Posted on by Randy

Alamogordo/White Sands, New Mexico: Part 2

Let me start out with the fact that Alamogordo/White Sands, New Mexico is a small town of 30,000 people located in the Tularosa Basin of the Chihuahuan Desert. Some people have asked, why are we staying 12 days in such a small town. Well, we love exploring small towns and living like the locals. Plus we get to see if this could be a place to settle down one of these days.

Our Observations

The advantages are some great desert weather (warm days and cool nights), very low humidity, a number of things to do, a low crime rate, and it seems to be geared toward their large population of retirees who make this home. I believe that many of the retirees are due to the military and government facilities nearby. When they retire from one of the bases, they stay in the area.

The town is bordered on the east by the Sacramento Mountains and to the west by Holloman Air Force Base. Alamogordo is known for its connection with the Trinity test, the first explosion of an atomic bomb and the White Sands National Monument. It also includes an Army Missile testing base and some other large government facilities that I never found out what it was. Hmmm.

The very low humidity is something that we have never really lived in. At 10% humidity, the bathroom mirror doesn’t fog up much when showering. And my skin is dry even out in 85 degree weather. Much different than the east coast humidity we experienced last year.

Alamogordo also has both an Elks and Moose lodge that are both good sized. Unusual for a small town. We dropped into both to check them out. Probably due to all the area retirees.

Alamogordo History

From Wikipedia: Humans have lived in the Alamogordo area for at least 11,000 years. The present settlement, established in 1898 to support the construction of the El Paso and Northeastern Railroad, is an early example of a planned community. The city was incorporated in 1912. Tourism became an important economic factor with the creation of White Sands National Monument in 1934. During the 1950-60s, Alamogordo was an unofficial center for research on pilot safety and the developing United States’ space program.

Pistachio Farm Tour

This place was a little nutty. 🙂 McGinn’s Pistachio Land. It was interesting to learn about these nuts and the trees. Here is a recap in a nutshell. The farm buys their trees from a mega farm in California already pre-grafted. The pistachio tree is grafted to the top of a very hardy “oak type” of tree. They have a 92% survival rate. Insects would destroy a pistachio tree planted directly in the soil.

This is a large farm, but only produces a small percentage of the US nut crop. Most comes from CA. Since this is desert climate, the trees must be watered, but only once per month. About the time of harvest, they will overwater the trees causing the shell to crack open like you see in the store. Now you know.

  • World’s largest pistachio!

Space Museum

The state of New Mexico played a large role in the development of the US space program. From early missile testing to an alternate landing site for the space shuttle at White Sands. LINK to their website.

See the next photo of this F-1.
Trish sitting by the F-1 engine. Five of these were used in the Saturn V rocket. The most powerful rocket ever developed.
Beam me up Scotty! Yeah, the space museum had a Star Trek section.
Pat on the moon! Oops, forgot to close her helmet. At least they still have the USA flag flying!

Alamogordo History Museum

Who remembers when the milkman delivered milk in glass bottles into these metal boxes on the front porch? Yep, I can back in Terre Haute, Indiana in the early 60’s.

Si Senor Restaurant

This is my red chile pork enchilada. Delicious! The waitress asked if I wanted a fried egg on top as per the local custom. Sure, why not! After I ordered the guy at next table agreed with the egg addition. That
And they had some good margaritas too.

Inn of the Mountain Gods Resort & Ruidoso NM

We made this hour drive back up the mountain to Ruidoso and we were very glad we did. They have a beautiful resort (LINK) with casino and the downtown had many shops and restaurants.

View from the resort looking out over lake.
Pat outside by the entrance.
  • They also had a Chevy version for those so inclined.
  • This lady was busy painting the mural.
  • My little “angel”

White Sands National Monument

The monument is situated at an elevation of 4,235 feet in the mountain-ringed Tularosa Basin and comprises the southern part of a 275 sq mi field of white sand dunes composed of gypsum crystals.

This is out by the visitors center.
On the drive in. Just beginning to see the white drifts.

It looks almost like a florida panhandle beach except these dunes are 100 feet tall and there is no water around! Most beach sand is made of quartz, but this is gypsum that is cool to the touch and extremely fine. It gets embedded into your shoes.

  • Those are kids up there with sleds.
  • More kids sledding down.
That’s me up there!
  • One section had this nice boardwalk.
  • Desert roses?

That’s all for now. Our stay in Alamogordo was very nice. A good mix of relaxing and sightseeing. Our next stop is northbound to Albuquerque for two days then north again to Santa Fe New Mexico.

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8 Replies to “Alamogordo/White Sands, New Mexico: Part 2”

  1. Thank you so much for the history lesson plus what’s to know about the pistachio nut which I love.

    Reply

  2. Great pictures and information. We need to explore NM. So far NM has always been a state to drive through on my way someplace else.

    Thanks for expanding my interest.

    Robert

    Reply

    1. We have been pleasantly surprised by all the history and interesting places in NM. You guys need to take some extra days on the next drive through.

      Reply

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