OUR HOMETOWN, T or C NEW MEXICO
Last October, our friend Sue, from RVSue http://rvsueandcrew.wordpress.net/
described Truth or Consequences, New Mexico
(known throughout the southwestern USA as T or C)better than anyone I know!
" It’s hard to explain. Take these ingredients: a cup of Southwestern, a cup of hippie, a cup of arts and crafts, a cup of cowboy, a cup of honest-to-goodness down-home, a cup of vagabond, and a cup of hot springs. Mix it all together and season to taste with a whole lot of what Chuck characterizes as ”laid-back.”
Chuck and I fell in love with our town Truth or Consequences NM when we came here in 2009 to workamp at Riverbend Hot Springs. I will admit, our first impression wasn't all that great. We came to learn that the people of this area is what makes it great! But then the whole town grew on us and we both are very glad we bought a small place here! We want to introduce you to this quaint little southwestern town!
Chuck and I love a lot of things, but we love eating out, so I wanted to show you our 3 favorite restaurants!
GROOVY GRITZ CAFE
Wow! Nothing fancy on the outside, but on the inside the dining area is divided into 2 sections. On the left you have your Hippie 60's style, complete with Sierra County's largest lava lamp! On the right side, it's all cowboy !!! The owners, Joyce and Rob are the reason, Joyce is the hippie chick and Rob is the cowboy! Most weekdays the menu consists of mostly amazing sandwiches and incredible salads and yummy home made daily soups! But Friday nights, Joyce gets busy in the kitchen with yummy specials! Filet mignon with huge shrimp, or Tuna Ahi, or Salmon ... heck she has to show off her culinary skills right? She taught at the University of New Mexico culinary school in Alburquerque for 20 years! She and Rob retired to Truth or Consequences NM and opened up Groovy Gritz Cafe! If you are ever in our town, do yourself a favor and pay them a visit! You won't be sorry! http://www.groovygritz.com/
HAPPY BELLY DELI
Our favorite place for breakfast! Happy Belly Deli is a small restaurant, maybe 6 or 7 tables inside and about the same on the outside patio, but the food is great! Huge breakfast burrito and they have our favorite, green chili bagels! They offer 3 kinds of coffee which you pour yourself from the pot. It's a homey place, you feel like you are in your own kitchen! Local art on the walls changes often. It's just a fun place to go wake up! The staff is always friendly and they take time to walk around talking to their customers. They also serve a great lunch but they close at 3 pm. Friday and Saturday nights are pizza nights and their home made crust is yummy!
MARIA'S MEXICAN
Chuck and I love good Mexican food! Maria's is another small restaurant with momma cooking in the kitchen! YUM! Their green chili sauce is soooo good on about anything! We go to Maria's about once a week and have never suffered a poorly fixed meal!
PAINTED TOWN
T or C is full of art studios and artists on every corner! These artists have left their mark on many of the buildings around town!
PAINTED BUILDINGS
This is the old 1923 Public School! Beautiful murals on either side of this building that has become the Sierra County Administration Building located on I-25 business loop.
If you look at the photo below, you will see a seal with a 1937 WPA embossed in the wall. The original school was built in 1923!
The designs are the same on both sides of the building, just one is brown and the other is blue. Notice the painted water tank behind the school?
This is the White Coyote Cafe. We have never eaten here because we can never find it open! Of course, Sunday morning when I am out alone taking photographs, the cafe is open! Maybe Chuck and I will go there next Sunday and give it a try! We love the paint job on the cafe! You can see this one if you take the I-25 business loop from the north through town!
This mural belongs to a cactus nursery! You can see this one if you take the I-25 business loop from the south!
This is another old school that have been renovated into a Civic Center. Local artist Delmas Howe painted desert flowers all around the building!
PAINTED WATER TANKS
This water tank sits atop a steep hill overlooking
T or C. This is the water tower you saw behind the Sierra County Administration Building. It is really hard to get a good photo of this tank, even though you can see it from every place in town! Well, maybe if I had a good telephoto lens it would be easier!
I found the road that took me to the top of the hill to the tank! Here you get a better look! But so did I! Wow! What a view of Truth or Consequences from up there! The photo of the town at the top of this blog was taken from here!
We have two painted towers in town. The one above sits right in the middle of downtown! The one below sits just past WalMart, west of Interstate 25!
This water tank is much easier to get to than the downtown tank! Well, at least I got two sides of it!
Below is the story of the area, the painted tanks and the artist!
BOONDOCK CAMPING
For those of you who are not campers, Boondocking means camping without any hook-ups No water, no electric and no sewer! Right between T or C and Elephant Butte and right on the Rio Grande River is a great little campground that is a part of the Elephant Butte State Park system!
Looks pretty sad right now, but in a few weeks, those sad looking Cottonwood trees will be full of bright green leaves and in the autumn the leaves will turn a brilliant gold! This is a beautiful little park with about 20 shelters, a nearby restroom with showers and as I mentioned the Rio Grande River and a great riverwalk trail!
Maybe these directions will help you find this great little. The boondocking campground is very easy to find. Not sure if you are coming in
from the north exit 76 or the south exit 75 off of Interstate 25, but either way
will get you to the campground on the Business 25 loop. We have 2 traffic lights
in town. One at WalMart right off the I-25 north exit and the main one at
Highway 51/ 3rd street. Turn there and go past the Elephant Butte road. In fact,
go 2.1 to the first bridge and the second bridge crossing the Rio Grande River
is at 3.1 miles and as soon as you cross the second bridge on your left you will
see the campground!
We have pretty adobe gates...
WE RECYCLE !!!
Is this cool or what? I have never seen a recycle center like this one and it is very popular with locals!
Sure saves space at the county dump when everybody recycles!
PROOF! THERE IS A TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES NEW MEXICO !
And we have a beautiful metal sign welcoming you into our town!
We have a police department...
We even have super cool old RV's still on the road exploring! Truth or Consequences is such a unique place to live and visit! I haven't even mentioned the hot springs we have here! T or C sits on a huge aquifer of hot mineral springs and we used to be named Hot Springs New Mexico because of all the health spas that flourish here!
Wikipedia says... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truth_or_Consequences,_New_Mexico
Our two favorites places to soak are Riverbend Hot Springs http://www.riverbendhotsprings.com/
and The Blackstone Hot Springs, http://www.blackstonehotsprings.com/
You can look them up on this blog as I have done several blogs about them all ready!
Here is a yahoo link to the hot springs:
I hope I haven't bored you with our quirky little town, but maybe you can get a bit of the urge to visit here and see it all for yourself! You won't be sorry!
The MotherShip is still getting repairs done, the electrical problem has been repaired but the repair man discovered a cracked grey water tank that was cracked and leaking! Hopefully Evergreen will cover that under warranty. The Evergreen people have been so good to deal with whenever a problem arises! Well, guess I will sign off now....
Geri, Chuck and the Hound Herd!
