Pi Day in Pie Town

Nestled just north of the Gila National forest right on the continental divide is one of New Mexico’s quaintest little towns with some of the best desserts you can find west of the Mississippi. Pie Town, New Mexico’s claim to fame is the homemade pies they produce. I mean the town even has a whole weekend of festivities in the fall dedicated to the pastries. Since 1995 the Pie-O-Neer has been cranking out a multitude of pies, from your traditional apple and cherry to the uniquely New Mexico peach green chile and apple with green chile and pine nuts. All are delicious!!!

Less than an hour and a half west of Socorro along highway 60, my friends and I could think of no better place to celebrate the nerdiest of days in 2015, 3/14/15, the closest to actual Pi Day we would see in our lifetime. We started our adventure westward passing by Box Canyon, the Very Large Array (VLA), and finally into the Magdalena mountains. This being my first time seeing the VLA, I was quite astonished by the vastness of the area scattered with satellite dishes large enough to be mounted on train cars for position adjustments. It was a gorgeous drive that went as quickly as a New Mexico rainstorm.

When we get to Pie Town, the Pie-O-Neer has a line out the door. We begin to worry about getting pie as everyone is talking about how busy they have been all day. Apparently we were not the only people that decided Pie Town was perfect for Pi Day. We finally reach the front counter to find out they have one pie left, caramel pecan. Which was nowhere near my top five choices, but being the only one left of course we all get a slice. I did not recall a time before this that I had ever had pecan pie. It was always one desert I avoided, but then I took a bite and this pie was so good it easily jumped into my top ten desserts of all time. We all quickly devoured our slices, the feeling was mutual among us all that this pie rocked! After a few more hours of adventuring through the surroundings and enjoying what was almost a step back in time being in this little mountain town, we headed back to Socorro.

All this pie talk has made me hungry, until next time!

Clayton