A Road Trip to Old Mesilla

Ursula and I love day trips.  We especially love them when we can jump in the roadster and go with friends who also have sports cars.  So, Saturday was Roadster-Up-To-Old-Mesilla Day.  What makes the trip to Old Mesilla such fun is the back roads between El Paso and Las Cruces in New Mexico.  Although we live in the midst of the Chihuahuan Desert there’s still plenty of agriculture around, especially along the Rio Grande and the irrigated fields to either side of it as the river meanders through New Mexico and into Texas.

Along the way, convertible top down, wind blowing through our hair, we pass by fields of chili, onion, and cotton.  Vineyards and rows of maze drift by as we maintain a leisurely motoring pace.  We pass into the cooling shade of majestic pecan trees, their branches providing a leafy roof over the roadway, as we motor through the orchards of Stahman Farms.

The adobe and stone architecture of old Territorial New Mexico is abundantly in evidence as we pass through the towns of La Union, La Mesa, and San Miguel with it’s stone church, providing the photographer with some really great opportunities.  But once you reach Old Mesilla’s town square and it’s large central bandstand, you’re in another world . . . the world of the Old West, Pat Garrett, and Billy the Kid.  Here is where photographic opportunities come with nearly every step, including the Basilica of San Albino at the north end of the town square, the rustic 1800s wooden bar inside the Double Eagle Restaurant, the quaint dining courtyard of the adjoining Peppers Cafe, and the ever-popular and historic La Posta Mexican Restaurant just off the square.

Enjoy the views, then plan a road trip near your home.