The NEW Mexicans

Moving to Las Cruces has presented a number of challenges. For one, an accurate description of our new city would be a combination of North Las Vegas and Barstow, CA. Yikes. Working within that proves difficult in terms of finding acceptable housing. As much as I like to think that my life has been spent surpressing my inner ghetto, Las Cruces has shown me that when it comes down to it I am afraid to live near people who park cars in their yards, or find entertainment by sitting on the sidewalk in lawn chairs drinking beer. On the other hand, there are a few neighborhoods in town that seem very nice and clean, but are reserved for people who can pay a lot more then we can each month. And not a whole lot in between. Where do two thrifty working professionals fit in? White Sands National Monument is not a bad place for us to start, come to find out:

With no place to call home, we decided to go explore the areas around this city. It was also a good reason to take a break from what was quickly becoming a rather unpleasant and discouraging situation. First White Sands, then on to Carlsbad where we saw a spectacular sunset and our first New Mexican golden eagle:

From there we seized our momentum and carried right on into the Guadalupe mountains in Texas. Being both very liberal, this was a daring move, but we're very brave:

Two brave hikers with El Capitan (the mountain) in the background.

The above picture was not meant to seem flattering; we've been homeless for over a week and we look it. The Visitors Center was one of the best I've seen, for its simplicity they sure packed a lot in. Having worked in a National Park I know that those displays can take actual decades to put together, but this one was full of useful and interesting information with gorgeous specimen. It's worth a stop if ever you're in Texas. 

After poking around the Guadalupes on foot, we took to it by truck. It was a splendid drive with barely a soul around other than us. Besides a few roads, these mountains have barely been touched by man. It was really incredible to view nothing but natural land as far as the eye could see:

An odd little city in Texas greeted us when we made it out of the mountain range. We decided to stop at the only restaurant we saw, but were told that they were closed upon walking in. Fair enough, but please make note of the three 'open' signs in the window:

Our last stop in the trip was a long night spent in El Paso. If ever there was a city that would make us desire the peculiar ways of Las Cruces, we found it in El Paso. By the next morning we couldn't wait to get back here. Hopefully by tomorrow we can stop living in hotels and finally have a place to ourselves, but if not, at least we have fresh memories of fun places to go nearby, and the smug satisfaction of living anywhere other than El Paso.