On the playa of Dog Canyon, outside of Alamogordo in the Sacramento Mountains, this tribute to the life of Oliver Lee, prominent in New Mexico's early development as a U.S. state, is a flowing-water oasis in the rocky Chihuahuan desert. A separate parcel not far distant showcases the Lee family's restored 19th-century ranch house. A patchy storm was with us our first night, making for a glorious sunset series. It rained most of the night, letting up either the next morning or the morning after enough to allow us a walk along the sketchy creekside nature trail.
