Gate Header III

Here is one made from the telephone poles like I mentioned that you see around.

K-A

Al-O-Mar

Who hasn't eaten here?  They do have a great green chile burger!  This is an old fashioned drive in.  You just sit outside and eat in your car!

Tularosa Biker

This gentleman is named Al Lopez and he rides his bicycles out by Tularosa every weekend.  He rides in the same pull out from the highway, by the historical marker.  He was kind enough to let me take photos of him today.

He has several of these bicycles in different colors.  I have seen him riding for years now and finally stopped to chat.  While I was taking photos, I noticed all of the locals waving at him and no less than six truckers honked hello.

It is 55 degrees today and Al certainly added some sunshine to my day!

Tulie Creek

I took a drive up to a place on Tulie creek today. The creek runs year round and is an oasis in the desert that is not visible from the road.

It is north of the highway and flows from the mountains. The spot I was at had this great flat area that is perfect for sitting up a chair and watching the water. It is low right now because we haven't had any rain, but it is quiet and serene here at the waters edge.

St. Francis de Paula Mission

This Mission sits in the middle of the village and was built in 1865 to commerate the battle of Round Mountain where the settlers were fighting with the Apaches. It is one of twenty two missions built around that time scattered throughout California, Arizona and here established under Fr. Junipero Serra.

The front walkways are a riot of color right now with the blooming along both sides leading to the church.

The day was perfect and the brilliant blue sky looked the same as I imagine it did a hundred years ago when the church was younger.

Christmas time is the time that the church gets alot of attention, the village goes all out with luminarias and the church glows from every angle.

Tularosa Vineyards

I knew it was getting close to harvest season on grapes. I wandered out to Tularosa Vineyards yesterday to talk to the owners, Dave and Chris Wickham.

Their vineyards and winery is located just north of Tularosa on the way to Carrizozo.

They have been making wine for twenty years in this area and are the best known of the local vintners. New Mexico has over 400 years of wine making history that dates back to the Conquistadors. The monks started planting and growing their own grapes to have wine because it was too hard to get shipments from Spain. The long hot days and high altitude make for concentrated flavor in the grapes. We really have ideal conditions for vineyards.

Tularosa Vineyards has several medals and ribbons for their varietals as well as their blends. Proprietors Red, Gewurztraminer, Cabernet and many others.

I hit the jackpot and they had just started the harvest that very day! These are Riesling grapes, usually the earliest to mature. Tularosa Vineyards harvests and buys grapes from other vineyards in the area that are smaller. There are quite a few people in the area with a few acres of vines.

The large bins are dumped into this beast to be juiced and the stems extracted.

Fresh grape juice!!!! From here it goes into the fermentation tanks and continues it's journey into wine.

Farmers Market

Every Saturday morning in the summer we have the farmers market. There is also one at the fairgrounds in Alamogordo. This one in Tularosa has been here for about 5 years now. It is a bit early in the season still, but there is plenty of produce already available. Mostly tomatos, peaches, zucchini, mint, arugula, carizo, lavender, and garlic. I am anxiously awaiting melons darn it! It is a nice way to start the day and I walked away with a large bunch of lavender to keep in my car. With the heat the way it is, it will be better than any store bought air freshener!

Tularosa

I took a couple of photos in Tularosa, a town about 15 miles from Alamogordo. The first one is of a fantastic stone carving called Bear Feather. The second is of the old grocery store, the pictures painted on the side recall another time for sure. The third is of the old Tularosa school. It stands alone while locals try and raise money to turn it into a library. It is a great building, and would be such a fantastic home for a library. I wish them all the best. It is not good to sit empty when it needs the sound of children.

Virgin Gate

No, not like Watergate... I have a thing for fences, gates, bottles and rustic art in general. I love discovering a nicho or some sort of artistic expression that someone created. They took the time to make it beautiful. I took the first two in Tularosa. I call them the Virgin Gate and the Bottle fence.. The bottle tree is in La Luz.