December 7th through 20th, 2024
We made it through Texas and landed in Las Cruces, New Mexico at the big "super site" at the KOA there. It was going to be an eventful stay, because we were getting married while we were there. Hooray!
We got engaged in the summer and then stopped by Livingston to file name-change paperwork in our home county. We wanted to get married in Texas (it's easier and cheaper), so we were going to drive back and forth from Las Cruces to El Paso as needed (they are fairly close to each other near the Mexican border). Naturally, there was a lot of construction and multiple lane closures on I-10, so our multiple trips would not be quick. But it all worked out.
We've stayed at this KOA campground a couple times before, and it's one of our favorites. We had to drive through Van Horn and pass signs for the Guadalupe Mountains on our trip, which is always a painful memory. But then we were happily at our site overlooking Las Cruces in the valley below. Margot set up our included, huge patio and site with Christmas decorations, and it was festive and lovely.
We had a few guests on their way to see us, but we had a couple days before they arrived. We went to the Keystone Heritage Park for the first time to see the wedding venue. We had our pick of places to have the ceremony, and we picked the koi pond and the little waterfall as our backdrop. It was perfect. While we were in El Paso, we picked up our marriage license. It was a great day.
We hit the outlet mall, specifically the Ann Taylor and Cole Haan stores, and we found all of the clothing we'd need for the wedding in a record amount of time. It was very easy, and we were happy to find clothing that matched.
Our first guest would be Allie, Margot's daughter. We booked our campsite and made Las Cruces plans with Allie long before we were even engaged, so the wedding plans were new. The best part was that Allie got ordained to perform marriages before she came out, and she would be performing the ceremony! We could not have hoped for a better way to start our marriage.
We had a day to do some sightseeing, so we drove up to the Organ Mountains on the other side of Las Cruces one day. We'd spent time in the town before but never got close to the mountains, so it was a nice trip.
Monica's dad and his wife, Linda drove over from Tucson to attend the wedding, which was thoughtful. We had plans to go to the White Sands National Park with them the next day, but they woke up the first morning in the hotel to find water leaking everywhere. They'd have to change hotels, so they had to stay behind that day. Their next hotel ended up being better, anyway, but it was a bummer they couldn't go with us.
White Sands is a weird place, and very cool. We'd been there before, but Allie hadn't seen it. It looks like snow, but it's sand, so it's very strange to experience it. We brought sleds from the KOA and had a great time sledding down short hills.
We also had time to go to PistachioLand and visit the huge pistachio. Why not? Like all sunsets in this part of the country, it was fabulous.
We all got together the next day to do a little wedding rehearsal (dad was going to give us the rings), and we played a game of Swoop! It's always a fun game. We had dinner at D.H. Lescombes, one of our favorite restaurants. Naturally, it was the only bad experience we'd ever had there. But we still had a good time chatting.
The day before the wedding we headed back to the El Paso airport to pick up Robin who flew in from Colorado. Robin comes to stay with us sometimes, and we were happy she could visit for the wedding. We went to Old Mesilla to take in some history and do a little shopping before meeting dad and Linda for dinner at Peppers on the Plaza in the historic Double Eagle. Dinner was fantastic, and we got a tour of the haunted rooms when we were done. It was a fantastic place.
We'd been having a great time and staying very busy, and finally our wedding day had arrived. Eden Klein was set to do our photography, and we headed down to the wedding venue. The official wedding photos aren't ready yet, but we'll post them here when we have them.
We set up a tablet and a Google Meet so people could watch the wedding (we wanted to make sure Monica's mom could attend, of course). We didn't tell many people about it because we wanted to keep things intimate. We also recorded the wedding so we'd have a video. The ceremony was short -- just over five minutes. The photography session took much longer, and we were excited to have so many photos.
When the photos were all taken we said goodbye to Eden and headed to downtown El Paso for a wedding dinner (we didn't have a reception). We ate at Cafe Central, and it could not have been any better. The location was beautiful, the food was amazing, and the service was impeccable. What a fabulous time!
The day turned out so well and we were feeling very happy. We took Robin to the airport the next day, and Allie left the day after. Dad and Linda drove home the morning after the wedding. That gave us a few days to ourselves just to soak it all in.
Unfortunately, Margot started feeling under the weather soon after the wedding. A couple days later and we were at the emergency room with Margot's fever. She had strep throat and the flu! Luckily, not COVID. She rested with medication for a couple days and we were able to leave as planned, heading for Arizona.
What an amazing trip to New Mexico -- we're both so happy!
