Last year a former co-worker from my teaching days was stuck in Alamogordo, NM while they got their RV fixed. They visited PistachioLand, home of the World's Largest Pistachio. Of course, I had to add it to the bucket list. When the hubby said he wanted to avoid the mountains on the way to Arizona and take a southern route through Las Cruces and Tucson, I saw that we were LITERALLY driving right by PistachioLand. I added it to the list.
PistachioLand is a working pistachio farm and winery on US 54 outside of Alamogordo. It is open daily from 9-5. The parking lot is not huge but there is plenty of parking in a back field as well.
The first thing I did was take a picture of the giant pistachio.. another giant statue added to the list. And of course a selfie with it. The hubby wanted nothing to do with the giant pistachio.
We wandered in the gift shop next where you can sample wine and taste pistachios. As much as I wanted to try some pistachio wine, we were on a time crunch so I skipped that. I did try some regular pistachios and decided I am still not a fan of pistachios.
Due to time constraints, we did not take the farm tour. For $3 a person, you can take a 30 minute tour tram tour of the pistachio orchard and vineyard. Maybe on another visit we can take a tour. The trees were still hibernating so nothing was green yet anyways. You can book the tour ahead of time or walk ups are available as well.
We also did not have ice cream. Initially I was going to demand we have a mid afternoon snack but then I found out the pizza place we were having dinner at had gelato. Gelato won out. Again I think the time crunch would have made us skip the ice cream anyways. They have homemade pistachio ice cream along the several other flavors.
It may be a typical tourist attraction that still survives but it is definitely worth checking out. Just make sure you leave crabby people in the car and leave plenty of time to do everything.
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