My boys stand on the outskirts of town, Hermit's Peak behind them.

Las Vegas sits at an elevation of 6500 feet - higher than Denver, the Mile High City. The Sangre de Cristo Mountains - the southern end of the Rocky Mountain Range - rise to the west of town, and the Great Plains roll out from the east side of Interstate 25.

"Las Vegas" means "The Meadows" in Spanish. The winter snow runs off the Rockies in the spring, watering the graceful pinon and prairie grasses. Las Vegas is much greener than most of New Mexico thanks to its elevation.

The Las Vegas area was occupied as early as 8,000B.C. by Paleo-Indians, and much later by the Plains American Indians. The Spanish explorer Coronado crossed Las Vegas' Rio Gallinas in 1541.

The Santa Fe Trail passed through what became the center of Las Vegas. If you walk down Bridge Street, you follow the path of thousands of hopeful gold rushers, Native American traders, and Spanish settlers.

Today Las Vegas is a vibrant small city with unique features, including New Mexico Highlands University. Not only does the town sport over 1000 homes and buildings on the historic register - it is a favorite location spot for film directors!

Aztec dancers on the Las Vegas Plaza during Fiesta 2006.

The Las Vegas Plaza is the heartbeat of Old Town Las Vegas. Surrounded by the Plaza Hotel where the Rough Riders first met, an old parachute factory from World War II, and a collection of incredible adobe buildings on the historic register, the Plaza has a restored gazebo circled by tall live oak trees.

Each year my town holds an old-fashioned Fiesta, complete with parade, food booths where you can find roasted corn, Navajo Tacos and other local treats, traditional dancing, and music!

The Plaza is home base for the annual Rough Riders Motorcycle Rally, a long weekend of music, dancing, contests, and events for bikers held in July. Straddle your Harley and hit town for a Poker Run through San Miguel County.

During summer months, the Highlands University Dance Team teaches free Salsa lessons on the Plaza. Watch the Las Vegas Optic for the weekly events schedule.

The Calumet Says Howdy mural was first painted for the Red Dawn film set, but it looked so old-fashioned and authentic, the town decided to keep it. The mural is huge - I would estimate a good fifteen feet high! The tagline to the right of the cowgirls impressively states: "Where the Great Plains Meet the Mighty Rockies" - a perfect description of Las Vegas' location.

You can find the Calumet Says Howdy mural by driving down Grand Avenue. It's on the West side of the street, across from Maryanne's Famous Burritos, and just a block south of the Historic El Fidel Hotel.

The historic Las Vegas, New Mexico Train Depot has a photograph of Charles Lindbergh stopping in Las Vegas for a business visit:



78 years ago a young man sat on the edge of dusty forever. His airplane's wheels dug into dry prairie. He didn't know the grass would soon lift from the earth, carve across the Great Plains in clouds of fury and death. You can see this man against an interior wall in the Las Vegas, New Mexico Railway Depot, his handsome face covered in aviator's goggles, encased in framed glass. Two men stood behind the fuselage. They hugged one another, dark intertwined shadows against the drought-scarred land.

The Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce leased the parcel beneath his plane one year before, plunked down earnest money for a 40-acre pasture. They drove out herds of thin cattle, a small handful of poor squatters, declared the parched earth an airfield. A local booster club gathered their men, carried buckets of thick white paint and heavy boar's hair brushes to the pasture. They followed Herbert Hoover's strict orders to label their space, painted "Las Vegas" on the hills, a careful circle around the airfield, on the evaporated land so that future aircraft would know they would be welcomed with home-cooked meals, a stuffed cotton bed. The paint dried quickly in the New Mexican sun. The men looked at their creation, added an arrow so that wayward pilots could find the landing strip, even though one was not yet smoothed into the crusty surface.

The residents of Las Vegas patted each other on the back. Not many cities in the Southwest sported an official runway, a place of potential international commerce. Men visited the spot, sometimes taking wives sporting reed-woven picnic baskets filled with chili and tortillas. No planes touched down, not then, not yet, but the city people knew it would soon happen. They added gates at both ends of the field for fuel trucks, and a tall wind sock made of tight white canvas.

You can read the rest of the story of Lindbergh's stop in Las Vegas, and how the townspeople wanted him to choose their patch of New Mexico here.

My boys enjoy the Montezuma Hot Springs.

The Hot Springs near Montezuma Castle are a local favorite spot. You can soak in the 112 degree hot pool while your young children splash in the 100 degree warm pool. These natural hot springs have been used by the local population for hundreds of years. The pools are free, outside, and are maintained by the students of the Armand Hammer World College, a two-year dormitory college prep school which has students from over 100 different countries.

The Plaza Hotel and Byron T's Saloon, on the Plaza in Old Town Las Vegas, New Mexico, is the site where the Rough Riders first met. The hotel has been restored and features a wonderful restaurant and wild west accommodations with a modern touch.

Each Saturday and Sunday on Grand Avenue, the People's Flea Market offers fun, excitement, and some amazing bargains! Find a used leather holster, or buy a crate of live chickens! Farmers, ranchers, cowboys, and townspeople set up free tables where they sell their extra goods. Don't miss the fresh tamales and prune empanadas - mmmmmm!

The Rio Gallinas splits Las Vegas into East and West. The river boasts a pretty gravel river walk, where you can enjoy the pinon trees and watch the numerous beavers work on their dams. Pick up a smothered green chili burrito at Charlie's Spic and Span on Douglas Ave, and enjoy some lunch at the river's edge.

The Las Vegas Museum and Rough Riders Museum on Grand Avenue is a free museum crammed with photographs and artifacts from the town's Wild West days. The historian on duty will describe what life was like when Billy the Kid terrorized the town.

The haunted La Castaneda Hotel is located next to the old Las Vegas Train Depot. The hotel is closed, but the saloon on the ground floor is still open - and it looks exactly like it did during Doc Holliday's years. Grab a Corona and sit on the hotel deck. If you're lucky, you might spy the ghost!

Nature abounds in Las Vegas, New Mexico. Take a hike up Hermit's Peak, or a quiet drive through the Great Plains until you reach the Las Vegas National Wildlife Sanctuary. You can play golf at New Mexico Highlands University's beautiful course off of Mills Avenue, overlooking the Great Plains.

Love to ski? Las Vegas, New Mexico is close to world-class skiing at Taos, Ski Santa Fe, and Angel Fire. A fun and reasonably priced family resort, Sipapu, is just an hour's drive from town center. Skiing has been great at the start of 2008! We've been getting regular snow, and all resorts are reporting powder-packed slopes.

Las Vegas, New Mexico has over 1000 homes and businesses on the Historic Register. Take a slow drive through town and admire the incredible Victorian architecture and the 200-year-old adobe and stone homes. The Tourism office on Grand Avenue can help you charter a tour.

The train ride from Las Vegas, New Mexico to Santa Fe is said to be one of the most beautiful in the country. The tracks wind through the Pecos river valley, through canyons and mesas, through the same back country Kit Carson and other pioneers rode. Every time of year is special - winter brings gorgeous snow drifts around pinon forests, spring brings more green than you could ever imagine in New Mexico, with hundreds of thousands of tiny yellow and purple flowers, summer is the time of gold-crusted meadows - you'll even spot coyote and antelope!

The mesa where the Scientologists have their secret compound!

The Church of Scientology constructed an elaborate underground bunker to store the works of L. Ron Hubbard just twenty miles from my home. They cut it in secret, deep into steep sides of a scrub-tiled mesa in the middlest of middle nowhere. My son, 11, told me this as we drove through parched piñon-lined winter ranches in late December.

"Mom, listen, you gotta hear this!"

He rattled off a list of rumored facts - something about steel lined tunnels, two UFO landing pads carved into sold rock, and titanium etched records that can be played on a solar-powered turn table. I didn't hear his words. My throat gathered in a mother's lump at the new deepening of his voice, the way he held the newspaper folded in half with hands so much like a man's. He leaned forward and poked me in the side and my hands jumped, let the car lurch toward a nest of resting cattle.

"Mom! The bunker can survive a nuclear blast! The Scientologists say that after a blast the words of L. Ron Hubbard will be more important that ever."

11 snickered at this last part. His dark cowlick fell over one eye, and I noticed again how he looked more like me than any of my other children. He continued reading the news article to himself while his younger brother, 8, cocked his head to the side to read an advertisement for a movie about an overgrown ape.

He has the unyielding skepticism of his father, I thought. We know the future from the seeds we plant today. We can let our minds stray far into a black tomorrow, look at the trail of memory behind us, know what loaded weapons me might need to carry under our arms. Maybe the Scientologists need those books tucked into the furrows once dotted with Spanish missions, the space once inhabited by graceful people of the ancient lands. Maybe they just need to know they are safe, protected by nature's arid indifference.

"Oh, Mom!" 11 raised head from the paper once more with an expression of surprise and haughty delight. "I'm taller than Tom Cruise! Hey, what's a thetan?"

Read the rest of this TRUE story where I sell Avon to the Scientologists manning the secret base near Las Vegas.

Visit my flickr album of my trip to the secret base.

Each weekend, Las Vegas holds a "People's Flea Market." As the name suggests, it's a Communist's delight! It's both free to attend and free to set up your own table of treasures-for-sale.

Located on Grand Avenue just north of the Mills Ave I-25 Exit every Saturday and Sunday during the year (except when we get heavy snow), you can find antiques, saddles, ground dried chile, junk, bunnies, goats, decorative rock, and more!

See more photos of the People's Flea Market at My Tiny Vegas.

Las Vegas has been the chosen location for many big budget films including Red Dawn, The Longest Yard, North Country, Astronaut Farmer, and Wyatt Earp. Several times a year you can watch famous directors and movie stars saunter through the Plaza.

Here are a few photos I took of recent film shoots in my town:


The Coen Brothers built this fake border crossing for their 2007 film, No Country for Old Men.


I was an extra in No Country for Old Men! This is me on set, acting as "Jenny!"


My two young sons pose with FanBoys actors on set!

Las Vegas, New Mexico isn't just home to ranchers, cowboys, rodeo stars, Highlands University academics, and the hardworking middle class. It's also home to some of Hollywood's finest!

These stars live in the Las Vegas area:

• Jane Fonda has a ranch near Pecos. Rumor has it that she has an incredible workout barn fitted with all the latest home workout equipment!
  
• Val Kilmer is currently selling his ranch near Riberra. The locals say Val's favorite restaurant is La Risa near the tiny village of Villanueva. I once met Val at the natural foods store and gave him vitamin advice!
  
• Don Imus lives in Riberra, near Val Kilmer, on a ranch where he and his wife hold charity getaways for children.
  

Are you from out of town? Every now and then, some people are surprised to learn that there's a Las Vegas in New Mexico. If you're at all confused which one you're in, here's how you can tell the difference.

You know you're in the "other" Vegas when...

...the only buffet in town is a potluck at the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church and you're not a member.

...the only slot machines are newspaper boxes, and your biggest gamble is whether the daily Optic is worth fifty cents that day.

...the "ladies of the night" are cashiers working third shift at Wal-Mart.

...the strip is called Grand Avenue and the closest thing to the Bellagio's dancing water fountain is the spray blowin' through the bays at Trujillo's U-Do car wash.

...you're looking for the famous Flamingo Hotel and Casino so you can attend Toni Braxton's dazzling show, but you end up in the back room of the Hillcrest looking at the KFUN Radio Tower out on the Great Plains and don't have a clue what's on the air.

...you think Wayne Newton's show has run a long time, but you pull up to the Serf Theatre on Douglas and the marquee reads "In Her Shoes." Wow, that came out in 2005! Eat your heart out, Wayne!

...the "loosest" thing in town are the stray dogs.

...you hand your keys to the "valet" in front of the Plaza Hotel, and the next morning when you ask the desk clerk to have him fetch your car, she hurriedly calls the State Police.

...the biggest show of the year involves judging jars of jelly and trotting pigs at the county fair. Yee haw!

This funny list was first published in the Las Vegas Times! I had so many phone calls and emails from Las Vegas, New Mexico locals who laughed and laughed at my article. New Mexicans have a great sense of humor - we love to laugh at ourselves and at the world around us.

Visitors to Las Vegas, New Mexico, usually want to try the local cuisine. New Mexican food has some unique dishes including sopapillas - a fried-dough that you douse with honey, red and green chile, green chile stew, and the best Huevos Rancheros east of the Pecos!

If you are stopping in Las Vegas, New Mexico, don't miss these wonderful restaurants:

Charlie's Spic and Span on Douglas Ave in New Town serves breakfast, lunch, and early dinner. The restuarant closes at 6 pm, so plan ahead. Try the Spanish skillet, which has eggs and papitas smothered in fresh green chile with a side of pancakes. Another great dish is the carne adovado enchiladas - spicy pork in red chile wrapped in corn tortillas and smothered in red or green chile. Charlie's makes their tortillas in the restuarant - you can watch the tortilla machine roll fresh dough, while a cook fries the tortillas on a hot grill.

The Hillcrest on Grand Ave is a Las Vegas institution. Mayor Sanchez and his cronies eat here every weekday morning. Sit near the corner table and catch the best political gossip in town! The Hillcrest has a dish called "Hermit's Peak," a pile of hashbrowns smothered in red chile with two eggs any style and a big slice of country ham. Yummy!

Smiling Faces is new to town. Situated on the South side of town on Grand Ave, the building is covered in wild yellow happy faces. The menu is extensive, and they make the best sopapillas in town. Huge portions, too! A great family restaurant.

Estella's Cafe on Bridge Street near the historic Plaza has been serving Las Vegas families for decades. The best red and green chile in town, plus a great place to meet folks whose families have lived in this area of the country for over 400 years.

The Plaza Hotel sports an elegant dining room that serves wonderful reasonably priced dishes. The huevos rancheros come with blue corn tortillas and the spicest green chile in Vegas. Many of the people who eat in the restaurant are traveling through town, so it's a great place to meet out of towners.

The Hidden Sweetness Inside
by Birdie Jaworski

Consuela Silva, 94, likes to be called by her late husband's name, Mrs. Eduardo Silva. He passed away sixteen years ago, after a vacation to his native Brazil where they dined on fried bananas, ambrosia, and spicy feijoada, a meat stew made with sausage, black beans, and handfuls of pressed garlic.

"We took a culinary tour of Brazil. We ate in some of the best restaurants in São Paolo," remembers Mrs. Silva. "One of my favorite dishes is the corn cakes. They make them with whole corn and coconut milk. I've tried to recreate them here at home, but they don't taste the same. One thing I can recreate is the dulce de leche. It was Eduardo's favorite."

Mrs. Silva slowly walked through her eat-in kitchen on the west side of Las Vegas. A carved wooden statue of the Virgin of Fatima with a delicate jeweled crown rested at the corner of her counter. She made the sign of the cross, kissed her fingers, and pressed them a scapula draped around the Virgin's neck. She turned down the gas on an almond stove. A pan shivered silent, the bubbling water inside receded, revealing a small metal can.

"I learned to make dulce de leche from Eduardo's mother. I can't drink my coffee without it." Mrs. Silva grinned. "And I don't limit myself to coffee. I like it on just about anything that needs a little sugar. Nothing in this world is so simple and delicious."

Dulce de leche is a popular dessert throughout all of Latin America. The name means "milk candy" in Spanish. The confection is gloriously sweet, gooey, creamy - a caramelized milk that richly harmonizes coffee and chocolate as well as offers a delicious filling for many pastries and cakes. Its roots are uncertain, though forms of the dish have been described in French history dating back to the time of Napoleon. The most basic recipe for dulce de leche consists of slowly boiling milk and sugar, sometimes with the addition of vanilla and other sweet spices. The most popular store brands of the product, though, are made the way most cooks enjoy the treat today - by gentle boiling little cans of sweet milk.

Dulce de leche isn't hard to make; it just takes a bit of attention. The traditional in-the-can method is simple: Place an unopened can of sweetened condensed milk in a pot, well covered with water, and bring the water to a boil. Keep at a low boil for two to three hours, making sure the water level always stays above the top of the can. If the can isn't submerged, it may explode. The longer it cooks, the thicker the dulce de leche will be; after two hours, you'll be able to drizzle it, and after three hours, it will be thick enough to sandwich cookies. Make sure the can is thoroughly cool before you open it.

You can spoon the dulce de leche over ice cream, into coffee, or just eat it out of the can with a spoon. Mrs. Gallegos scooped a healthy dollop of dulce de leche into two ceramic mugs, then poured strong pinon coffee. "It's that hidden sweetness inside that lightens the black."

Northeast New Mexico is a wonderful place to observe wildlife. Take a drive across the rolling plains or up to the top of Johnson's Mesa and watch red-tailed hawks, eagles, black bear, antelope, coyote, and elk in their natural habitat.

Las Vegas, New Mexico is home to two nature preserves:


I loved this sunset over Storrie Lake. It seems like every evening provides an opportunity for some great photographs.

Storrie Lake State Park is just two miles from Wal-Mart, on the outskirts of town. Enjoy year-round fishing and windsailing on the gentle waters. Storrie Lake also hosts a Polar Bear Plunge each New Year's Day! Brrrrrr!

Storrie Lake is one of the city's sources of water. During times of drought, the lake can shrink. Las Vegans pray for heavy snow in the winter so that our summers will be free from wild-fire.


The Las Vegas National Wildlife Refuge has several small lakes for migrating birds.

The Las Vegas National Wildlife Refuge is an important stopover, resting place, and eating locale for many migrating birds, including cranes, geese, and ducks. The Ranger Center hosts lectures and exhibits for the public.

Las Vegas has a gorgeous backdrop!