Artesia, New Mexico

Noelle and I, along with our good friend Robby welcomed in the first adventure of 2012 with a trip to the neighboring town of Artesia. We decided a trip to the Chaos Cafe would be a first eat out for the year. However, when we arrived in town, we found the cafe closed. Instead we headed to the nearby Wellhead restaurant and brewery. We ate a good lunch there. I got the chicken & green chile burrito, while Noelle got the catfish and Robby got the green chile stew.We all enjoyed our entrees, along with the dessert, a Turtle Cheesecake.

After lunch it was time for a walking tour of town. The town of Artesia is impressive for the amount of public art that it contains for a small city. We first walked the Heritage Walkway.

Then we headed past an interesting sculpture of a bald eagle taking off from the torch of the Statue of Liberty.

The sculpture was sitting on a trailer. Is it awaiting installation? We were a bit perplexed. From the eagle we headed over to a sculpture called the Rustler.

There were signs interpreting the history of cattle rustling in the area and we had fun playing "tour guide".

From the Rustler we headed to the town visitor center where we picked up the official walking tour brochure. We then headed to the nearby corner gas station and Trail Boss sculpture.

Next we detoured from the public art into a antiques shop where we bought two books and a Smoky Bear cigarette extinguisher. We then resumed our art tour passing the Vaquero,

the First Lady of Artesia,

and the elaborate Derrick Floor and Oilfield Pioneers exhibit.

We made a side trip to Central Park

and then returned to the car.

Our final stop in Artesia was a walk along Eagle Draw.

We rode the swings there and Robby even got in some practice for the law enforcement academy.