Las Cruces, NM Oct 27 - 29 and 31st

   We arrived in Las Cruces at Jan's house in Las Cruces and we stayed for 5 nights. I am dividing the blog into two parts: highlights of our stay in Las Cruces and a separate one for our visit to Bosque del Apache Wildlife Reserve. later.)

    Highlights of Las Cruces:
  We had wonderful meals at Jan's house: green chile stew, mushroom quiche, a salmon recipe to which we all contributed with beets, red peppers, walnuts and a special sauce, fruit salads, egg dishes, and a spicy avocado appetizer, a specialty of Jan's. We also experimented with one of the new non-meat burgers which taste like hamburger and all of us pronounced it more than acceptable.
   We went to Sprouts Market every day but one. Mark got his much-wanted fresh dates and we also got ingredients to make various green chile dishes when we get home.
   We also had wonderful meals at restaurants. We ate at Josephina's in Mesilla where Jan had stuffed avocados, Mark had enchiladas, and Barbara had a New Mexican salad.
  We ate at The Shed in Las Cruces where we had eaten before, and it did not disappoint. Jan had breakfast enchiladas, Barbara had calabasitas (vegetables, green chiles - totally delicious) and Mark had delicious green chile enchiladas. We feel quite addicted to New Mexico's Hatch green chiles, which, surprisingly can vary greatly in their heat despite being the same type of chile.
   We also bought a ristra to take home - a braid of red chiles to dry. We will drive home with it and hope it survives. It should be ground into powder in about 2 weeks.
    We all did quite a lot of bird watching in Jan's garden. We saw two types of quail, lesser goldfinches, a rock wren, white-winged doves and Western Cardinals (they have another name that I will look up

      We spent a day in Mesilla which has very interesting history and is well worth a visit. (Add more)
      We went to the Zuhl Museum on the campus of NMSU. The Zuhls had a business around fossils and petrified wood which they cut and polished, and, in fact, perfected the art of cutting and polishing. After retiring, they created the Zuhl Museum where some of their best pieces are exhibited. It was enlightening and beautiful.
    But, mostly we visited, talked, laughed and talked some more. It will be sad to leave as we so enjoy Jan, but she's so far away.