For a variety of reasons—most of them having to do with traffic—we don’t go on excursions nearly as often as we used to when the kids were smaller. If I’m going to schlep through an hour of traffic one way to get to the other side of town, the destination better be worth it. Then there’s the cost to consider. I’ve noticed as I’ve gotten older that the more something costs, the higher the bar for it being a good experience. The Children’s Museum might be amazing but if I have to drive half an hour, fight for downtown parking, and then pay $30 apiece, I’d rather get some McDonald’s and go to the park with friends.
Sometimes, though, I will take a risk. A friend recommended the Zuhl Museum in Las
Cruces, which is about 45 minutes northwest of El Paso. It’s a small geology museum on the New Mexico
State University campus. Its tagline is “Where
rocks come alive!” which seems to try a little harder than absolutely necessary
to convince us that rocks are fun. At any rate, last week I hit a point where
we all needed to get out of the house so I opted for a last-minute field trip.
Totally worth it.
The museum isn't much bigger than my house, but it was awesome. There were excellent
crystals and minerals found in the surrounding mountains, and massive fossils including a
variety of femurs, crinoids, and nautilus shells. The petrified wood…well, I was raised in
northeastern Arizona, and I’m kind of a petrified wood snob. It just doesn’t generally impress me. This museum’s collection did. Polished table-size slabs of the stuff, entire
stumps, palm trees, pinecones…it was amazing.
So if you ever find yourself in Las Cruces with an hour to kill, you could do worse than the Zuhl Museum. Yes, there are other places you could look at rocks for free, but these ones are really nice rocks. Like really nice.
