Alamogordo Space Museum, local wineries etc.

Yep, two posts in one day!  Just about catches me up before heading on to another state park with no internet;)

We found and tasted at 4 wineries in the Alamogordo area:

 This historic inn and restaurant is in Cloudcroft a few miles up the hill from here

 The space museum was interesting and we watched an IMAX movie on the Hubble. Very cool!

We drove out to White Sands NM a few nights ago to do a sunset stroll with a park ranger:

 Had a beer in this place up in the mountain village of Ruidoso

Fort Bayard, Silver City, NM

We leave Alamogordo tomorrow for Brantley State Park where we will be staying for a couple of days so we can check out Carlsbad Caverns.  Once again we may not have internet at the state park so I am going to be behind for a while with my posts!  Here is more of what we saw while we were in City of Rocks SP:

Fort Bayard Historical Landmark located near Silver City was very interesting as it started out as a fort then became an army hospital and finally a VA hospital before being abandonded 40 years ago.  They still give tours around the facility occasionally but don't use the buildings anymore which stand empty now.  We enjoyed a good walk around while stopping to read the story boards here and there.

Silver City has one of those wonderful, eclectic, colorful historical downtown areas with little art galleries and a brewery:)

Silver City Museum

Toad Creek Brewery

I love checking out the architecture

Luna Mimbres Museum, Deming, NM

We went to this museum when we went to Deming for a day last week.  Seems like most towns of any size have a museum and I love them because they help preserve the history of the area and give an insight to the people there.

This museum in Deming was that and more, much more!  They have an outstanding Mimbres pottery collection and rooms and rooms of local history as well as several private collections that have been donated to the museum over the years.   We spent hours there and it was easy and very enjoyable:

I love the bold geometric patterns and the animals in these bowls.  Note that most of the bowls have a hole in them.  These were bowls used in burials and the hole was made to allow the spirit to escape.

huge geode collection

this cart was used by a local for many years 

a bell collection