Las Cruces and Mesilla

The third day of our holiday weekend was a rainy overcast day where we visited a couple of towns on the leisurely drive from Alamogordo to El Paso. We had to pass by White Sands National Park again, so we stopped by the visitor's center. It's a nice little center, but is not equipped to handle national park level crowds. White Sands was formerly a national monument, and became an official national park in 2019. Yearly visitor numbers increased greatly, with record numbers in 2021 and 2022. Even early on a Sunday morning it was very quickly swamped, with long lines in the gift shop, and the video was standing room only. But great to see so many people enjoying our national parks! We also were really glad we made the decision the day before to see the dunes at sunset, since it was a dreary morning.

The sign still says "monument."

Next we drove to Las Cruces, which was less than an hour away. We started on Main street in downtown, which is a cute little strip with some shops and restaurants. It was a little rainy and most shops didn't open until noon, so we sat for a bit at Ice Box Brewing Boneyard Cantina and had a little snack and drink. Shortly after noon we walked to Zia Comics, a huge comic, video game, and fantasy store. David picked up a couple of Final Fantasy items. Our next stop was a block down main street: the COAS Bookstore, a giant local bookstore. After getting our fill of the small downtown, we made a quick trip to a video game store in the mall, and then a stop by the world's largest chili pepper, which is in front of a run down hotel. It is indeed a large pepper!

Welcome to Las Cruces!

It was a little quiet because it was a rainy Sunday morning, but downtown had some cute spaces.

A lil rabbit and cactus mural.

Breakfast beer?

Flasher gremlin in Zia Comics.

Downtown Las Cruces.

Giant chili pepper!

Next we went to Mesilla Plaza, about three miles away from downtown Las Cruces. Mesilla was a Mexican town founded in the 1850s, and the small downtown is now a national historic landmark. It has a cute little square surrounded by buildings with a couple of shops and restaurants, and the Basilica of San Albino dominating one end. An older woman gave us a long rambling history of the church, which may or may not have been factual. 

Lots of cure historic architecture in Mesilla.

Cactus and angel.

The basilica.

Inside the basilica.

Mesilla is like a very small version of Santa Fe. It's cute and worth a quick visit. Next stop - El Paso!