Category Archives: local attraction

Birding at the Cocina

We had breakfast at Irma’s, a small Mexican restaurant just outside [Pancho Villa State Park](http://www.emnrd.state.nm.us//panchovillastatepark.html) in Columbus, New Mexico.

The food was great and the decorations quite unique. The owner has a penchant for roosters. They are too neat not to share.

There was a rooster in the cooler. Irma said, “He’s being punished.” (She had no other place to display him)

This statute is made in Mexico out of car tire rubber.

We returned to Irma’s this morning for a get out of town breakfast. Next stop – Patagonia Lake State Park.

Po-boys at Crofutt’s Sandwich Shop

It’s a place we would normally drive by, not being adventurous eaters. A tired-looking building on a wind-swept curve in the highway, parking lot filled with muddy pickup trucks, Crofutt’s is an area attraction, known for its monstrous hamburgers, shrimp po-boys, and cinnamon rolls to die for. We were told about this place four years ago and try to make the trek each time we are at Goose Island.

Crofutt’s doesn’t lok like much from a distance.

 

The shop has been in business for half a century or more and the walls are lined with pictures from the past. They make it on their food, not their ambiance. My kind of place.

My Ford looked a bit puny up beside these muddy working trucks.

 

Mary and I were the only ones in the place not wearing muddy leather boots. Guys working on ranches or oil/gas rigs flock to this place – a mixture of Hispanic and Anglo, and most were built like guards for the Dallas Cowboys.

We ordered Shrimp Po-Boys and as we waited, listened to the Texas twangs and the banter of the waitresses. It was obvious that most were locals – I suspect we were the only visitors (although they get many.)

I didn’t ask if there was a vegetarian menu. This sandwich rocked.

 

The sandwiches are big and they are good – well worth the drive. We bought a package of cinnamon rolls and loaf of pumpkin bread – because we could.

We did a little back road birding on the way home and after a rest, I took Penny on an hour and a half walk. I don’t know if she needed it, but I did.