Short drive today – we had to plan time to visit the Billy the
Kid museum at Ft. Sumner, and the Bosque Redondo Memorial.
The Billy the Kid Museum is of the old school type - show cases of some pretty interesting bits of history, a multi-panel painting that pretty well covers all aspects of the famous bad boy's story, and a decent gift shop. It's worth the small entry fee for sure.
Just outside the museum is the Fort Sumner cemetery where Billy and several other historic folks are buried. Billy's tombstone was stolen and hidden away for several years, but was finally retrieved and is now back where it belongs, and well protected by iron bars. It's strapped down, as well as being behind the bars, so thieves would have to be really determined.
An entirely different story is told at the Bosque Redondo Memorial. The memorial is situated on the site where thousands of Navajo and Mescalaro Apache were held as prisoners from 1863 to 1868 after a forced march of 450 miles. This is not a part of our western history that is known to many people.
After thousands of the captives died due to starvation and harsh conditions the Navajo were held captive for several years, and then finally received recognition as a sovereign nation and were allowed to return home. The memorial, actually a museum, does an excellent job of telling their story. There are displays of historic material and some very impressive murals. The video that is shown in the museum theater is very informative and definitely worth watching.
Just outside the museum is the Fort Sumner cemetery where Billy and several other historic folks are buried. Billy's tombstone was stolen and hidden away for several years, but was finally retrieved and is now back where it belongs, and well protected by iron bars. It's strapped down, as well as being behind the bars, so thieves would have to be really determined.
An entirely different story is told at the Bosque Redondo Memorial. The memorial is situated on the site where thousands of Navajo and Mescalaro Apache were held as prisoners from 1863 to 1868 after a forced march of 450 miles. This is not a part of our western history that is known to many people.
After thousands of the captives died due to starvation and harsh conditions the Navajo were held captive for several years, and then finally received recognition as a sovereign nation and were allowed to return home. The memorial, actually a museum, does an excellent job of telling their story. There are displays of historic material and some very impressive murals. The video that is shown in the museum theater is very informative and definitely worth watching.
Down the road just a short piece we spent the night at Santa Rosa Lake State Park. The lake (reservoir) is quite low, so no swimming for Shiner. The campsite has two loops. One has services, we chose the one without. It had fewer occupants, and offered good access to open area to take Shiner for a nice long walk.
The area is a bit higher, and greener, than our previous stop, but very dry nonetheless.
That condition was temporarily remedied about 7:30 P.M. when a loud and
very wet thunderstorm blew in. It blew around the chairs we had stored on the picnic table, rattled the doors and sent rain pounding into the windows. Thunder and lightening boomed and flashed, but we're used to that from home.We just cozied up and watched the lightening while listening to some of our favorite music, then admired the after-the-storm rainbows. Not a bad way to spend the evening.
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