Hobbs (Las Cruces, Roswell, Alamogordo: 2014, apartment complex, home)

[elkotronics]

Alamo has a lot of Texas to it. I know, I live here. I can pretty much feel the ZZ Top and Don Henley big and large around this place.

[joqua]

Originally Posted by supfromthesite

I can't say I have been to Alamogordo but I have been to Cloudcroft and I remember t-shirts calling it the "highest point in Texas" or something like that. And I thought it felt very Texan to me. I can't imagine that Alamogordo is any different?

Ummm...There is a big difference between Cloudcroft and Alamo, IMO. The altitude for one thing. And the small "old western" small town vs a contemporary small city. To say nothing of forested surroundings vs desert. And cool summer vs hot. Etc...

[supfromthesite]

What does any of that have to do with it being similar to Texas or not?

[eddie gein]

Originally Posted by supfromthesite

What does any of that have to do with it being similar to Texas or not?

I think the thing about Cloudcroft and Ruidoso as well is that just about everybody who vacations there or has a second home there is a Texan. Live in Oklahoma and just about everyone goes to Northern NM or Colorado for vacation on a routine basis and we are the second closest state to SE NM. Obviously, nobody from Arizona or Colorado is going to need to go to Cloudcroft or Ruidoso for that type of environment (except for horse racing fans). So basically you have Texans.

East of the mountains is pretty much non discernable from west Texas except for maybe Carlsbad.

Elk says he feels some Texas feel in Alamo, but that's where I start getting a more autonomous New Mexican feeling. Getting west of the Sacramentos gets you different weather, scenery, and I sense a cultural shift in that area.

As for Hobbs, unless you just want to live in New Mexico for the sake of living there, I don't know why I'd bother leaving Midland.

[ABQ2015]

If you want to live in Little Texas, consider Carlsbad in addition to Hobbs. I spent a few weeks in Carlsbad on a work assignment in 2014 and thought it was rather attractive. The Pecos River runs through the town and there is a nice park. I was amazed at the size of the Pecos - it made the town seem like an oasis in the desert. Carlsbad is near Carlsbad Caverns (which I assume is closed) and Guadalupe National Park. It is a little smaller than Hobbs so do not know if Hobbs has more of a nightlife. There were some nice residential areas in Carlsbad too. I got the impression that Carlsbad was like a white collar Midland while Hobbs was the blue collar equivalent of Odessa. When I was there, oil prices were sky high and the place was booming with oilfield workers so you could not find a place to live but that was true for Hobbs too at the time. At least one large apartment complex was under construction.

Roswell might be an option but I do not know much about it but it is closer to Ruidoso.

I lived in Cloudcroft as a teenager and considered it very Texan. Lots of Texas tourists and retirees and almost all of the working people had close ties to Texas. Very upper middle class and very few Hispanics in the town. We went to Alamogordo to shop and it was different. Lots of military and lots of Hispanics native to the area. More live and let live. Never felt that it was Texan although I was coming from a Cloudcroft perspective. Later I became good friends in college with three people from Alamogordo/Tularosa and they could have been from anywhere in New Mexico. But Alamo, as we called it, is conservative compared to Las Cruces.

[Cactus Hibs]

Originally Posted by ABQ2015

The Pecos River runs through the town and there is a nice park. I was amazed at the size of the Pecos - it made the town seem like an oasis in the desert.

The Pecos in Carlsbad is essentially an artificial reservoir: the city has a dam at the south end of town so that water stored in Lake Avalon north of town can be backed up into the (otherwise dry) river channel where it runs through the park. South of that dam it quickly reverts to a trickle.

[Rogarven]

Originally Posted by ABQ2015

If you want to live in Little Texas, consider Carlsbad in addition to Hobbs. I spent a few weeks in Carlsbad on a work assignment in 2014 and thought it was rather attractive. The Pecos River runs through the town and there is a nice park. I was amazed at the size of the Pecos - it made the town seem like an oasis in the desert. Carlsbad is near Carlsbad Caverns (which I assume is closed) and Guadalupe National Park. It is a little smaller than Hobbs so do not know if Hobbs has more of a nightlife. There were some nice residential areas in Carlsbad too. I got the impression that Carlsbad was like a white collar Midland while Hobbs was the blue collar equivalent of Odessa. When I was there, oil prices were sky high and the place was booming with oilfield workers so you could not find a place to live but that was true for Hobbs too at the time. At least one large apartment complex was under construction.

Roswell might be an option but I do not know much about it but it is closer to Ruidoso.

I lived in Cloudcroft as a teenager and considered it very Texan. Lots of Texas tourists and retirees and almost all of the working people had close ties to Texas. Very upper middle class and very few Hispanics in the town. We went to Alamogordo to shop and it was different. Lots of military and lots of Hispanics native to the area. More live and let live. Never felt that it was Texan although I was coming from a Cloudcroft perspective. Later I became good friends in college with three people from Alamogordo/Tularosa and they could have been from anywhere in New Mexico. But Alamo, as we called it, is conservative compared to Las Cruces.

I would second this opinion. With NMSU in LC, it is more New Mexican and liberal where as Alamogordo has the the Air Force base and tends to be conservative. P.S. there is a satellite campus of NMSU there but not nearly as predominant.

[elkotronics]

Alamogordo is very conservative and I'll tell you something else. This town will not let anybody run roughshod over it - like the Antifa group a few months ago. They announced ahead of time they were coming. They showed up at the Mega*Low Wal*Mart on 1st and New York Avenue. Authorities promptly shooed them away! They were going to get out of their buses and start raising Cain. They were planning on walking from the Mega*Low Wal*Mart to the County Courthouse on New York Avenue but never even left their buses. How do you guys like that?

That's what I'm talking about - this town will not allow major hanky group panky. The local police, State Patrol has an office here, Border Patrol has an office here and they all work in cahoots ta keep this place free from all that garbage. Now, of course, you can abuse drugs here in your own house and you can murder someone in Alamogordo. Bad things will happen here, but I have walked all over the place in this town and it is pretty much a Mayberry city with about 35,000 people.

You guys are right, it has a Texas tinge but it's really a modern American city with some broken down areas that has people from all over living here. Holloman AFB helps that argument quite a bit. I've talked to many from the Pacific Northwest like I am currently living here. So, yes, there's a little taste of Texas but it's got it's own identity. And Alamogordo is a great place to live, it really is.

[phydeaux3]

I didn't know about the ANTIFA garbage. But what you described is a really big part of why I wanted to live here to start with. This is a safe area compared to almost anywhere else half the size or larger.

I have a security system installed. But it has more to do with keeping mortgage insurance low, not fear of breakins. I haven't turned it on (away from home mode) even once so far except to test it. It's hooked up and monitored. I'll keep it going and in good shape. I might even expand it a bit. But all of that has more to do with what might happen when I get older since things do change a little. I'm currently not worried even a little bit about anybody deciding to come in to steal anything because it's so rare. I haven't felt that kind of security since I was a little kid growing up in a town with less than 5000 people.

[Cactus Hibs]

Originally Posted by elkotronics

They were going to get out of their buses and start raising Cain. They were planning on walking from the Mega*Low Wal*Mart to the County Courthouse on New York Avenue but never even left their buses. How do you guys like that?

Proof please, elko? And Facebook posts don't count. I have seen no real evidence that "buses full of antifa" are a real thing anywhere, let alone someplace as conservative as Alamo.