by Celeste Lipford and Terry Lipford - last updated on 10/6/2025
Day 4 of our Southwest road trip took us on a scenic 209-mile journey from our hotel in Albuquerque, New Mexico, to the desert town of Alamogordo. The route, while fast-paced with a generous 75 mph speed limit along stretches of highway, still required a break from the long, uninterrupted drive. After all, there’s only so much sitting one can endure before the need to stretch your legs becomes impossible to ignore. Just before reaching Alamogordo, we spotted a unique roadside attraction that practically begged us to pull over—McGinn's PistachioLand, home of the world’s largest pistachio! It turned out to be the perfect place for a pit stop. Not only did we get to walk around and shake off the road trip fatigue, but we also explored the charming farm store, sampled locally grown pistachios, and snapped a few fun photos of the giant nut monument. It was a refreshing and unexpected detour that added some quirky local flavor to the day's drive, reminding us that sometimes the best parts of a road trip are the spontaneous stops along the way.
The Chihuahuan Desert contains the World's Largest Pistachio! Towering over 30 feet tall, this giant nut caught our eye as we were driving south and we decided to stop and explore the store.
Inside their country store their pistachio selection is impressive, with flavors ranging from classic roasted and salted to adventurous options like green chile and ranch. They offer pistachio candies and ice cream – which we had and we enjoyed it.
The McGinn family started their 90 acre pistachio orchard in 1980. Today, the orchard contains over 12,500 trees. 14 acres of grapes are also grown at Pistachio Tree Ranch and 18 different varieties of wine are made at McGinn's Arena Blanca Winery on site.
More Info for PistachioLand
We drove south from Albuquerque on I-25 and then east on route 380 to Carizozo where we then turned south on U.S. 54. The point of all these directions is that we began to notice somewhere after we passed Three Rivers and before we reached Tularosa, that there was a large amount of white sand off to the west of the highway - That was our first sight of White Sands National Park. The sand is so incredibly white, that it stands out distinctly on the horizon. After Tularosa and all the way into Alamogordo the White Sands were always visible on the horizon.
To view our experiences there, click here to view our White Sands National Park page.
As of 4/12/2025 and according to Google Review Ratings, here are five highly rated accommodations in Alamogordo;
Google Review Rating 4.3 based upon 329 review.
Google Review Rating 4.4 based upon 633 review.
Google Review Rating 4.2 based upon 1,200+ review.
Google Review Rating 4.2 based upon 626 review.
Google Review Rating 4.1 based upon 826 review.
As of 4/12/2025 and according to Google Review Ratings, here are the five most popular restaurants in Alamogordo;
Google Review Rating 4.8 based upon 263 review.
Google Review Rating 4.8 based upon 112 review.
Google Review Rating 4.7 based upon 1,300+ review.
Google Review Rating 4.5 based upon 331 review.
Google Review Rating 5.0 based upon 1 review.
We elected to stay at the Alamogordo Hampton Inn for several reasons, primarily because we were only going to be there for a single night and it was a good quality hotel at a reasonable price. And secondarily because it was only 14 miles from the entrance to White Sands National Park.
If you would prefer to do your own accommodations research, here is a link to a Google Search Results list for "accommodations in Alamogordo, NM".
In the trip menu list below, a "dark filled circle" represents a destination where we stayed, and the "dark filled arrow" items below that circle location, represent the destinations we visited while in that city or location. A circle icon that is not filled represents a city that we visited or stayed in, but did not necessarily explore.
Click any link below to go directly to that page;
Chaco Culture National Historical Park, NM
Grand Canyon, AZ
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