Aside from the Sonoran hot dog, the other thing I was most excited to encounter here in Arizona was this creature called the javelina. Unfamiliar? Take a look at some pics of these creatures and you may become as enamored as I did. They are adorable, but listen, don’t call them pigs or you might get gored. They’re collared peccaries and are unrelated to swine despite the similar snout.

I was told that javelinas were common in Southern Arizona. “You just seem ‘em walking down the street,” a friend of mine said. I was eager to start my new life frolicking with these grazers of the desert.

But the only thing was that I got to Arizona and not a single javelina was to be seen. I asked just about every local who I started a conversation with whether they’d seen javelinas around and everyone said something along the lines of, “Oh… I think I saw one once when I was out in the country, but not here in the city.”

So much for spotting wild beasts in the street. So I plunked down my dollars to go to Arizona Sonora Desert Museum — which is a really more like an open zoo and natural park than a museum — where they reportedly had a large number of javelinas in an open natural habitat.

As soon as we got there I checked the map and made a beeline for the javelina area. And then we looked. And waited. And looked some more. I stood there for half an hour waiting for them to show up, but no dice. I went home javelina-less and broken-hearted.

“Did you check under the bridges?” Tucsonians asked when I told them of my zero-javelina trip to the Desert Museum. Yes, I checked under the bridges. “Did you look under the bushes?” Yes, I looked under the bushes. Then they’d shrug as I hung down my head.

Then the other day I decided, by golly, I was going to get a good look at those guys and I went back to the Desert Museum, this time early in the morning.

And lo!

There were several of them all lured out by vegetable popsicles (they looked like hunks of sweet potatoes frozen in blocks of ice) and happily chomping away. I stood at the bridge and watched them for a good long while and finally felt satisfied.

Here we are flush from our javelina hunt success

there’s lots more cool stuff at the Desert Museum — like Danger Snake!

and this chubber lizard

But then! I got a little lagniappe javelina on our trip to New Mexico over the long weekend. We were driving through the Gila National Forest wending our way through high altitude forest. We had already seen several deer on the side of the road so were driving carefully when what should come rustling out of the bushes, but a genuine javelina! I didn’t manage a picture because I was squealing too much, but ask Chris — he can confirm that this wasn’t just a fever dream sighting.

I didn’t get a pic of the javelina, but I did get a pic of javalina, a coffee shop in Silver City.

and extra bonus: cool blue beetle at Gila Cliff Dwellings

Chris crouched in the ruins of Gila

The view from the caves… is that a javelina on the hill?

Gila Cave visitors

While we’re talking about the trip to New Mexico, here’s the run down: Silver City, Gila Cliff Dwellings, awesome green chile pasta at Diane’s, Alamogordo and an insane monsoon that almost kept us from getting back to our motel, Saturday morning menudo, sledding at White Sands, fireworks in Mesilla, a hike to Dripping Springs on Organ Mountain and, finally, an awesome, awesome stuffed sopapilla in Las Cruces. Fun trip. Here are the pics.

a shocklingly good Hatch green chile alfredo at Diane’s in Silver City

White Sands is… really white. Chris treks across the desert in search of the perfect photo

the unusually dramatic parking lot at the end of the park

sledding! on the dunes!

hooray!

there weren’t that many places open on the Fourth, but gracias, Alamogordo, por Panaderia Amigos where we got tamales, pastry and their Saturday special: menudo. Yum.

from Panaderia Amigos in Alamogordo: a surprising – and tasty and filling – bready pumpkin pastry

an excellent selection of Sonoran/South New Mexican specialties including pork and potato chili from Andele in Las Cruces all jammed onto a big sloppy plate.

C and I thought we’d just share one combo plate and a side of guacamole for a sensible meal… only the guac arrive as a verdant mountain

wow! stuffed sopapilla in red chile sauce at Las Trancas in Las Cruces

huevos rancheros with green chile sauce at Las Trancas

complimentary sopapillas with honey come at the end of your meal at Las Trancas. Who can say no to *free* deep-fried bread?

the very cool Dripping Springs ruins floating above Las Cruces. It was nice and cool up here and there was actually a spring!