RV Lifestyle Mesilla Valley Bosque State Park is a beautiful nature refuge 2.4 kilometres from historic Mesilla. Located along the banks of the Rio Grande, Mesilla Valley Bosque contains about 900 acres of wetlands and part of the Chihuahua Desert, with an education building for nature study. The visitor centre houses interpretive exhibits and classrooms and an outdoor amphitheatre, with a native plant garden. Visitors have an opportunity to view wildlife in natural surroundings while strolling one of the self-guided nature trails. Mesilla Valley Bosque is an Audubondesignated IBA (Important Birding Area). The Don Juan de Onate Trail invites today’s travellers to follow in the hoofprints of the Spanish conquistador and his band of 400 colonizers in 1598, as they journeyed from New Spain (Mexico) north to find the fabled Cities of Gold in what is now northern New Mexico. The drive along the trail (Highway 28) is one of the Las Cruces area’s most scenic routes, crossing and flanking the Rio Grande from El Paso to historic Old Mesilla. The rural two-lane road then passes fields of corn, chili and cotton on its way through several small villages, including San Miguel. Further south, slip beneath a canopy of pecan trees that mark the world’s largest, familyowned pecan orchard − Stahmann Farms. Further down the trail sits the community of La Mesa, home to a National Register of Historic Places property − Chope’s Café and Bar. Military buffs will enjoy touring the White Sands Missile Range Museum, located about 35 kilometres northeast of Las Cruces. Featuring more than 50 different missiles and rockets tested at the top secret facility over the years, the museum is open Monday through Saturday. Admission is free. Nestled under the sharp landscape of the Organ Mountains to the east, the Mesilla Valley is situated along the banks of the Rio Grande River, where some of the nation’s spiciest and scrumptious chilis are grown some 50 kilometres north of Las Cruces in the town of Hatch, which calls itself the Chili Capital of the World. The Hatch Valley Chili Festival takes place in early September and visitors can taste delicacies that range from hot to scalding to molten lava. For a fun souvenir, pick up chili ristras which are rumoured to bring extra good health when hung outside of a house − or RV. Las Cruces is home to some of the largest dairy farms in America, where they’re milking thousands of cows twice a day. If agriculture is of interest to you, be sure to check out the New Mexico Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum which offers a glimpse into the 3,000-year-old agricultural history, heritage and science of New Mexico. The 19-hectare site consists of 2,230 square metres of exhibit space, including a working farmwhere people can see cows being milked and a blacksmith tending to his duties. 24 | www.snowbirds.org
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