NATURE AND HISTORY

One of our intentions while we are here is to get to know more about the history and culture of the area as well as to visit some parts of the state that are not so familiar to us. Today we started on this goal by seeing some parts of the southwestern corner of the state. We arose fairly early and went to a Mexican restaurant (of course) called Delicias for breakfast. It is named for a town in the Mexican state of Chihuahua, which, coincidentally, is the state where the family of our Mexican “son”, Eduardo, comes from. I’m sure that not everyone wants chips and salsa with their breakfast, but I enjoyed it! The huevos rancheros were good, too. Even Dan left the comfort of pancakes and waffles for a Mexican cuisine.

After breakfast we headed about 15 miles north of Las Cruces to the ruins of Fort Selden. Mogollon farmers were among the earliest inhabitants of this area. In the mid-1800s territorial expansion encroached on what was homeland to Apaches. The U.S. government established Fort Selden in 1865 to protect settlers from the Apaches whom they considered hostile. The troops stationed there often escorted wagon trains as they headed westward. One of its claims to fame was that the presence of African American soldiers, known as “Buffalo Soldiers”, at the fort. However, I was disappointed that they did not have more information on these troops. I had seen a newspaper article on them a year or two ago and found it rather fascinating. Fort Selden is also known for the fact that General Douglas MacArthur spent two years there as a young boy when his father was the post commander there.

Interestingly enough we learned that more soldiers were killed by other soldiers or by disgruntled locals than by any Apaches! The fort was abandoned in 1891 after it was determined that there was not really a need for it.

Dan recalls going there when he was about 10 or 12. He claims that the walls of the ruins “were higher then!” That IS possible, since there has been a lot of erosion. However, it is also possible that he was a bit shorter then, too!

Leaving Fort Selden we continued about 20-25 miles further north to Hatch, NM, “Chile Capital of the World” We hoped to see whether we could buy a case of Hatch Red Enchilada Sauce but discovered that it is not processed there AND that it, too, is now made primarily with tomatoes, like so much of what’s available back east. Instead we bought some authentic Hatch dried chile which can be used to make the sauce. I also succumbed to the chile ristras, chile pepper strung together for drying but also used for decoration. They are along the same lines as the garlic braids that we see in our area that are both decorative and edible. We are looking forward to hanging our ristra in our Richmond kitchen as a reminder of New Mexico.

Hopefully before we leave I’m going to purchase a large back of dried New Mexico chile peppers especially for making enchilada sauce. One of the older women here in town is going to help me perfect the technique for making good sauce and teach me to make chile rellenos.

Enough about chile! From Hatch we headed west to Deming and the Rockhound State Park where we picnicked before hiking on one of the trails. The park is located on the western slope of the Little Florida Mountains and is popular among hikers and rock enthusiasts. People who visit can find a variety of rocks and minerals including agate, jasper, quartz crystals, thundereggs, and geodes. We did not know what many of these were but we did enjoy walking on the Jasper Trail and picking up a few rocks that appealed to us. You are able to take 15 pounds of rock per person. We came nowhere near our share! We may have collected 1-2 pounds at the most since we did not know what was what. Also, we did not go into some of the areas that the real rock enthusiasts frequent and where there are some of the more unique rocks and minerals. Mostly we enjoyed being out in nature, feeling the sun and the wind, and seeing the various desert plants, many of which were still beautiful to me even in January.

Before returning home we made a quick trip to Canyon Park, which is near Rockhound Park. We had been told that we might see some ibex there and that there had been about ten babies born within the last month or so. We were not fortunate enough to see any ibex, but that may be because we did not have time to go back along the trails there. We did take a self-portrait of the two of us in front of the Lover’s Leap sign (see new profile photo) and then headed back down the mountain.

All in all it was a great day. Good weather, interesting things to learn, lots of fresh air and exercise, and time to be together. I think this is why we came!

We’ve ended the day with dinner with one of Dan’s high school friends and his wife. We had spent some time with them last year so it was a renewal of old acquaintances for me in a way, too. I think we will sleep well tonight. Tomorrow it is supposed to get a little cooler so I’m glad that we had this full day outdoors today.