Historic St. James and Las Vegas (New Mexico)
We stopped for a quick drink at the Historic St James Hotel saloon in Cimmaron, NM, built in 1872. In its day the St. James was visited by many famous lawmen and notorious outlaws and was the scene of many murders. The dining room ceiling still shows the signs with 22 bullet holes! The ownership of the hotel was lost in a poker game and the new owner was then killed in one of the rooms that night. His ghost is still there in his hotel room. That room cannot be rented. The Hotel clerk gave us a quick tour of the rest of the hotel and shared the many stories of the different apparitions that haunt the hotel to this day.
Our final stop was the Las Vegas, New Mexico. We camped at the local KOA, a quiet place just out of town that had fantastic views of the Milky Way and all the other bright stars.
During our visit, we visited the local Farmer’s market to buy some New Mexican veggies, tinctures, and jewelry. We strolled through the Spanish style Plaza while checking out the local architecture before stopping to savor a tasty coffee from the Kickstart Kafe.
One evening we walked the dogs along the Cinder Road River Walk, a downtown paved trail along the Gallinas Creek. It was a relaxing few days and a great way to recuperate after all the activities we packed into our trip.
With an end of the trip nearing, we took the time to winterize the camper, took our last pictures of the clear skies and many stars, jumped in the truck and started the long trek back to the frozen northland leaving the beautiful sunsets behind us.
