Las Cruces, NM.

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click photo to enlarge		 Just outside of Las Cruces is the White Sands Missile Range Museum located on the US Army Missile Range, the largest military installation in the US. There is a large display of missiles that have been tested here and the indoor display has a lot of history of the area. They have a room on the Trinity test site that includes a model of the McDonald Ranch where the first Atomic bomb was assembled. While in Las Cruces we went to Old Town Messilla. The church shown is Basilica of San Albino on the square in Messilla. Again, because of some storms that had blown through the area we had some spectacular skies for photography.

click photo to enlarge		 We also went to the New Mexico Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum in Las Cruces. We took a guided tour of the facility and our guide was very knowledgeable on the facility, the area and the history. When we were done Karen and I talked to the guy for a while and discovered he had been a full Colonel at White Sands and he was the guy chosen to brief President Kennedy when he visited the range on June 5, 1963. See this link for more info and a video on the Presidents visit.  We also went to see the worlds larges chille pepper.

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