Journey In God's Amazing Grace: A visit to Artesia

On Tuesday, the SKP park residents had their monthly lunch out scheduled, so we joined them for lunch in Artesia at La Fonda.

We arrived at the restaurant a few minutes before they opened and joined the line of folks waiting to get in - more than just our group were there!

One of several bronze statues around Artesia was right outside the restaurant.

We had an enjoyable Mexican buffet lunch with new friends from The SKP Ranch RV Park.

The weather was threatening thunderstorms so we decided to skip walking to see the different statues in town and instead drove to the Artesia Historical Museum (http://www.artesianm.gov/154/Museum-Art-Center). It was located in a historic home in town and had various exhibits on the local and area history.

Photos of artesian wells - origin of the town's name.

I was wondering what causes artesian wells to gush -- Wikipedia said (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artesian_well):

An artesian well is a well that brings groundwater to the surface without pumping because it is under pressure within a body of rock and/or sediment known as an aquifer. When trapped water in an aquifer is surrounded by layers of impermeable rock or clay, which apply positive pressure to the water, it is known as an artesian aquifer. If a well were to be sunk into an artesian aquifer, water in the well-pipe would rise to a height corresponding to the point where hydrostatic equilibrium is reached.

A well drilled into such an aquifer is called an artesian well. If water reaches the ground surface under the natural pressure of the aquifer, the well is termed a flowing artesian well.

Fossil water aquifers can also be artesian if they are under sufficient pressure from the surrounding rocks, similar to how many newly tapped oil wells are pressurized.

Not all aquifers are artesian (i.e., water table aquifers occur where the groundwater level at the top of the aquifer is at equilibrium with atmospheric pressure). The recharging of aquifers happens when the water table at its recharge zone is at a higher elevation than the head of the well.

Ice order card

Phone directory from 1923

There were some Williams relatives in Artesia at that time!

Upstairs, there was a display of Mrs. Tom Heflin's Demitasse Cup & Saucer Collection. I thought the heart shaped cup and saucer were pretty!

More of the cup & saucer collection -- the information indicated that there were over 300 cups & saucers in the donated collection, and that she also donated the display case.

Arthur Wood donated his "Bob Wire" (barbed wire) collection

I think that "Brotherton Two-Strand", patented in 1878, may be similar to what I remember from the farm in Virginia.

Interesting mounted steer head....

...after I got closer to the steer, I saw the additional information about the steer.

We stopped at another of the statues in town -- of an oil derrick -- but since the thunder storm was very close, we decided to take a picture from the Jeep rather than risking a close encounter with lightning!

We continued on to Walmart to get some shopping done, and then headed back to "The Ranch"...