This park is west of Albuquerque, about 80 miles from the Arizona state line. We are camping in a BLM camping, and have a wonderful spot. This is a one-nighter stop, in preparation for driving through Petrified Forest National Park, with the RV in tow tomorrow. We got here this morning, and this afternoon visited… Continue reading El Malpais National Monument
Tag: New Mexico
Albuquerque Museums
Today we visited two museums. In the morning we saw the Indian Pueblo Cultural center which is focused specifically on the Pueblo Indians. We found out that contrary to many other tribes, they were not displaced by the conquering countries (Spain, then Mexico, and finally the USA) National Atomic Museum Because of Monday closures, we… Continue reading Albuquerque Museums
Santa Fe, NM
Today, we drove North to Santa Fe and visited two museums. The Museum of Indian art and culture This one was really about art, versus history. We saw amazing beadwork from a featured artist. We then walked round the historic section of Santa Fe We had lunch at a fantastic Mexican restaurant and then proceeded to… Continue reading Santa Fe, NM
Old Town Albuquerque
The museum being closed, we did what we had planned to be activity #2 first. It is a visually very interesting place, with all the building being what they call “Spanish colonial” style. A number of businesses and restaurants were closed, on account of Presidents day, but there was plenty open, and we had a… Continue reading Old Town Albuquerque
Drive from Alamogordo to Albuquerque NM – when plans go off the rails
A beautiful drive, as we are crossing over to a different valley. We arrive early, because we are heading to a “First Come First Served” campground, which we had been told after calling them that they had plenty of availability. That was true, because when we got there, the campground was empty and we were… Continue reading Drive from Alamogordo to Albuquerque NM – when plans go off the rails
Three Rivers Petroglyph site
The Three Rivers Petroglyph site is a short drive from Alamogordo. According to the visitor center, there are over 20,000 individual petroglyphs in the area. We saw several hundred on the half-mile trail we took. It was an amazing experience. (FYI, these are not painted petroglyphs – there are engraved by removing a naturally occurring… Continue reading Three Rivers Petroglyph site
White Sands National Park
Today we spent the day at White Sands National Park, including walking 4 different trails and walking a total of almost 6 miles. If that wasn’t enough, we also did some sledding down the sand dunes. Interestingly, we only saw young kids doing that, with their parents supervising. I guess we are kids at heart…… Continue reading White Sands National Park
Travel to Alamogordo, NM
Today was just a short drive from Las Cruces NM to Alamogordo NM. In doing so, we drove past White Sands National Park where we will return tomorrow. Today was a quiet day, no touring. After settling in to our campsite, we went to enjoy a coffee at Starbucks, and then went to a car… Continue reading Travel to Alamogordo, NM
journey to Las Cruces NM
Not only are there no services, but there are also nearly no inhabitants. Most structures along the route (and there aren’t many) appear to have been abandoned quite some time ago. It was only about 20 miles out from El Paso, that we began to see some residential unit density and roadside mailboxes. In the… Continue reading journey to Las Cruces NM
summary of our first BLM experience
BLM stands for Bureau of Land Management and is part of the US Government. It sets aside certain areas for public use, and no cost to the users. Such camping involves no hookups (see previous post on dry camping). In this case, the area was set up as a campground, and had designated areas for… Continue reading summary of our first BLM experience