The Grand Tour, Part 3

Day 3 -

 

We packed up early and headed out to play tourist do some exploring with Abigail's grandma.

 

 

 

El Paso...and Mexico off in the distance.  (About the middle of the picture, you can see a difference in the buildings.  That would be where the border lies.)

 

 

??!

 

- - -

 

We walked around the little town of Mesilla, New Mexico.

 

 

Painted window shutters are my one weakness.

 

It was such fun to poke around in all the little shops and soak up the charm of New Mexico.

 

There were shelves stocked with just about every kind of chile pepper product you can imagine.

 

Corn necklaces?  Hmm...

 

The detail of the stonework on those earrings was astonishing.  (So were the prices.  But I wasn't expecting to buy anything there, so it was just fun to browse.)

 

 

Abigail's grandma treated us to lunch at this Mexican restaurant.

 

Yes.  They had a tank of piranhas.

 

- - -

 

After lunch, the three of us girls headed to our next stop: a ghost town called Chloride.

 

Hey, I didn't name it.

 

Truth or Consequences - another oddly named town we encountered along the way.

 

Such a pretty little valley, isn't it?

 

Left turn for Chloride!

 

Almost there...

 

We've arrived.

 

I must admit it wasn't exactly what I was expecting for a ghost town, but it was so, so cool.  I only took about a zillion pictures.

 

The original buildings had been somewhat restored and are now used as a museum.

 

As far as we know, this cabin was built by Abigail's I-don't-remember-how-many-greats-grandfather.

 

Take a look inside -

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of two saloons Chloride had back in the day.

 

 

This building had been converted to a shop for local artisans to sell their wares.  Many of the props used for the displays (like the oven, the dresser, and the baby carriage) were left in the town.

 

 

 

See the lizard?

Cool, huh?

And you haven't even seen the General Store.  Most of the town's residents had left by 1923, so the store owners boarded the place up - with all the merchandise still inside.  It was left untouched (except by rats, bats, and the like) until 1979.  Our tour guide told us about 90% of what we saw was original merchandise of the store, and the remaining 10% was found somewhere in the town - like records, receipts, and newspapers.

We'll do that tomorrow.  (And it will be a long post.  You have been warned.)