Thursday, 3 April

We had another decent breakfast at the hotel and headed up into the foothills near the Museum of Space History.  We found the trailhead of the “Indian Wells” hiking trail and took it 1,5 miles up the mountain.  We only got lost once.  That 3 miles felt more like 10…..

From the Indian Wells Trail overlooking the Space Museum

We did tour the Space History Museum.  I got to try to land the Space Shuttle in a fairly realistic simulator.  It was not a successful landing but they did say that I went “Where no man had ever gone before”.

Space Shuttle Simulator

After lunch back in Alamogordo, we went to the largest “Pistachio Ranch” in New Mexico.  Evidently the soil and climate here is the same as it is in Iran, where most pistachios are grown.

Ellen getting a lesson in Pistachio husbandry....

Keith in the Pistachio 'sorting room' with his hair net(s).

We stopped again at the “White Sands National Monument” so we could get into the visitor center, which was closed last night, and also to see the dunes in the daylight.

We plan to keep heading west and spend the night in Deming.  We want to be in Tucson, AZ by tomorrow afternoon to visit Ellen’s sister, Arlene & family, who usually escape from Winona, Minnesota for the winter.

“Vacation” is amost over as we’ll be back in Tempe Arizona by Saturday noon to return the rental car.  We’ll stay with Ellen’s brothers, Jim & Greg until we fly back to Wisconsin late next Tuesday.