journal entry #3237

Dick and I take turns writing in our daily journal. Here's a day in the life...

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Rockhound State Park, Deming, NM

It's hard to believe that this is our first visit to this little state park, especially given my love of rocks. Deming, New Mexico is another one of those places that make you hold your nose as you drive by on I-10. It looks dirty, old and full of Border Patrol. But drive off the freeway and it's a completely different town. Cute little shops, lots of motels and southwest style architecture everywhere. The cold snap of a few weeks ago has taken it's toll here as well as the rest of the cities and towns we've driven through since our time at Big Bend. Ornamental palm trees are dead. It breaks my heart to see them all brown. Hopefully there will be some recovery.

Deming is ringed by desert mountains. The Florida Mountains are to the east and the state park is on the western slope with a nice view of the town sprawling down the valley towards Mexico. There are 24 power and water sites and we managed to score one of the two that were available when we got here yesterday. The sites are big and lush, very similar to Albert Lee State Park south of Alamogordo. 

There are trails all over and there's a sign when you enter the park, saying that this is the most unusual state park in the country. Visitors are encouraged to take home up to 15 pounds of rocks. There is jasper, thunder eggs and opal to be found here. We find jasper - gobs of it. But it's too hot and thorny for our little Hilldog, so we don't spend much time rockhounding. Sigh. We'll be back. You'll see.

Please feel free to leave me a comment or just say hi. It would be nice to know that you are out there and I'm not writing to myself :)