Healthy and peaceful in Las Cruces (or...?)

[TigerLily24]

Anyone considering moving anywhere really needs to spend some time wherever they are considering. It is all well and good to get info from others, but, let's face it, we are all biased in some, or many ways. I love living in Las Cruces. I love all of the outdoor options, I love seeing the Organ Mts everyday. I love that I could go outside yesterday at 7am to walk my dogs and have a hot air balloon glide over my head - never saw that in North Jersey.
Anyway, I just thought I'd mention, there is a wonderful organically-focused market called Toucan located on University. Best thing (IMO) is they sell New Mexico Pinon coffee - absolutely out-of-this-world, if you like coffee.
I regularly see people biking, running, etc. around the city. While there are some busy times traffic-wise, it still doesn't take more than 10-15 minutes to drive across town, even at 'rush-hour.' Having moved from a state where it could take 30 minutes or more to drive a half block, I'll take it. Some other things to consider - never having to circle the parking lot to find a spot when you go to the mall, the movies, anywhere!
I also appreciate the proximity to the El Paso airport, which has to have the best deal on long-term parking anywhere, not to mention the shuttle that runs from there to LC and back again.
Really, you've just got to come visit - either you'll feel it or you won't. But, I bet you will

[mike0421]

Originally Posted by TigerLily24

Anyone considering moving anywhere really needs to spend some time wherever they are considering. It is all well and good to get info from others, but, let's face it, we are all biased in some, or many ways. I love living in Las Cruces. I love all of the outdoor options, I love seeing the Organ Mts everyday. I love that I could go outside yesterday at 7am to walk my dogs and have a hot air balloon glide over my head - never saw that in North Jersey.
Anyway, I just thought I'd mention, there is a wonderful organically-focused market called Toucan located on University. Best thing (IMO) is they sell New Mexico Pinon coffee - absolutely out-of-this-world, if you like coffee.
I regularly see people biking, running, etc. around the city. While there are some busy times traffic-wise, it still doesn't take more than 10-15 minutes to drive across town, even at 'rush-hour.' Having moved from a state where it could take 30 minutes or more to drive a half block, I'll take it. Some other things to consider - never having to circle the parking lot to find a spot when you go to the mall, the movies, anywhere!
I also appreciate the proximity to the El Paso airport, which has to have the best deal on long-term parking anywhere, not to mention the shuttle that runs from there to LC and back again.
Really, you've just got to come visit - either you'll feel it or you won't. But, I bet you will

From an ex-fellow New Jerseyan, I can tell you that I've 'felt it'.

[gitana]

I love Silver City, it has a vibe similar to Bisbee,Az. No one mentioned the Co-op in SC, i sure hope it is still there!
I have only visited LC once, and i was a bit impressed, actually it reminded me of how Phoenix was perhaps twenty years ago. It was hot for sure, but not as hot as Phoenix. The new downtown development looked like some new-age ghost town, but i loved the historic residential section of downtown. I like the fact that LC is close to El Paso for the airport convienence, and that because it is a bigger town population wise, i bet the chances of finding a decent job are better than in SC.
I wouldn't trust the water to drink in either SC or LC, because of the mining in SC and the Rio Grande in LC.
Northwest of SC is the Gila Wilderness, a couple very nice hotsprings, cliff dwellings, and miles and miles of unspoiled wilderness areas. I know that the locals of SC can be a bit protective of the area and question the influx of 'newbies' to town, and honestly i don't blame them, i would hate to see Silver City explode into another big-box generic sort of small town america.

[gnubler]

Adding my .02 because I've lived in both Las Cruces and Tucson. I see Cruces as Tucson was about 40 years ago and it's catching up even faster. For a population of 80K people it's quite a sprawl, yet it is still possible to drive a car from one side of town to the other in under ten minutes.

I'm involved with Mountain View Market and it's a nice little place. On the small side, but if they don't carry a product you'd like they will order it for you. Some items are just crazy expensive and the produce section isn't the best, but adequate. You can supplement that with the twice-weekly farmers market downtown. If you volunteer 4 hrs a week at the co-op you get a 20% discount, very generous. You can volunteer at some of the local farms and typically come home with a bag of fresh vegetables. Also a good way to get to know the co-op community and its suppliers (mostly local produce). There is also Toucan Market near NMSU, but I find that to be more Whole Foods foo-foo, uber-expensive.

Unless you're in the immediate NMSU area, urban cycling is not enjoyable here (I'm a bike commuter). The roads are rough and bike lanes almost non-existant, some roads don't even have shoulders. There is a network of irrigation canals throughout the city with levees that are packed down enough to ride a bike along, and if you can plan a route along the canals you can completely avoid traffic. There is (was?) a monthly Critical Mass bike ride every last Friday at the Downtown Mall. Not popular. You will see a lot of cyclists in the Mesilla area on the weekends riding in groups, they meet up at The Bean coffeeshop.

As compared to Tucson, there is no "hip" district or artsy community. It's all spread out and the central part of town is running with lots of small businesses with the corporate behemoths hanging out mostly on the east side up on the hill. Also compared to Tucson, there is almost no vagrant/panhandling "problem" - I heard something about the shelters here giving perpetual vagrants free bus tickets to Tucson but I don't know how true that is.

There are tons of little restaurants in town, mostly Mexican food, all very popular. If you're vegetarian like me, there's not much offered unless you want to settle for a plain bean burrito (be sure to ask for no cheese if you don't want it, cheese is standard). There are several Asian restaurants in town, one Indian, one Thai, one Middle Eastern. It's growing and that will probably change in the next decade. Some of the Mexican restaurants are extremely authentic, serving beef tongue and other organs you would not normally find in this country.

If you want to move here to embrace the local culture, come on down, it's great. And get used to green chile. Yum!

[gnubler]

I forgot to add my .02 about the weather here. It's freakin' fantastic, but...

The winter is colder than you'd think, dipping below freezing (20s and even lower) from Nov-Feb at night. Some cactus even freeze to death. The mild sunny days do make up for that, though. Don't think you can move here and get by without a heater for the winter - I learned that the hard way. It's cold.

Very strong winds in the early part of the year, dust storms and low visibility most days.

Dry for the most part, obviously, but for the brief monsoon season in July/August. If you have cisterns or a water catchment system, then is the time to set them up. The groundwater (municipal water source) is hard and mineral-y, and it reeks of chlorine. Invest in a water filter for your kitchen sink. The Rio Grande sits dry all winter as it's dammed and replenished upstream around Elephant Butte until spring, when they open the floodgates for irrigation.

Overall, sun sun and more sun. If you suffer from Seasonal/Mood disorder, you won't here.

[EarthMother1951]

Originally Posted by gitana

I love Silver City, it has a vibe similar to Bisbee,Az. No one mentioned the Co-op in SC, i sure hope it is still there!

It is still there and I liked it much better than the one in LC.

[ButterfliesAreHalfPrice]

Warmer and drier is one thing, but in Las Cruces, you are going to see sizzling temperatures in the summer, in fact, you will be there in the hottest part of the whole year. I would consider Albuquerque if I were you, in terms of just going somewhere for 6 months, it has better summer weather by far if you are already dibilitated. It can be very hard on your system, hard on the lungs, when it is so hot, despite the "dry" heat.

[TKO]

During the day there will be at most two weeks a year over a hundred. Not more than a hundred five. One hour after sunset the temp will be 15 degrees cooler and by morning it will be in the sixties. Summer nights are beautiful. The heat gets bad about one in the afternoon until dusk. You stay inside during those times and the rest of the day is very nice.

I find late July and August, with humidity and temps in the nineties to be worse actually int terms of the effects of heat. But it cools down at night then too. Just not quite as big a change.

The worst time of year to be in Cruces, BY FAR, is the spring with the winds. It's just gettin warm enough to want to spend time outside and the air is nothing but dirt. It sucks.