We started the day by traveling to the small town of Montezuma to see the Montezuma Castle, built in the 1880s by the Santa Fe Railroad as a retreat. It's now the Armand Hammer United World College. The college is closed to the public, but we were there on the edge of it, and it appears to be populated by mostly foreign students. On the edge of the property, and open to the public, are hot springs. We stuck our feet in (they're really hot), and talked to the locals soaking in them.
Then we drove to the Salman Ranch in the historic town of La Cueva to buy some raspberries. La Cueva was founded in the 1830s. By 1850 La Cueva was a major shipping center for livestock and agricultural products, but that pretty much ended by the late 1880s. In 1942 the area was bought by Col William Salman, who restored some of the original adobe buildings, The town is now basically a raspberry farm. We went into the store to buy some raspberries and found the lady operating the store to be the most unfriendly people we've met on this trip. Probably the only unfriendly person we've met. She just would not allow herself to be drawn into conversation by any of her customers. Small-talk questions like , "Does it snow much here?" were met by "No." People like that shouldn't work with the public.
We spent the rest of the day exploring historic oldtown Las Vegas. The town was built in the 1850s and is full of the beautiful buildings that were built in the southwest of the time. It was very successful until the Great Depression killed it. It's still attractive, but half of the stores are empty, and a lot of the others seem to be closed much of the time. It's sad. Last year Michael and I took a road trip along the Mississippi River and encountered small towns just like Las Vegas -- barely holding on.
Nevertheless, it was fun wandering around the town, We went into a store selling western wear and it was stocked with thousands of cowboy boots and jeans, plus coats and shirts, and belts. Though we were the only "customers," the owner said he'd been there for 50 years and had customers from all over the southwest.
The picture accompanying this blog served as the jail in "Easy Rider."
As I write this listening to Romney's acceptance speech, I'm reminded that one of the best things about this trip is not having to read and listen to many campaign ads.
Tomorrow, on towards Amarillo, Texas, and parts east.
No comments:
Post a Comment