NEW MEXICO STATE UNIVERSITY

Tuesday, January 24 cont. -- Our last visit on the chilly windy day was to take a driving tour of New Mexico State University and a stop at the Chile Pepper Institute. We always enjoy walking college campuses, but today it was just too cold. There are only a few roads that we were able to drive down to see some of the buildings. We always like to see if there is a theme to the college campuses we visit. We found one here. NMSU uses a Southwest theme for their buildings. Using an adobe style architectural look.

Administration building.

Also located on the NM State University campus on the second floor of the Gerald Thomas Hall, is the Chile Pepper Institute. The Institute is a research-based international nonprofit organization devoted to education, research and archiving information related to Capsicum, commonly called Chile peppers.

Located in a former classroom is the Institute and Chile Pepper Gift Shop. Chile peppers are the signature crop of New Mexico.

The Center has several educational displays, a plant display cart, many unique Chile pepper displays, several guides and the best books and posters on Chile peppers.

The student volunteer did an excellent job of explaining that during late summer (harvest time) there are more displays of the peppers and actual tasting opportunities.

A couple of Chile facts that we learned.
---One fresh green Chile pod has as much Vitamin C as six oranges.
---Hot Chile peppers burn calories by triggering a thermodynamic burn, which speeds up metabolism.
---Chile peppers are relatives of tomatoes, potatoes, and eggplants; all belonging to the nightshade family.
---There are 26 categorized species of Chile pepper, five of which are domesticated.

We ended the day with RV friends Pam and John, along with Jodee and Bill. We enjoyed an unusual “dinner out” at Farley’s.

L-R, John, Jodee, Bill, Paul, Marsha, Pam

We made an error in our last post. Zuhl Museum is located in Las Cruces not El Paso. Thanks Pam for catching that for us.

We are now in Yuma, AZ. Several more posts to come until we are caught up.

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

NEW MEXICO STATE UNIVERSITY: ZUHL MUSEUM

Tuesday, January 24 cont. – After our great visit to the Las Cruces Railroad Museum, our next stop was pretty amazing! The Zuhl Museum on the campus of New Mexico State University.

The Zuhl Collection contains over 1,800 beautiful specimens of petrified wood, fossils and minerals. It is interesting to see petrified samples from different areas of the country and how they differ in color and mineral content. Most of these samples are polished to a very high degree of gloss and are absolutely beautiful.

One tiny corner of this awesome museum.

Each piece has a number so that we can easily identify it. We couldn’t get over how old these pieces are. This collection is considered the finest collection of petrified wood on display in the country.

This piece is from AZ dated back 251-199 million years ago.

This piece is from Nevada dated back 23-5.3 million years ago.

This piece is from AZ dated back 251-199 million years ago.

The collection also boasts many awe-inspiring fossils. Pieces from every time period from the stunning Banded Iron Formation (3 billion years old) to an entire nest of Oviraptor dinosaur eggs (65-70 million years old). Not to be left out are the breathtaking minerals in the collection.

Petrified Crab.

Trilobites were common invertebrate animals that lived in the Paleozoic seas. They were among the first animals to have legs and eyes.

One dinosaur vertebrae.

Clear Quartz found in Arkansas. Age: 180-200 million years old.

Amethyst.

What an awesome museum. Don’t miss this gem when visiting El Paso.

We are way behind in posting. We have been boondocking the last four days near Maricopa, AZ.  We are headed for Yuma on Wednesday.

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

LAS CRUCES RAILROAD MUSEUM

Tuesday, January 24 – We remain in Las Cruces, NM, at Coachlight RV. Another windy day here. We are going to start referring to this season of the year as Wind-ter! The weather again put a crimp on our sightseeing plans. We reverted to auto-touring rather than walking during our sightseeing.
(Click on any photo to enlarge it.)

Our first stop today was at the Las Cruces Railroad Museum.

It is housed in the historic 1910, Santa Fe Depot. There are dozens of historic photographs and 100's of exhibits.

The lobby with the original bench.

The ticket window with a very excited customer.

The Agent’s bay.

The Fred Harvey Newsstand.

Items associated with the railroad.

One of our most enjoyable displays was the model layouts. There is a huge RR layout of Las Cruces as it appeared in the early 1900's, and two other enjoyable RR layouts. These are “hands-on” layouts that visitors can control. Fun!

One of the interactive control panels.

Las Cruces in the early 1900’s.

There are 100’s of minute details included in the displays. We were able to control this dump truck. It was crazy.

Train coming through the mountain opening.

The train flying by.

What a great…did we mention…free museum. If you are visiting Las Cruces, don’t miss the Las Cruces Railroad Museum.

Just a reminder that we are a little behind in posting. We are currently in Casa Grande, AZ.

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