Mesilla Valley Bosque State Park

This morning Noelle, Sierra, Parker and I checked out of our hotel room and headed into Mesilla for one more outdoor adventure before we headed back to Carlsbad. We headed to New Mexico's newest state park: Mesilla Valley Bosque. Unfortunately, when we arrived we found that Parker is not allowed on the trails. We left him in the car on this cold morning

and then headed out for the trail.

There are really only two short trails in the park and we hiked them both. Both traverse areas along the Rio Grande that were once infested with tamarisk and have been mostly restored. The Rio Grande and the man-made ponds in the park were all very dry, so we didn't see any wading birds. We did see a flicker, some Gambel's quail, a harrier and some white-crowned sparrows.

Besides a few birds we got some great views of the distant Organ Mountains.

From our hike we headed over to Mesilla Plaza and the famous La Posta restaurant for lunch. The restaurant is interesting in that they keep some exotic birds like macaws and toucan, and some fish like piranhas as well. The decor is vibrant and the food decent as well.