On the road again, we traveled east to Carrizozo then south for a month’s stay in Alamogordo. Here, the Sacramento Mountains dominate the town and tower 5000’ above, with Sierra Blanca, a 12,000’ peak in the distance.
This was my first station in the Air Force,
and for a boy from Cleveland,
Ohio this was an eye-opening
experience. The first (and only) time I
walked into a local bar wearing my high-collar shirt, tailor-made slacks and
wing-tip shoes, it was like a scene from an old western where the piano player
stops and everyone gets quiet….real quiet.
The next day I was shopping for jeans and boots.
Over the years Brenda and
I have visited here often and for a while considered making it our home, but
the limited housing, shopping, and medical facilities overruled that idea. But the Sacramento
Mountains will always be special; we’ve made many memories
exploring the historical sites and back roads.
The mountains here contain
both surprises and history. The town of Lincoln maintains the
appearance of the 1880s, and the courthouse where Billy the Kid shot two guards
and made his escape looks like it hasn’t aged a bit. The stairwell still has the bullet holes from
that day, and you can stand at the window and look down in the same spot that
Billy did when he shot the second deputy.
Although Lincoln
is on the other side of the mountains, it is worth the trip.
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| Historic Lincoln County Courthouse |
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| Bullet Holes in Stairway Wall |
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| Window from Where Billy the Kid Shot the Deputy Returning from Lunch |
Fort Stanton was built in 1855 to serve as a base of operations
against the Mescalero Apaches. Located
at 6200’ the fort has an extensive history and many of the buildings are still
in use today. In 1899 it was converted
to the country’s first federal tuberculosis sanatorium.
The surprise is the huge anchor sitting at
the entrance of the Fort cemetery.
Because of the altitude and low humidity, the fort was designated as the
Merchant Marine sanatorium for the Coast Guard, Navy, and Merchant
Marines. Today the fort stands mostly
intact with an informative visitor center.
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Fort Stanton Officer Quarters
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Fort Stanton Tuberculosis Patients
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There’s so much to see
here; Ruidoso and Cloudcroft are
small towns that are worth a visit. Sunspot solar observatory, now closed to the
public, has a large telescope that can be seen from Alamogordo.
The drive to Apache Ski area on the slopes of Sierra Blanca provide
great views of the area and White
Sands National
Monument in the distance.
Alamogordo hasn’t grown all that much since I was stationed
here in the late 60s, although the bars have become more
upscale. When my mother visited me back then, she said
she wanted to see a real cowboy bar, so I took her to Buck’s Buckaroo, complete
with sawdust on the floors, shuffleboard tables, and a bandstand surrounded by
chicken wire. After a while, my mother
had to visit the lady’s room, and when she returned her eyes were as big as dinner plates. When I asked what was
wrong, she said “Oh my God, there’s a CONDUM MACHINE IN THE WOMEN’S BATHROOM!” Remember, this was 1968, and for a woman from
Cleveland, Ohio this was scandalous!
There is so much to see here. In the little town of Capitan, you can visit the actual gravesite of Smokey the Bear. In nearby Three Rivers, there is an extensive area of petroglyphs and a historic chapel. A day trip can take you to Roswell and the International UFO Museum and Research Center and not far down the road is White Sands National Monument.
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| 3 Rivers Petroglphs |
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| Mescalero Chapel |
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| Really Authentic Alien Autopsy |
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| White Sands National Monument |
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| White Sands at Twilight |
We left Alamogordo
with a bit of sadness and traveled the short drive to Las
Cruces, the second-largest city in New Mexico.
It’s a great town, with plenty of shopping and activities. But our first stop whenever we visit is the
historic
village of Mesilla and La Posta de Mesilla, a historic restaurant that
began in 1939 in a building that was an 18th century stagecoach
station. I first visited here in 1968
while stationed at Alamogordo,
and we can’t visit the area without a trip here for the Chili Rellenos and
traditional pancake-style enchiladas.
In Alamogordo in the late 60s, enchiladas were almost always served pancake-style, usually with an over-easy egg on top. The difference is taste is amazing, and whenever I can find them, I order them with red chili and an egg on top.
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| La Posta |
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| Inside La Posta |
Hatch is well known as the
green chili capital of the world, and everything in this small town revolves
around the sale of green or red chili and chili products. Sparky’s is in the center of town, and we’ve
never visited without seeing a long line of hungry customers. Although they serve a variety of burgers and
sandwiches, the go-to menu item is the green chili cheeseburger, a 7oz burger
that is in a class by itself. If you’re
ever in the area, do yourself a favor and visit this place.
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| Red Chilies, Chilies, and More Chilies |
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| Sparky's - Home of the Best Green Chili Cheeseburger in the World! |
Next stop - Deming NM!
