After Little Vineyard RV in Deming, NM we headed to Alamogordo, NM to Boothill RV Park. Pulling up we saw that across the street was PISTACHIO LAND!! And yes, all caps and two exclamation marks best communicates my excitement. I love pistachios. And I love agriculture tours. And free samples.
Behold, Pistachio Land.
Home to "The World's Largest Pistachio" (35 ft tall made of cement), Pistachio Land in Alamogordo, NM is a fully operational pistachio farm/grove/orchard in the New Mexico high desert. With some ingenious grafting science, they have cultivated a pistachio tree that thrives in this environment. We took a tour of the fields, learning about the trees (they have male and females and only the female trees make pistachios), the ripening process, the harvesting methods, and so on. Then we got to sample pistachios! And eat ice cream.
This was a good day. And it was the first day and not even on our agenda.
The original purpose of coming to Alamogordo was to be able to visit the nearby White Sands National Park. It was a beautiful experience. White Sands National Park covers hundreds of acres of white gypsum sand with an ever-changing landscape thanks to the winds moving the dunes around. It is located in the basin of an ancient lake long gone. The kids enjoyed sledding on the sand dunes and we walked for awhile along some of the trails. It was a windy day and we didn't venture far but it was beautiful.
Another excursion was to the Missile Museum - though I had to sit this one out as I'd forgotten my driver's license and it was located on an active military base. Josh and the kids enjoyed exploring the satellites, rockets, moon rovers, etc that they had in an open-air museum where the kids could climb, touch, and enjoy.
Bonus enjoyment was a large RV pulling into the spot next to ours and four boys tumbling out. The kids were thrilled to have friends and they quickly fell into hours of outdoor play - cowboys and bandits, basketball, and "playing farm". Funny enough, the family was actually originally within 30 miles of where we lived before selling our house and had a very similar story. We enjoyed a dinner together and learning a bit more about the hows and whys each of us decided to pursue this nomadic lifestyle.
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