Las Cruces is a city in New Mexico. It is the state's second largest city, with a population of around 75,000, and is the site of New Mexico State University.

Attractions

 • New Mexico State University is in Las Cruces, with an interesting museum or two, a large conference center, and a comfortable student union. NMSU sports have fallen on hard times recently. The good news is that you shouldn't have trouble getting tickets to football and basketball games; the bad news is that the games you see won't be very good.
 • Museums. There are several small museums in town, and one not-so-small one:
 • New Mexico Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum. 4100 Dripping Springs Road, 505-522-4100, . East of NMSU on the way out into the countryside. This is a fairly substantial site based on a working cattle ranch, with demonstrations. You can spend half a day here; there are picnic tables as well as food available for purchase. Open M-Sa 9-5, Su 12-5; $3 (student and senior discounts).
 • Branigan Cultural Center. 500 N. Water St., 505-541-2155. A small museum dealing with local history. Open M-F 10-4:30, Saturday 9-1; free.
 • Las Cruces Museum of Fine Art and Culture. 490 N. Water St. (next to the Branigan), 505-541-2137. Predominantly contemporary art with a regional emphasis. Tu-Fri 10-2, Sa 9-1; free.
 • Las Cruces Museum of Natural History. 700 S. Telshor (in Mesilla Valley Mall), 505-522-3120. Includes a small collection of live animals (to call it a "zoo" would overstate it). 7 days, with evening hours on Friday; free, but donations requested.
 • University Museum. In Kent Hall at NMSU. 505-646-3739. Emphasis on local archaeology and culture. Tue-Sat 12-4; free, but donations accepted.

Shopping

Unlike much of New Mexico, Las Cruces is not well endowed with local Indian art or other characteristic types of durable mementos. If you want something to remember your visit by, one idea is food, specifically chile peppers, which are grown in abundance in the Mesilla Valley. The long strings of red chilies that you see hanging from porches, gables, etc., are called ristras and are available for purchase at many locations. These are largely for ornamental purposes, but edible chilies are also widely available, with spiciness levels ranging from mild to downright inedible (New Mexico State University has a substantial chile research program that grows peppers so hot that they function as bug repellents).

If in town in late summer or fall, make a pilgrimage to the outlying town of Hatch on I-25 to the north. Hatch is the center of the chile-growing business and has several shops with chile paraphernalia. Better, it hosts a "Chile Festival" in early September, usually around Labor Day, that's fun to visit as well as a great source of chilies. (Hatch is a tiny town with little or no lodging, so you'll want to stay in Las Cruces and make a day trip to the Festival.) If you're getting your chilies for cooking rather than ornamentation, and can get them home/in a freezer quickly, get them roasted while you're there; roasting is a key step in preparation for the table, and doing it in a Hatch roaster will save you all manner of peculiar odors resulting from doing the roasting at home.

For more pedestrian, day-to-day purchases, Las Cruces has all of the usual shopping associated with a town of 80,000. Mesilla Valley Mall is convenient off I-25 just north of NMSU for this purpose.

Dining

 • Garduno's of Mexico , 500 S. Telshor (near exit 3 on I-25), 505-521-7225, is the local franchise of a popular and excellent chain that originated in Albuquerque and is spreading through the Southwest. Mexican food with a New Mexico/Arizona slant, although some dishes from "old" Mexico are served. 7 days, lunch and dinner; an enjoyable and casual place to get some very good food, far better than its "chain" origins might suggest.
 • University Avenue, on the north side of NMSU, has the usual assortment of student-oriented eateries, with the usual properties for such places: lots of food, reasonable prices, less than haute cuisine. Some, by no means all, of the restaurants along University are:
 • Lorenzo's, 1753 E. University, 505-521-3505. Acceptable Italian; lunch and dinner.
 • Phoenicia, 1001 E. University. Serviceable Mediterranean, with occasional entertainment; lunch and dinner.
 • 5 Brothers, also 1001 E. University. Chinese, part of a local chain with some other locations in town. Not the greatest Chinese, but convenient for takeout.
 • Pete's Hacienda, 2605 S. Espina (intersection with University), 505-532-0790. Mexican with some "American" options. Lunch and dinner.