New Mexico Road Trip Day 8: Exploring Las Cruces Before Heading Home

Hey Guys!

This post ends our time in the beautiful state of New Mexico.

We didn’t have a lot planned since today we would be flying back home but I’ll add a few helpful links in this post so it will help you with your trip planning if you decide to visit this area.

We started our morning with a delicious pastry that our Airbnb host had left for us.

We really enjoyed the outdoor space at this Airbnb property.

After breakfast, we packed up and headed to our first stop of the day.

As we were driving through Las Cruces, we passed this very cool mural!

Click here to see a list of murals and public art in Las Cruces

We also passed the Big Chile Inn …..their giant chile pepper is one of the most recognizable roadside attractions in Las Cruces.

Read reviews here

One thing we quickly learned while traveling through New Mexico is that chile peppers are everywhere!

We also spotted this vintage sign for the Royal Host Motel. The colorful crown shaped sign immediately caught our attention and felt like a throwback to the classic American road trip era.

Read reviews here

We passed pumpkin fields and chile pepper fields along the way.

After a few minutes of driving, we arrived to our first stop, the recycled roadrunner sculpture.

The roadrunner is the official state bird of New Mexico, which explains why artist Olin Calk built a giant recycled roadrunner — 20 feet tall and 40 feet long — in Las Cruces in 1993.

Back then it stood at the city landfill, and was made exclusively of items salvaged from it: Olin’s way to call attention to what he called, “consumption, recycling, and just looking at stuff we throw away.”

It has eyes made from Volkswagen headlights and its body is made with old sneakers, golf clubs, and plastic toys.

Standing beside the sculpture, we enjoyed sweeping views of the desert and surrounding mountains.

The location provided a great opportunity to pause and take in the scenery one last time before leaving New Mexico.

The artwork itself was beautifully detailed and seemed perfectly at home against the rugged desert backdrop.

Watch out for rattlesnakes when visiting this sculpture!

Read reviews here

After this stop, we headed to El Paso, Texas to fly back home.

The drive from Las Cruces to El Paso takes approximately one hour.

As we made our way south toward El Paso, the scenery began to change once again.

After days of exploring mountains, deserts, and national monuments, we found ourselves driving through an area known for agriculture and dairy farming.

Large dairy operations lined parts of the route, with hundreds of cows visible from the highway.

Tip: Licon Dairy is located about 45 miles southeast of Anthony, TX…this family-owned working farm and petting zoo is famous for its handcrafted Asadero cheese, chile con queso, and requeson. You can view their visitor hours on the Licon Dairy website.

Click here to read about a unique farm stay near this area

Crossing over into Texas

Shortly after crossing into Texas, the scenery changed once again.

As we drove along the winding roads near Franklin Mountains State Park, the landscape felt noticeably different from the rolling desert terrain around Las Cruces.