WHITE SANDS MISSILE RANGE MUSEUM

Monday, January 23 – We headed out of the Coachlight Hotel & RV campground in Las Cruses, NM, and picked-up NM-70 to travel up and over the San Augustin Mountains. Our first destination was the White Sands Missile Range Museum (WSMR). Paul visited this site over 50 years ago and was interested to see how it changed. At that time, back in 1964, it wasn't much more that a half dozen missiles displayed at the side of the road.

In 1994, the WSMR was established as a place to collect, preserve and exhibit artifacts and other materials relating to the history of White Sands Missile Range. The White Sands Missile Range is an active Army installation. Security measures are in place requiring a valid photo Identification for one to walk through the gate to the museum. We waited in line 45 minutes to get approved along with maintenance workers, truck delivery people, traveling nurses, and even enlisted men.

The museum complex includes a building housing a restored V-2 German rocket and displays relating to early work with missile development and research.

V-2 Rocket.

WAC Corporal Rocket was the first rocket fired at White Sands in Oct. 1945 from a tower at Launch Complex 33. The rocket was designed to carry a 25-pound package of meteorological instruments to an altitude of 25 miles.

One-third scale model Model of the first atomic bomb detonated at the Trinity Site.

There is even a tribute to the dogs that helped locate fallen missile parts.

There are tons of displays in the Museum. All are very well described and nicely displayed.

The outdoor missile park contains examples of the rockets and missiles tested on the range. There are nearly 100 rockets and missiles in the park including Pershing II, Patriot, and many nuclear payload rockets. You can read all about them here. Here are just a few.

Pershing II is a two-stage, surface-to-surface missile sometimes credited with helping to win the Cold War.

The Patriot was designed to defend against high performance air-breathing targets. Each launcher can carry four missiles which are protected in their shipping containers. The missiles are launched out of their containers.

The Army Tactical Missile System (Army TACMS) was designed for deep attack. When reaching the target area the missile would dispense its submuntions. 

The Patriot is the front, brown rocket. TACMS is red-tipped rocket.

Athena is a multi-stage research missile was used to simulate the trajectories of intercontinental missiles. Paul looks like a midget next to it.

Mace is large missile about the same size and weight of a small jet fighter. It was capable of carrying a conventional or nuclear warhead.

We had a wonderful time at the Museum and wondering around the missile park. Paul even thinks he found the missile he photographed over 50 years ago. Another interesting stop we would recommend to those traveling to the White Sands National Monument.

This was just our first stop for the day. Tell you about the rest in the next post.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y’all back real soon. Have a great day!

MOVING ON TO LAS CRUCES, NM

Sunday, January 22 – With crappy weather in El Paso, we decided to leave a day early and head to Las Cruces.

We are staying at Coachlight Inn & RV. We think this is a pretty good campground. Wide, gravel, full hook-up sites with a picnic table and a little landscape island between sights. It is a Passport America sight, so we are staying for $18/night. Very nice location to boot!

Looking right.

Looking left.

After getting set-up we headed into Old Mesilla to do some sightseeing and to enjoy several of the many wineries and craft breweries. These small towns have certainly discovered the financial opportunities of mini-breweries and wineries. There were many more opportunities to enjoy an adult beverage than any other store in town so that is where we left our tourist dollars. We went to several wineries for tasting and did buy a couple of bottles of wine.

The Heart of the Desert had free wine tasting…works for us. For the first time, we tasted a wine using pistachios. It was delicious. Yes, we made a couple of purchases here for our wine tasting party this summer.

Double Eagle, known as The Crown Jewel of Historic Old Mesilla, is known for their menu of 50 margaritas recipes. The interior is gorgeous. Marsha had the Award Winner Margarita, and Paul the Traditional Margarita. Both were delicious.

Beautiful sitting room.

Dining area.

Our last stop in Old Mesilla was at the New Mexico Vintage Wines. What a nice place. Marsha tasted several wines. Paul wanted to try the craft beers. All our tastes were excellent.

They had a great patio with a gentleman playing and singing. Notice the blankets on all the stone benches. What an excellent idea.

We then stopped at the Spotted Dog Brewery and enjoyed talking to several local couples about life in Las Cruces and sightseeing in the area. Another nice place to do some tasting.

Our first day in Las Cruces was a good one. Please don’t get the wrong idea about Old Mesilla. It isn’t just a town for drinking. We will show you the small town in another post. We look forward to the next three days of sightseeing.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y’all back real soon. Have a great day!

MORE SIGHTSEEING IN EL PASO, TX

Saturday, January 21 – It is rainy, windy, and pretty chilly here in El Paso, Texas. Winds on our weather station were registering 26 mph with gusts of 38 mph. Coupled with the rain and low temperatures, it wasn't the greatest day for sightseeing. Regardless, we have things to do and places to see! (click on any photo to enlarge it)

Our first visit this morning was the Chamizal National Memorial.

The Memorial celebrates the peaceful settlement of a dispute over the international boundary at El Paso, Texas and Cidad Juarez, Mexico. After decades of arguing about who owned a piece of land shaped and reshaped by the meandering Rio Grande river, the question was finally settled by diplomacy and technology. The river was diverted to a concrete channel for four and a half miles, forming a permanent border between the two nations.

We took this photo from the scenic road in El Paso.

The Memorial Visitor's Center is small and takes less than 30 minutes to tour. We started with a short video and then walked through the displays (mostly photograph) reading about the disputed land and how it was settled peacefully. We really enjoyed the Memorial and would recommend it to our traveling friends. The Department of Transportation did an excellent job with this museum.

Marking the boundary required the surveyors to locate points dictated by the Treaty. Without modern technology, they verified longitude and latitude from the moon and star positions.

The Bridge of the Americas was built between El Paso of the The United States and Cidad Juarez, Mexico. So busy is the port of entry, the two cities feel more like one metropolis.

Next up was the El Paso Mission Trail tour. The tour consists of three missions – Ysleta Mission, Socorro Mission, and San Elizario Chapel. We stopped at the Trail Visitor's Center. Even though the Internet said they were open on Saturdays, the sign on the door indicated it was closed on weekends.

The first chapel we visited, the Mission Ysleta, was also closed due to reconstruction. The gentleman in the lobby said the remodeling was complete, but they were having difficulty getting an occupancy certificate from the city. We took pictures outside and headed to the Socorro Mission.

The Mission Socorro was open, and we found it quite beautiful. Paul especially found the ceiling interesting and very attractive. Old timbers with a “reed” style covering. The flooring also caught his eye as unique. Adobe pavers cover the entire floor of the church. Marsha enjoyed the religious statues, and the beautiful alter and side alters. We enjoyed this Mission immensely.

Gorgeous ceiling.

The third and final mission was the San Elizario Chapel. Unfortunately, we found it closed due to reconstruction. Again, we took exterior photos and moved on. Not a great tour with two out of three missions closed, but hopefully the construction will result in a wonderful tour in the future.

We did enjoy an interesting stop on the way back to the Sunland Park Racetrack & Casino. We pulled into the Licon Dairy. Having served the community for over 50 years offering freshly made “Azadero” cheese. A thin six-inch disk of soft, mild, string-type Mexican cheese, with or without jalapenos. There is also a free petting zoo and fishing pond, but with the wind and rain we chose not to visit that area. We purchased an Azadero cheese with jalapeno peppers. Delicious.

Of course, no visit to El Paso is complete without a photo or two of “the wall.” We had to get some photos taken before the huge, beautiful wall is built.

It is the black wall along the road.

Looking from El Paso to Mexico, the big red X is visible every where. The 20-story tall sculpture in the shape of a giant "X" is a symbol full of meanings; a mark to welcome people (to Mexico) and to demonstrate the ancestral Mexican culture.

We really enjoyed our few days sightseeing in El Paso, although if the weather was nicer we would have stayed longer. We do recommend a stop in this city full of culture.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y’all back real soon. Have a great day.