re: Could finally leave Louisiana, possible job relocation to New Mexico

Las Cruces isn't bad. Cost of living is low and hot Mexican college women. Learn Spanish though!

Las Cruces:

Pros:
- 100k person city that feels like a 30k person city, easy to plug in and find a tribe
- sunny 330 days a year, not as hot as AZ, not as cold as ABQ
- laid back, good people. SW hospitality is as real as southern hospitality
- some real pretty Hispanic and country/ranch women
- easy logistics, 10 & 25 basically loop the city
- affordable housing
- solid NM grub, nothing fancy, lots of great mom & pop places

Cons:
- land of mañana, people and businesses operate on Mexican time, aka now means later, today means tomorrow, tomorrow means next month
- if you want any big city amenities (airport, Whole Foods, Top Golf, BMW dealership) you are driving to El Paso about an hour away
- telling people elsewhere that you live in Las Cruces will get you blank stares or snooty looks


Other:
- 4+ craft breweries, 3+ wineries, if you are into that
- lots of eggheads and military (NMSU, NASA, White Sands Missile Range, Holloman AFB, Border Patrol, other 3 letter government agencies); probably accounts for 20k employees living in the area
- under the radar outdoors, Organ Mountains have hiking and rock climbing; lots of trails for hiking, running, MTB in the county
- day trips to Gila Wilderness, White Sands, Cloudcroft, Ruidoso, Elephant Butte (lake)
- lots of history, if you like Native, Mexican, Old West

Overall, Las Cruces is a solid place to live, a smaller Tucson. Southern NM is beautiful and adventurous in its own way but is not in the same category as Santa Fe/Taos.

If you have any specific questions fire away.