Day 24: Exploring Las Cruces—Part 2 (1/29/22)

Every Saturday morning brings a craft and produce fair to downtown Las Cruces, so we went exploring. It was wonderful. The fair ropes off three blocks of the main thoroughfare and fills it with craft stalls (pottery, clothes, jewelry, painting, purses, photography, and more), produce stalls (especially fresh pecans from the harvests around town), food trucks, and musicians. 




After lunch Don, Phil, and I took a hike up in the Organ Moutains to the abandoned site of a turn-of-the-century resort and TB sanatorium. Here’s a view of the Organ Mountains (they’re fluted, like a pipe organ) from the Lappinga’s driveway:


It’s just a 20-minute drive up to the Dripping Springs trailhead, and a pleasant, slightly uphill path to the ruins—about two hours’ round-trip hike. Lovely scenery:






The ruins were evocative of an earlier time, when transport was by horse and buggy, and the social elite flocked to Old Van Patten’s mountain resort for health and merriment.


We could almost hear faint echoes of laughter and music from the old wood structures and stone walls remaining.




That evening we celebrated with a steak dinner, supplemented with Jean’s amazing roast potatoes and summer squash—after which, we were treated to a one-man concert: our very own Don Lappinga on guitar. 


A lovely end to a wonderful day.





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