NEW MEXICO: FROM LAS CRUCES WATER TOWERS TO UTEP

July 3, 2021

We had spent the night in Las Cruces, so after our hike in the Organ Mountains we returned to our hotel, showered, and checked out. We hadn't eaten breakfast, so we searched online for the "Best Chile Relleno Burrito in Las Cruces."  We ended up at a run-down drive-thru called El Jacalito. A jacalito is a small adobe house (which this drive through was not). And if these are the best chile relleno burritos Las Cruces has to offer, I feel pretty sorry for them. We gave them a B-/C+. Very disappointing.

When he was planning the trip, Bob ran across information about a tour of the Las Cruces water tanks, each painted with historical/regional murals. He knows this is the kind of thing I enjoy, so we headed out to do that before driving on to El Paso.

Each of the water tanks is 32 feet tall and contains two million gallons of water. The artistic genius behind the murals painted on the tanks is Tony Pennock, who completed his first water tower when he was still a high school student.

The first water tank we saw was actually painted to honor New Mexico State University, Pennock's alma mater (although he did not paint this one).  Look at that background! The Organ Mountains are really spectacular.

Jornado del Muerto, or "Journey of the Dead Man," depicts the Conquistadors making the the 100-mile journey from Las Cruces to Socorro, New Mexico. This was Pennock's FIRST mural, completed over a six-month period when he was seventeen years old. He used a project and worked at night to transfer his design onto the tank. Pennock revitalized the flaking mural in 1991 and transformed it into La Entrada, or "The Entrance," focusing on Don Juan de Onate leading a procession of settlers and livestock into the American West.

TREATS IN WISCONSIN: CEDARBURG AND GREEN BAY

Traveling as a couple requires some give and take. In spite of having been married over 37 years, we have our differences. (Surprising, I know. I'm sure this isn't true for any other oldy-weds, right?)  Bob humors me by detouring for chocolate, art museums, and all things quaint, and I humor him by detouring for anything animal related and college football stadiums.

On our Wisconsin trip, we had some of that give-and-take that ended up being a win-win. We both got something out of the other person's passion.  

MY STOP was "historic" Cedarburg, a borough founded in 1845 by Irish and German immigrants. (How Germans and Irish could live in the same place is a mystery to me.) Together they built five dams, five mills, and a thriving community. Cedarburg has done a great job preserving their 19th century buildings, and coupled with a resort-ish main street shopping area, the town has become a tourist destination.

The St. Francis Borgia Catholic Church of Cedarburg was built in 1842 and is still going strong.

I was touched by several things in the St. Francis Borgia churchyard, including this plaque that reads, "In Memorium. Leona Lesage Grant & Rose Weber. Born to eternal life, November 9, 1999. Killed when struck by a car when they crossed the street after attending morning mass. Safe in the arms of Jesus." 

I was also intrigued by this statue of a woman holding what looks like an empty blanket:

This is the plaque on the base: