sure if something was planned or happened the weekend before.  The bleachers imply some event.

This is the church in the background of the above picture located on the far side of the square.

This Billy the Kid gift shop was on one corner of the square.

This is looking down one of the side streets off the square.  Pretty dead.  Some of the shops & restaurants were closed.  We thought maybe it was because it was Monday.  Who knows???

This little bar & grill with an outdoor patio was open.  It was on another corner of the square.

There was all kinds of neat Indian pottery in the stores around the square.

Unfortunately this picture is not as sharp as could be, but the pottery was too unique to leave out.

The picture above and below are 3 walls of crosses in one store.

All these crosses and I did not find one I had to have.

I liked a lot of these items.  It is great to live in a coach without many places to hang stuff.  That means I can't buy "stuff".

This is a lizard I liked.

These frogs and lizards are so colorful.  It is a good thing I can't buy.  I did really enjoy this store.

Another store had all these turtles and frogs.  The frogs below are doing yoga.  These are pretty cool also!

Aren't these yoga frogs cute!!