Things to Do in Las Cruces

Although the views of the Sacramento Mountains are imposing and majestic at ground level, nothing can compete with approaching them from 10,000 feet above. That’s why the staff at Skydive White Sands offers a range of jumps and classes that let guests get a bird’s-eye view of the mountain peaks, smooth white sands, and roller-skating clouds while feeling the rush of an adrenaline-pumping free fall. Staff members send jumpers into the air in a Cessna 206, then strap themselves to students for a tandem jump or teach them how to man their own parachute during the seven-level skydiving-licensing program. While in flight, clients can choose to record their experience with a handheld camera that documents their free fall and peaceful descent to the ground.

Author and radio host Ken Hudnall leads groups on an informative trek through El Paso's famed, and oftentimes spooky, past during the Downtown History and Mystery Tour. Each traipse through time begins at the Camino Real Hotel, where ominous tales of a distressed bride and the lingering presence of Pancho Villa cast a spectral tone upon the outing's onset. Winding through city streets, Ken and crew stop at the Cortez Building, the Plaza Hotel, and the very first Hilton Hotel, which has hosted several celebrity weddings. As night falls and shadows begin to dance and pants unsuspecting patrons, a stop at the Mills Building—constructed on the site of a hotel that burned to the ground—rounds out the tour's itinerary.

Guided by the philosophy of revolutionary educator Maria Montessori, who said, “Free the child’s potential, and you will transform him into the world,” Julie Smith guides young minds at Casa De Colores Montessori School. Julie, a NCME-certified teacher, draws on more than two decades of experience with teaching in public, private, and Montessori schools as she encourages children to grow into responsible, engaged human beings. She shepherds her pupils along a path of self-motivated education, rather than falling back on the juice-box bribery and teddy-bear-deprivation cycle that binds the traditional educational system.