So send me a letter

This year, my company gave the employees the day after Thanksgiving off, so, with four days in a row, I decided to take a mini vacation with my Mom. We planned to go letter-boxing down in Las Cruces and then over to Tucson. That is the answer to my Sunday Stills Potluck photos. Thursday, we had a wonderful turkey dinner with family and then on Friday, while everyone was out shopping at the crack of dawn, my mom and I loaded up the car and the two small dogs (Buddha and her pug) and began driving west and south.

Here's Buddha ready for the trip

 and my mom with the letter boxing clues.

First stop was Truth or Consequences where we attempted to find two letterboxes at the Veteran's Memorial Park. This is where the neat looking water tower in the Potluck photos was.

The park was nice, with a miniature Wall of Tears and the reflective Columbarium (Potluck photo) but, alas, I couldn't find either of the two letter boxes. Here's inside the museum. Of course, the letterboxing wasn't helped by the fact that the curator was sitting inside and looking out the window the whole time. I wondered if they had discovered it and removed it. Or maybe, I'm just a terrible letterboxer.

 This was a really neat design on the wall in the museum. It's quite similar to my Pegasus logo and I might even consider something like it for a tattoo someday although I think I'd stick with only four legs on the horse. ;)

 Here's the Columbarium. This was where I took another of the Potluck photos.

 They also had several over sized figures like this eagle and the statue of liberty.

 Here's a section of the Wall That Heals.

It was a very moving display.

Here's some more of Hatch. Notice the very large cowboy boot to the right? It was also used for a Potluck photo.

Here is a chile ristra that I thought was quite decorative. These are green chiles that are hung up to dry out. As they ripen they turn red or yellow, as in this case. Later, when you want to use some for cooking you just pull them off the string, soak with a little water or oil to soften and use in recipes calling for red chile. Here are some sample recipes.

Looking for letterboxes was stressing us out so much that we decided to just bag the boxes and go on with our road trip. We drove on to Hatch next and had lunch at Sparkys. See previous post. I think the town collects oversized figures. I stopped at an RV place to take pictures of their collection of outdoor figures like the tiger from the Potluck photos and they showed me more in their showroom.

Then I noticed across the street that there was a propane powered rocket waiting for liftoff!

How about this little Piggy all dressed and ready for market?

I think this "little" girl is part of the A & W Root Beer family.

 

Anyone know who Harbie is? I googled, and he was Harbie the Harbor Seal, the mascot of Harbor Gasoline, a chain of gas stations in Los Angeles and Orange County. This guy was in great shape!

I didn't recognize this All American Hot Dog either but I thought he was pretty cool. He even has a dinosaur or a Geico lizard or something? on his back. lol.

Yee Haw!!!

There was even an antique slot machine.

Oh, and since they were selling RV's I gotta show you one of my favorites.

And check out this classic car!

More to come...

So send me a letter - song: Tumble and Twirl, artist: David Bowie, album: Tonight

Came to Hatch

My mom and I recently had lunch in the town of Hatch, New Mexico, especially famous for their green chile products. 

The sign says it all so we parked our car.

It was an amazing place because of all the statues. Here's where I took my Col. Sanders and Ronnie McDee photos. You can just see Ronald's yellow clown suit around the corner.

The inside was just as amazing.

Even the bathroom was decorated with sign art.

 I loved all the old posters and stuff.

 Check out this old time shake maker on the counter.

They even had giant ladybugs on the ceiling.

Here's a cute couple. 

Funny thing though, even though Hatch is famous for green chili, we wanted BarBQue rather than green chile cheeseburgers. We shared a combo plate and I have to say, it tasted great! Alas, I forgot to take a picture. lol. Here's their famous giant pink pig as you enter town.

Wish you could have been there with us.

Came to Hatch - song: Goodbye Mr. Ed, artist: Tin Machine featuring David Bowie, album: Tin Machine II