I Love New Mexico Road Trips: Bunny Terry

Episode Transcript

Bunny : (00:05)
Hi there, this is Bunny and we’ve been talking a lot lately about local, and, and when I say local, I mean Santa Fe because that’s where I live. But we’ve talked a lot with local artists and, um, people who are Don who were donating different things to the Cancer Foundation for New Mexico Sweetheart Auction. And it’s almost like we got off the subject of New Mexico as a whole. And I wanted to take a minute. Um, it’s that time of year for me when I start thinking about what I might wanna do this summer trips, I might wanna take what’s on my bucket list for the remainder of 2024 for New Mexico. And I thought it would be fun to talk about some short trips that you could take if you’re a New Mexico resident, short trips that you could take from where you are, or if you’re just flying in and you maybe have a Thursday through Monday visit that we could talk about some really quick weekend trips that you could take.

Bunny : (01:06)
And the first one I wanted to suggest is, um, maybe a White Sands Las Cruces, and maybe even adding a Silver City leg on a trip. Um, and, and what would happen if you are going to White Sands? You’re also gonna see Alamogordo. So my suggestions are that you consider, um, maybe having a Thursday night in Alamogordo, which as we all know, and perhaps you don’t know this, but Al Alamogordo is in the southern part of the state about 60 miles north of El Paso, Texas. So if you can, if you can picture the bottom part of New Mexico where New Mexico and Texas meet up there in the corner, that’s El Paso and just 60 miles north of El Paso on Highway 54 is Alamogordo. Alamogordo is considered the home to White Sands National Park. And Alamogordo has, um, it, you know, it’s Southern, so they’ve got a great climate. Um, even in the wintertime, you, um, you can find decent weather in Alamogordo. They have a, the Space Museum, they have, um, pistachio fields, they have, um, amazing food. I used to stop in Alamogordo when I was on my way from Logan, where I grew up to Las Cruces, where I was going to school in at New Mexico State. And I’d always grab a Green Chili cheeseburger. So if you live in Southern New Mexico and you’re thinking about going to White Sands, maybe go down, spend Thursday night in Alamogordo, and then you can drive out to White Sands the next morning. White Sands, for people who don’t know, um, is just, is just what it’s called. Uh, it’s exactly what the name says it is. It is, um, over 275 square miles of white sand dunes, the likes of which don’t exist anywhere else in the United States.

Bunny : (03:21)
And these dunes are composed of gypsum crystals. And it, it’s just exactly, um, what you would think it is, in fact, Google White Sands. And you’ll see pictures and it is miles and miles and miles of sand dunes, and they are open. It’s, it’s now a national park that’s relatively recent, I think that happened in the last four or five years that White Sands was named as a national park. And White Sands National Park is open from 7:00 AM to 30 minutes after sunset. And if you, maybe if you wanted to make this part of your, um, spring break trip with your family, um, by that time, sunset is gonna be after 7:00 PM So you could conceivably go to White Sands and spend 12 days, I’m sorry, 12 hours at White Sands. And you, you know, there are lots of opportunities to get out the, in the middle of the park. Um, dune Drive, which is really the central road that goes through the park is, um, eight miles that goes from the park headquarters to the center of the park. Um, sometimes you’re driving over sand, sometimes you’re on the road, but, um, they’re also are you, you can rent sleds at the park office so that you can, you know, climb to the top of the Dun sled down. That’s really seems to be a favorite activity of a lot of people. And there are also a number of trails. I believe there are five trails that you can take hiking trails throughout White Sands, one of which amazingly enough, is a wheelchair accessible so that regardless of your, um, hiking ability or whether you might need wheelchair access, there, there are trails for you at White Sands. White Sands is amazingly gorgeous and fun. And, um, one thing that you can also do, um, get online, um, Google the National Park and we’ll provide you with a link as well. Consider going on a full moon night. The park is open when there is a full Moon, I believe only until midnight. I don’t, I don’t know that there used to be camping overnight, but I don’t believe that’s true anymore. But to be at White Sands on a full moon is is crazy cool. You can spend the entire day there or go early in the morning, stay until noon or one o’clock, and then get on the road, um, and head towards Las Cruces. Las Cruces is a great place to spend the night. Um, it’s about 60 miles from White Sands and it’s over the Oregon Mountains. Um, the Oregon Mountains are, um, it’s a large mountain range in Southern New Mexico. And one of the things you can do if you are not quite ready to stop the hiking is watch for the signs to, um, dripping Springs.

Bunny : (06:38)
And you can, um, this will shock you if you’re coming from the Las Cruces side and you’ve never ever been there before. But there is, um, actually on the backside, on the White Sand side of, um, the Oregon Mountains, there are some hiking trails that are lush and green and take you to some pools and ponds, um, even a waterfall. So that’s just as you’re leaving the White Sands missile range. And before you make the climb over, um, the pass and into over the Organ Mountains, you can stop and go to Dripping Springs and spend some time hiking on the backside. I consider it the backside ’cause I used to live in Las Cruces of the Organ Mountains. When you get in to Las Cruces, there are, um, great hotels. It’s a city that has fun activities. It has the New Mexico Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum, which we talked about in a prior, um, podcast. And we are going to provide a link here to that podcast so that you can learn a few things. We’re also going to provide a link to a podcast that I did with my friend from many, many years ago, Dave Telford, uh, I’m sorry, David is what we call him on the podcast. He gives you all sorts of ideas for places to eat and drink and hang out and have a good time. Overnight in Las Cruces is never a bad idea. So spend one night in Alamogordo, go on to Las Cruces. And then my suggestion is that after you’ve spent an afternoon in Las Cruces and spend the night in a hotel in Las Cruces, that you go west of town out to Old Macia, which is the village just west of Las Cruces, where the Gadsden purchase was signed on the Plaza. Um, Macia is a, i i i, it’s hard, it’s hard to describe mis, I mean, it’s a, a small village built around a plaza.

Bunny : (08:53)
Um, we talked about the haunted, Double Eagle Restaurant in Mesilla. So you’ll wanna go back and listen to that podcast. Um, when I was talking to David, he talked about going to eat at La Posta, which is a restaurant in Mesilla where, um, allegedly Billy the Kid ate long, long ago. Um, it’s also a place where they, they have ghosts as well. Um, listen to our Halloween edition about Old Macia, and then if you aren’t compelled to spend yet another night in the area, you can get in the car and drive to Silver City and spend a night there. It’s ki it’s a fast, hard trip through, um, the southwest, south and southwestern part of the state, but I think it’s a great way to get sort of a triple dose of New Mexico magic. I love Silver City. It’s at the foot of the Gila Mountain Range.

Bunny : (09:55)
Um, we were there about three years ago, actually, during the pandemic, and we stayed at the Murray Hotel, which is one of the largest and oldest art deco hotels in, in all of New Mexico. And I would recommend that you spend the night there. Um, you can get a lot of good information on any of these places just by Googling Visit Silver City or visit Las Cruces. I’m just giving you ideas. I don’t wanna load this podcast up with a lot of hard facts because we’ve already talked to folks in these places and I think you’re gonna find them fascinating. So that’s my idea for trip number one, between now and summer, or if you’re just looking for a reason to get away, take a weekend in Las Cruces. Um, Alamogordo First White Sands, Las Cruces and Silver City. And I can’t wait to tell you my next idea. So the next trip I wanna suggest is actually one that I want to take myself. I’ve driven to these places, and I have been to visit them in the daytime, but we keep talking about doing this as a weekend trip, leave home in Santa Fe on Thursday morning and drive down to El Morrow, which is known as Inscription Rock. It’s, um, on the way to Zuni Pueblo, which is a place I’ve, we’ve stopped on our way to places in Arizona. And I, I wanna go back for a bigger, longer trip. So we’ve talked about leaving Santa Fe and driving to Elmores, spending time at Inscription Rock, and, um, just, I wanna give you some information, you know, for people who don’t know. Um, El Morrow is, um, a place where, um, for years and years and years and years, and I’m talking back to the, um, um, well earlier than the 16 hundreds, um, people stopped at this place called Inscription Rock and carved their names into the sandstone cliffs of El Morrow, and they left evidence of their passing. There were symbols, there are names and dates, there are fragments of their stories that’s carved into the rock. Um, and we’re talking ancestral Pueblo people, the Spanish conquistadors, the American settlers. Everyone left their mark on El Morrow. And, you know, um, it’s, it’s really a, a place because there’s a pool, explorers and travelers have known about it forever, for centuries. And it was considered a, a, a great water source and a resting place. And everyone who passed by inscribed their names and messages next to petroglyphs that had been laughed by and ancestral Pueblo people. And, um, the large, there, there used to be a large Pueblo that was located on the top of El Morrow, and it was vacated by the time the Spaniards arrived in the late 15 hundreds. Um, we’re not sure, but the inhabitants of that Pueblo may have moved on to nearby Pueblos in Zuni and Oma.

Bunny : (13:25)
And as the West grew and as people traveled by and stopped for water, it became a break along the trail, and it also, um, became a destination for sight Sears. And so there became this tradition of carving inscriptions on the rock. And, um, so in Dec on December 8th, which happens to be my birthday, so don’t forget that one, but this was in 1906 El Morro National Monument was, monument was established by a presidential proclamation because, um, there really people really wanted nearby, wanted to preserve the historical importance and, and start some preservation efforts. So this is an, an incredibly cool place to stop and take a look. Um, you know, um, there are carvings I’ve, I’ve seen, I’m, look, I’ve looked at pictures. I’m telling you I haven’t been to El Morro and stopped the car and gotten out and taken a look. But, um, there are carvings from 1526 from the Spaniards. Um, there are carvings from early Americans. Um, you know, there’s a photo online of, of one as old as 1860, um, an American, an American expedition that was led by Lieutenant Edward f Beal, passed by El Morro in 1857. And they were surveying a wagon road from Fort Smith, Arkansas to California. And, and they also had been instructed to experiment with ca using camels for desert transportation. And so the Bees Wagon Road continued to be used for years by the Army settlers headed west, and many of them, um, inscribed their name on Inscription Rock. And, and then, um, in 1868, a Union Pacific Survey Party was looking for a rail route past El Morro, but eventually they took the train 25 miles to the north, and that is the train track that runs along I 40.

Bunny : (15:39)
So after that, um, most of the, um, wagon travel and walking travel traffic through El Morro, the El Morro Valley seas. So, um, that’s sort of when the ancient, the older inscription stop, but still, um, it’s, it’s an incredible place to visit. And there’s camping nearby. Um, there you can, you can go into Zuni, you can also stop at grants and camp if you don’t want to do that. But, um, there’s camping nearby in Zuni. There is a campground at, um, at right at Elmore, at at the park. And, um, so there are lots of places to stay. Then you can go into the village of Zuni. Um, if you get there at the right time, you can have a tour through the Pueblo. Um, my best recommendation is that you also stop and buy some native jewelry. I, one of my favorite places to shop ever is at, um, one of the, I’m I’m telling you, they call themselves an outlet outlet. It is a place in Zuni where you can buy native Zuni, um, inlaid and a place in Zuni where you can buy, um, both Zuni Art and Jewelry, which is one of my favorites. And then, um, if you spend the night in Zuni, my suggestion is you spend the first night in grants or camping at El Morro, have a tour of Inscription, rock, and then go into town in Zuni, and then go from there, go north to Gallup and check out the podcast that we had with the Gallup Chamber of Commerce leader, um, who talked about how Gallup is not only, um, one of the places where you can buy incredible, um, Navajo art and jewelry, but also, um, it’s known as one of the most patriotic cities in the United States. And there is a walk downtown where they’ve honored local veterans. Um, there are several places where you can, there’s a, a, a veteran museum where you can check out, um, information on the code Talkers who were Navajo, um, soldiers who helped save, really helped save the day for the Allied Forces during World War II And then on Saturday, you can spend the day at the Gallup Flea market. Um, I, I was intrigued by this when we interviewed, um, our guest from the Gallup Chamber of Commerce. But I was more intrigued when, um, a friend of mine came through town and came to the office and she was wearing this beautiful, beautiful coat that looked like a Navajo weaving. And I said, where did you find that? And she said, at the Gallup Flea market, it’s every Saturday of the year, and it is supposedly the coolest flea market in the States. And it is home to rugs and jewelry and clothing and native art that I’m just determined to go to Gallup. And while I’m there, I’m going to stay at the El Rancho Motel Hotel, which was a, um, it was a Harvey House built in the forties where you can spend this the night in the room, a room where John Wayne slept, or Judy Garland or somebody like that. So, that’s my second recommendation for a weekend in New Mexico is, um, start in grants, go to El Morro, go to Zuni, and then go north to Gallup and be sure you hit the Gallup Flea market. As you can tell, this is a really informal discussion because I’ve been thinking about all these for a while and, um, they’re all trips that I wanna take. So let me know if you follow the trail that I’ve suggested. And, um, let’s, let’s talk some more about weekends in New Mexico. The next time we’re out. Um, two nights ago we had the Cancer Foundation for New Mexico’s sweetheart auction, which has kept us busy for months and months, and yet I wanted to get on the podcast and give you some ideas for traveling in New Mexico. I’d also like to hear from you. If you have a story to tell, if you’d like to be on the podcast, if you have a favorite place you like to visit or a favorite place you like to eat that you’d like for us to talk about on the podcast, please email us at I love New Mexico blog@gmail.com and let’s hear your story or let’s promote your business. There are no boundaries and no parameters on the podcast except we want it to be interesting to people who know New Mexico well or who have never even considered visiting here. Thank you so much for following us and liking us and sharing us. If nothing else, just take a screenshot and send it to some friends. Let’s spend some time enjoying and exploring New Mexico. Thanks so much.