Last Days in Calsbad

Guadalupe Mountains on our way to Deming NM

Well, I am writing this as we travel along US62 on our way to Deming NM. We really enjoyed our time in the Carlsbad area. Brantley Lake is our kind of place. A nice campground with beautiful views. I met a lady here that is a snow bird. She stays all winter between Brantley Lake and another NM park north of here Bottomless Lake. She just loves this area and I have say at $14 a day, it is economically. I could see staying in this area about 2-4 weeks but after that I think I would want to move on. 
full moon over the campground


One of the things we really haven’t talked about is that Carlsbad is where John was born. His dad was a mining engineer and was here with the Potash mines. Potash is still being mined in the area. Neither of us has a clue as to what they use potash for. They lived in Carlsbad until he was four.  He has a few memories of the area. His first girlfriend, Vicky, lived across the street and the house they lived in was one his dad designed and had built. We drove past the house and he really didn’t remember it and it looked a lot smaller than he remembered. We did take a photo, hope no one thought that was strange. 
John's 1st home

Carlsbad today looks like it has been hit hard by the downturn in the economy, lots of empty stores. Friday we walked around the downtown area. Walked through a very nice gallery and even found something we may want for a birthday gift for one of the boys. I took a couple cards. We also wanted to check out the Trinity Hotel. It is home for the Balzano winery, another of New Mexico winery. We tried several of their NM reds, three of which were Balzano wines and decided on a glass of their Shiraz. The restaurant didn’t open until 5 but the wine bar opened at 3, the menu looked wonderful and the smells made us decide to return for dinner. Dinner was also very good. This is a very upscale restaurant but reasonably priced. One thing you noticed at  restaurants like these is that the portions are more reasonably sized. Though sometimes it is nice to take some home and get a deal. I think we still eat too much when the portion sizes are so large. The meal was delicious, we both had pasta. I had a lobster and cheese ravioli and John had the manicotti. We had enough room for desert so had a wonderful tiaramisu. I forgot to mention at the wine tasting they gave us (on the house) their signature appetizer. It is a goat cheese with a caliente blackberry sauce with walnuts. it is amazing and has a real kick to it. It ended up being a nice romantic after noon and dinner a nice way to end our time in Carlsbad. 
Trinity Hotel Restaurant and Wine Bar
Saturday was a cooler day so we used it to go for a long hike in the park. We walked to the day use area and then did the wildlife trail again. The first time it was too hot to go all the way to the visitor center. We got about 4 miles in and then spent the rest of the day preparing for our move. Now on to Deming and visiting with some of my relatives.
Brantley Lake by the boat ramp
Happy trails..........

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