A few years ago Carol was an invited speaker at a veterinary pathology conference in Albuquerque. We took advantage of the opportunity to see more of the area before and after. Having read the fiction of Tony Hillerman and Michael McGarrity, both set in New Mexico, we were ready, or so we thought! By the end of our trip, we had put 2100 miles on our rental car (only about 100 miles of which were on Interstates), and discovered some wonderful New Mexico places.
We flew into El Paso, and drove up to our first stop, Cloudcroft, near Alamagordo. Cloudcroft is in the White Mountains, at an altitude of about 8000', settled at the turn of the (last!) century to cater to the railroad managers while the workers labored in the heat below. The Lodge at Cloudcroft sits at the top of a peak just outside of town. The main building sports a tower which sports graffiti carved into the wood panels by Clark Gable and Judy Garland - evidently they had a romantic interlude in the 1940's and memorialized their visit!
We used Cloudcroft as a base of operations while visiting White Sands National Monument, the Bureau of Land Management's Organ Pipes park overlooking the White Sands Missile Range, and Las Cruces. On the drive from Alamagordo to Las Cruces on US 70 you can see some interesting aircraft on the right (!), and a really interesting view of the White Sands complex from the park.
The drive to Albuquerque took us through Tularosa, a picturesque town full of cottonwoods. It's nestled under the Sierra Blanca peak to the east and above the Valley of Fires area to the west. Tularosa. Just north of Tularosa on Highway 54 is Three Rivers, barely a smudge on the road. Up the creek toward Sierra Blanca is the Three Rivers Petroglyph National Recreational Area, with probably the best, and most accessible petroglyphs we saw on our entire trip. A plaque there commemorates the first detonation of an atomic bomb at the Trinity site, just visible to the west. Our trip did not take us there during either of the two days that the Trinity site is open for visitors per year.
After a brief stop for lunch in wind-swept Carrizozo, we turned west on Highway 380 to the Valley of Fires, a National Park Service recreation area. A footpath leads through the blasted, lava-covered landscape, where plants, insects, and small animals have had a thousand years or so to soften the jagged pressure ridges.
We continued our drive westward, during which we saw barely another human being until we reached San Antonito and the Bosque Del Apache National Wildlife Area along the Rio Grande. Thousands and thousands of croaking and squawking sandhill cranes crowd every square inch of water. Civil engineering projects have constrained the annual flood cycles of the Rio Grande elsewhere, crowding the avian wildlife into this area. Carol really enjoyed birdwatching until dusk.
We drove north from San Antonito through Socorro and on into Albuquerque and to Carol's conference hotel, arriving very late.
Carol's conference kept her pretty busy, but the kids and I were able to visit the Albuquerque Botanical Gardens, Aquarium, and the Albuquerque Museum. The Albuquerque Museum has a magnificent collection of art and artifacts, but the most striking exhibit for me was of a Lionel model locomotive and tender identical to the one we have running under our Christmas tree every year - and I didn't even realize that my train collection was anything special!
We particularly enjoyed the Museum's special Desire and Devotion exhibit, featuring art and music from India, Tibet, and Nepal. We were fortunate to visit on a day when a number of Buddhist monks were present, talking to people about the exhibit.
Carol joined us for a trip to Albuquerque's Old Town for a walk and dinner. We're not much for tourist traps, but were enchanted by the American International Rattlesnake Museum. Carol did herptology at the National Zoo as a veterinary student, and had a great time talking to the proprietor about the snake collection. The kids and I had a great time looking at the snake kitsch.
The next day, the kids and I took the Sandia Peak Tramway to the top, where we once again experienced snow, cold weather, and a magnificent view. We were considerably sobered after this exhiliarating experience later when we visited the National Atomic Museum, which until 9/11 was accessible on the grounds of Kirtland Air Force Base, but is now located northwest of the city. We finished the day's travels by visiting Albuquerque National Monument on the northwest side. After all the publicity it gets, we were much happier to have already seen the Three Rivers petroglyph site...
That evening, Carol and I joined her veterinary pathology colleagues at the restaurant at the base of Sandia Peak - the tram was closed because of high winds, so we didn't get to see the Albuquerque city lights from the top. On our way back, we stopped at some of the art galleries northeast of downtown to admire - but not buy - the art, sculpture, and fashions on display.
On our last morning in Albuquerque, we visited the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center to orient ourselves to our coming travels through the pueblos west of Albuquerque. There, we learned about the etiquette of visiting the inhabited pueblos, and learned about the graphical styles and construction techniques of genuine and fake pueblo pottery - knowledge that would soon come into good use.
We visited Acoma / Sky City pueblo that afternoon, leaving our car in the visitor's center parking lot and taking the bus up the circuitous route to the top of the mesa. Our guide provided valuable information about the inhabitants' use of dry farming techniques, and the limited acceptance of Christianity from missionaries. While our bus group walked around the pueblo, we encountered people selling exquisite pottery, for a small fraction of the prices asked in the art galleries of Albuquerque. I bought a couple of small pots, and packed them carefully away.
That night, we stayed in Grants, at one of the very nice Best Western hotels in northwestern New Mexico. These hotels are very well kept, have lots of space in the rooms, have indoor pools (a necessity while with kids), decent restaurants, and a free breakfast buffet.
The next morning we struck out cross-country on what seemed to be the most direct route to the magnificent Chaco Canyon National Park. However, we discovered that direct may not necessarily mean fastest - don't think that just because a road has a state highway number, it isn't a two-track, dirt road! Slick mud and cattle really kept us on our toes. We watched other travellers in 4x4s turn around and head back at one particularly nasty washout, but talked with another family in a 4x4, who agreed to pull us out of the mud if we got stuck. Greg and I surveyed the pasture near the washout, and determined that if we moved some of the larger rocks, we could drive around. Our route planned, we then proceeded to drive our Dodge Intrepid through the cow pasture, liberally slathering the bottom of the car with adobe - mud and straw! Our acquaintences followed, and on we went.
The inaccessibility of Chaco Canyon is striking, and has helped it to avoid some of the depredations visited upon the more popular dwellings and "top 10" national parks.
We spent the better part of the day at Chaco Canyon, walking around the ruins and marvelling at the dry-rock construction techniques and immense scale of the settlements. Unfortunately, we didn't hike back to the site of the supernova petroglyph (where the explosion of what is now the Crab Nebula is noted in a petroglyph on a rock shelf below West Mesa, just outside the Peñasco Blanco "great house"). I'll have to get back there.
At dusk, we left the park and drove on to Farmington, a good two hours away through Nageezi and Blanco Trading Post. From the ridge-top road, we could see the lights of cars on New Mexico 64, probably 10-15 miles away. After dinner and getting settled into the hotel (another great Best Western), I drove the car to the nearest car wash and spent an hour or so pressure-washing set-up adobe from the bottom :-)
The next morning, we drove through Shiprock to the Four Corners (where Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico meet at the only place in the United States where such a point is found). Tony Hillerman doesn't like the big-city atmosphere of Farmington, but describes Shiprock in much more sympathetic terms in his books. I can see why - it's in a spectacular setting.
We drove northwest through Teec Nos Pos (in Arizona), where we stopped at the trading post - a terrific place. Carol spotted some goats behind the trading post with unusual horns and hooves, and had a nice conversation with the proprietor while the kids and I picked out some silver and turquoise to buy.
The Four Corners itself is marked with an impressive monument, but surrounded by the decrepit stands of a number of vendors with really junky stuff.
Back through Shiprock, we drove southward on Highway 666. On both sides of the road, buttes mark the locations of ancient volcanoes. An occasional power line heads off toward a residence in the distance, and a number of octagonal lodges, sans power lines, indicate more traditional dwellings. Along the way, one road branches off to Window Rock and Fort Defiance, across the border in Arizona. 666 is a very long, straight road, and picturesque as it is, it's almost a relief to get to Gallup.
After a quick lunch in Gallup, we pushed on southward through the heavily forested area around the Zuni Pueblo, past Fence Lake, and to Quemado. We hadn't seen another car for more than an hour when we stopped by the side of the road to find a convenient bush to pee near - immediately, a car zoomed around the nearest bend in the road and past (note to self: when car breaks down late at night on a deserted road, just get out and pee).
Michael McGarrity set some of his novels in this area of New Mexico. There's water here from somewhere, but I sure can't figure out where.
East of Pie Town on Highway 60 is the National Radio Astronomical Observatory, with its collection of 27 radio antennas positioned along each of three 13-mile-long tracks radiating out from the center. We arrived too late to go through the visitor's center, but not so late that we couldn't walk around on the interpretive trail, where I geeked out while Carol birdwatched. I picked up some of the free NRAO bumper stickers and postcards, and we left to complete our late-afternoon trip back to Socorro for an overnight stay after a very, very long day of driving
Leaving Socorro, we spent the morning birding again at Bosque del Apache. We made our way in a lesiurely manner back across Highway 380 - back through Carrizozo, and up into the White Mountains to Ruidoso.
After fighting off the U.S. Cavalry for decades in the inhospitable Valley of Fires, the Mescalero Apache tribe struck on a more remunerative strategy for dealing with Americans, and opened a casino complex on the east side of Sierra Blanco called Inn of the Mountain Gods. Although we didn't visit the casino, we did spend a relaxed afternoon and evening walking around the resort complex, swimming in the beautiful pool (heated in the cool late November air), and eating dinner at the resort's restaurant. Even now, years later, our kids say the best meal they've ever eaten was there at the Inn of the Mountain Gods. I can't help but agree. After dinner, we relaxed at the lodge's massive fireplace, and then retired to our large, well-appointed room.
A short drive from Ruidoso took us to Roswell, where we did our obligatory visit to the UFO Museum. After this brief and annoying stop, we spent much of the rest of the day in the exquisite Roswell Museum and Art Center. Robert Goddard's rocketry workshop is reconstructed there, as well as a magnificent collection of the paintings of Georgia O'Keefe. That afternoon, we found another birding opportunity, at Roswell's Bitter Lake National Wildlife Refuge, renowned for the most diverse population of dragonflies and damselflies in the world. At that late date in November, none were in evidence, however.
Directly south of Roswell is Carlsbad Caverns National Park. On the way, we spent a very enjoyable couple of hours at the Living Desert State Park, which boasts a diverse collection of desert flora and fauna in a very natural setting. Our hotel reservations were in Whites City, "the gateway to Carlsbad National Park." Little did we know that Whites City is entirely owned and operated to extract cash from tourists visiting the National Park. If you travel to Carlsbad Caverns National Park, plan to stay, and eat, elsewhere. We did enjoy hot-tubbing under the stars, I'd have to admit. However, compared to the Inn of the Mountain Gods, and at a higher price for dinner and lodgings, the Whites City hotel and restaurant complex is ruinous.
We woke up on Thanksgiving Day to clear blue skies, and entered the National Park. Our kids, grumpy after almost two weeks of travel, were not at all interested in another day of nature tourism. Topping this off, eating National Park concession sandwiches, even in the depths of Carlsbad Cavern, did not adequately substitute for a traditional Thanksgiving dinner at home. Birdwatching afterwards (above ground!) didn't help.
However, the kids did cheer up a bit as we drove out of the National Park and into Texas. The calcium carbonate rock formations near the road are very interesting, but the Guadalupe Mountains are really spectacular, rising directly out of the plains. The late afternoon sun, and rare clouds combined to make a very picturesque setting.
The drive to El Paso, about two hours, was once again almost completely devoid of cars. This contrasted starkly with the drive back from Detroit to Kalamazoo the next day after our return flight. It's a drive of about the same duration, where the volume of car and truck traffic on Interstate 94 is about as high as anywhere in the country.
We were glad to be home, but still miss New Mexico.
Last Updated April 19, 2015