Friday May 31
Today, in an attempt to beat the heat, we booked a round of golf high up in
the hills east of Alamogordo in a mountain town called Cloudcroft. We had a
9:45 tee time and Cloudcroft was a 45 minute drive, so we woke up earlyish and
headed for the hills. It was fun driving up to Cloudcroft and watch the landscape
transform from desert to alpine forest by simply driving a few miles up a long
hill. The town is at 9,000 feet ASL and has a real mountain town vibe and charm
all of it’s own. The golf course is nine holes and was at one time the highest
golf course in the USA until it was surpassed by a few other courses in
Colorado. There were very few golfers out, so we mostly had the place to
ourselves. It was a great round and we really appreciated the change of air
from the desert 5,000 feet below us.
After golf we drove into the village and went for our customary coffee then
walked the main street browsing though a nice selection of stores. I splurged
on a new pair of flip-flops and Lydia almost bought a floppy hat… but it wasn’t
her colour.
With all that shopping out of our system, we drove back down the big hill
(17 km) to Alamogordo and went to the Pistachio Ranch, home to 105 acres of
pistachio trees and a nice store. They also grow grapes and make wine, but we
were there for the nuts and to see what a pistachio tree looked like.
Our final stop of the day was the Space Museum in Alamogordo. With White
Sands Missile Range, proximity to the location where the first atomic bomb was
detonated, and home of Holloman Airforce Base, a space museum did not seem out
of place. The facility is modern and is full of some very good displays of all
things space related including a few exhibits devoted to movies related to
space and science fiction (Star Wars, Star Trek, etc). We really enjoyed our
visit and even took in an IMAX film of how astronauts trained for missions in a
huge underwater space simulation pool.
Then it was back to camp with fingers crossed
that Free-da hadn’t melted in the desert heat.
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| Beating the heat in Cloudcroft |
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| Happy golfers |
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White Sands in the distance from 9,000 feet
at Cloudcroft overlook |
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| Pistachios on the tree |
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| Pistachio orchard |
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| Pistachio orchard and winery |
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| Space Museum Alamogordo |
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| Space Museum Alamogordo |
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| Space Museum Alamogordo |
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