Dad found a book called, "
The Most Beautiful Villages and Towns in the Southwest," and one of the featured towns is Las Vegas, New Mexico. So that's where we headed on our road trip.
Our hotel on the historic plaza was quaint and comfortable, featuring a restaurant where we had an excellent lunch and breakfast.
We drove around the old part of the city, stopping at the Carnegie library and admiring the Victorian houses.
The TV show "Longmire" was filmed in Las Vegas. This is Longmire's door.
On Saturday morning we went to the Las Vegas Wildlife refuge where we saw ducks, geese, birds of prey, and cranes.
On Saturday afternoon we had a tour of "Montezuma Castle," which was once a luxury hotel and is now the home of United World College, an International Baccalaureate school. The hotel was one of the first buildings in New Mexico to have electricity, but it burned down twice. The current building has been meticulously restored. UWC has more than 200 students representing over 75 countries. It is designed to replace the last two years of high school, and serves students aged 15 to 19 (the age difference is due to the fact that different countries have various systems of high school education). Two students took us on the tour and impressed us with their poise and knowledge of the school.
One of the buildings on campus is a modern sanctuary with prisms in the ceiling and very interesting acoustics.
We had a great time exploring this charming little town in Northern New Mexico!
