Alamagordo Sites
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The New Mexico Museum of Space History in Alamogordo is a place where space exploration and military history intersect. Nearby White Sands Missile Range, established in 1945, was key to early rocket testing, hosted the first Apollo launches from U.S. soil, and served as a shuttle pilot training site. It’s also the site of the Trinity Test, where the first atomic bomb was detonated. In 1982, Space Shuttle Columbia landed there.
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The museum includes the gravesite of HAM, the first chimp sent into space and returned safely, who helped pave the way for human spaceflight.
There’s also an exhibit on the growing problem of space debris, with over 100 million pieces now orbiting Earth. And for a bit of fun, the museum highlights space in pop culture - including a Star Trek transporter where Danny got “beamed up.”
We stopped by McGinn's PistachioLand in Alamogordo, NM, home to the world’s largest pistachio - a 30 foot tall roadside attraction you can’t miss. The place was packed, and the line to buy pistachios or join a farm tour was at least 40 people deep, so we passed on both.
They offered free samples of flavored pistachios, which was a nice bonus. We treated ourselves to their homemade pistachio ice cream - which had much shorter line - and it was simply divine.
We checked out the Toy Train Depot in Alamogordo, NM, which turned out to be a surprisingly fun and unique stop. I’m not a toy train enthusiast myself, but the passion and knowledge of the volunteers was contagious.
The museum is housed in a historic 1898 train depot, which was purchased and moved to its current location by John and Merry Koval in the late '80s. About 70% of the museum's current collection belonged to John, who was running out of space at home and wanted to share his love of trains with the public.
The highlight is a 1,000 square foot model of 1940s Alamogordo, a room that took five years to complete, and is packed with incredible detail.
We left so inspired that we detoured to nearby Cloudcroft, where there are still remains of an old train trestle. At a much higher elevation, the town is surrounded by ponderosa pines - a big contrast to the desert landscape below.
There’s also an exhibit on the growing problem of space debris, with over 100 million pieces now orbiting Earth. And for a bit of fun, the museum highlights space in pop culture - including a Star Trek transporter where Danny got “beamed up.”
We stopped by McGinn's PistachioLand in Alamogordo, NM, home to the world’s largest pistachio - a 30 foot tall roadside attraction you can’t miss. The place was packed, and the line to buy pistachios or join a farm tour was at least 40 people deep, so we passed on both.
They offered free samples of flavored pistachios, which was a nice bonus. We treated ourselves to their homemade pistachio ice cream - which had much shorter line - and it was simply divine.
We checked out the Toy Train Depot in Alamogordo, NM, which turned out to be a surprisingly fun and unique stop. I’m not a toy train enthusiast myself, but the passion and knowledge of the volunteers was contagious.
The museum is housed in a historic 1898 train depot, which was purchased and moved to its current location by John and Merry Koval in the late '80s. About 70% of the museum's current collection belonged to John, who was running out of space at home and wanted to share his love of trains with the public.
The highlight is a 1,000 square foot model of 1940s Alamogordo, a room that took five years to complete, and is packed with incredible detail.
We left so inspired that we detoured to nearby Cloudcroft, where there are still remains of an old train trestle. At a much higher elevation, the town is surrounded by ponderosa pines - a big contrast to the desert landscape below.