Magnus in New Mexico, Day 9
Tue 26 Mar

Left my beloved Rusty's and headed to Leasburg Dam State Park.  But first, good-bye to lovely mountains with their new coat of snow.

And across the continental divide.  Strange...I though that was in western Texas.

 
/Leasburg Dam is a lovely place, right on an irrigation canal beside the Colorado River. The campsites were kind of small and tightly spaced together in loops, but I'd chosen one at the end of a loop where I could take Molly directly on the road for walks. Our loop was full, I think, but I don't recall seeing a single neighbor outside all the two days we were there.  It was a little chilly maybe.

The park is smallish, but they've made lots of little rock-lined trails all in and around the site. They were very enjoyable, and I did see people on them. Not a lot, but enough to make it seem sociable.  At the top of the hill was a big group pavilion and overlook to the dam over the Colorado River--

 

On that first day, all I did was explore the trails a little. I made it to the day use area and was greatly pleased by a lone Phainopepla talking to himself in a willow tree. He sat there for a long time while I watched.

 And them we went to eat at Chachi's Mexican, a convenient little place south on I-25 about halfway to Las Cruces. I thought it was excellent; Ed not so much. They only had chile rellenos with cheese, not beef, and the enchilada dish he chose instead was kind of bland and didn't have cheese on it. I'm not sure what else was wrong with it, though.

The only problem with my meal was that there weren't any vegetarian dishes on the menu, sigh. No nopalitos or veggie fajitas or calabazas. I ended up with shrimp tacos, and although I prefer not to eat shrimp in restaurants because it's like prepared with slave labor in Indonesia, I have to admit they were prepared perfectly! 

Great murals in the restaurant,  here's one: