New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science, Albuquerque, NM

After browsing around the Sculpture Garden outside the nearby Museum of Art and History, we had lunch at a nearby restaurant in Old Town and then made our way into the New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science.

This is really a great museum and we enjoyed our visit. There were several middle school groups there that posed some disruptions to otherwise peaceful browsing of exhibits, etc. But, we reminded ourselves that the future of all museums rests squarely on the captured interests of young shoulders... and so it is always a good thing when children are visiting.

We watched the Imax 3-D show "Tiny Giants", a day in the life of a scorpion mouse and a chipmunk, and it was most excellent. The animations are done so well, it is about impossible to tell where the real creatures stop and the CGI begins. We were the only two people in the theater that were not part of a school group. As it turned out, we enjoyed the "oohs" and "aahs" from the kids, and their excitement at watching the show.

A visit to the New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science is well worth the time. Highly recommended!

Welcome

Tyrannosaurus Rex

Seismosaurus

Pentaceratops Shull

Mosasaur

Diatryma

Sculpture Garden, Museum of Art and History, Albuquerque, NM

We visited the New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science today... but it took us a while to go into the facility because we were distracted by the Sculpture Garden outside the nearby Museum of Art and History. What an awesome display!

In particular, I fell in love with the collection of life-size bronze sculptures, "La Jornada", depicting Governor Juan de Onate's seven-month expedition to New Mexico in 1598. He was accompanied by nearly 600 settlers, including women and children, along with Mexican Indians, Franciscan friars, and thousands of sheep, pigs, goats, cattle, mules, and horses. Here are some photos... scroll down for more!

In addition to "La Jornada", there were other wonderful bronze works on display:

By the time we finished walking around the Sculpture Garden, it was time for lunch. We enjoyed a very good meal at Back Street Grill in Old Town. After lunch, we finally made our way to the New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science.

Bandelier National Monument, NM

Today we visited the Bandelier National Monument and loved it!

Bandelier is about a two-hour drive from our campground at Kirtland AFB - an interesting and easy drive. We went up through the Santa Fe area, over to White Rock, and then on to the monument.

Bandelier National Monument preserves the homes and territory of the Ancestral Pueblo People. Most of the pueblo structures date from 1150 to 1600 CE. The Monument is 50 square miles of the Pajarito Plateau, on the slopes of the Jemez Volcanic field in the Jemez Mountains.

Over 70% of the Monument is Wilderness, with over one mile elevation change, from about 5,000 feet along the Rio Grande to over 10,000 feet at the peak of Cerro Grande on the rim of the Valles Caldera, providing for a wide range of life zones and wildlife habitat. There are only three miles of road, but over 70 miles of hiking trails.

The Monument protects Ancestral Pueblo archeological sites, a diverse and scenic landscape, and the country's largest National Park Service Civilian Conservation Corps National Landmark District.

We really enjoyed exploring the Pueblo ruins, the cliff dwellings and the amazing landscape. HIGHLY recommended!

Pueblo Ruins

Along the Cliff

A Cliff Dwelling

Part of the same Cliff Dwelling

Entrance to a Cliff Dwelling

Foliage Abounds

A Portion of the Cliffs

Cinco de Mayo with Kristy and Family, Albuquerque, NM

After our jaunt on the Bosque Trail and lunch at Hurricane's, we returned home to walk the dogs and take showers. Then, off to dinner to meet up with Kristy and her family.

When Lynda had her stroke in 2008, she had to learn to drive again and Kristy was her driving therapist. She really made an impression on Lynda and, even after Kristy moved back to Albuquerque 7 years ago, they've kept in touch. So a visit with Kristy was at the top of our list for Albuquerque.

We met Kristy at Cervantes Restaurant, just outside the base. The food was very good (recommended) and it was great to see Kristy and meet her family.

Biking on the Bosque Trail and Hurricane's - Albuquerque, NM

We rode our bikes today on part of the Paseo del Bosque Trail, a 16-mile multi-use trail that goes from the north to the south edges of Albuquerque's metro area through the Rio Grande's cottonwood bosque (forest).

We got on the trail at the Alameda access point, the trail's northern start, and rode for 5-6 miles before turning around. This took us though the Alameda Wetland, a man-made area intended to replicate the natural wetlands that historically occupied the floodplain of the Rio Grande.

Despite the cool rainy weather, it was a very fun ride. I noticed unusual hints of shortness of breath and then remembered that Albuquerque sits at over 5300 feet above sea level. At a mile high, the air is thin here and it makes a difference.

Along the Canal

We mostly rode along the top of a berm alongside a canal. There are properties backing up to this canal, most of them with horses. The canal offered up ducks and egrets and we also saw a coyote: he raced across a horse pasture when he saw us, crossing the canal at a low spot and running into the woods. There he stopped, watching us closely until he realized I was looking at him - then he spun around and took off.

Rio Grande River from the Trail

If we were in Albuquerque for an extended period of time, I would love to ride the trail in sections from each access point. Next time we visit this area, I hope to bike another section.

After our bike ride, we made a stop at Hurricane's Cafe & Drive In, home to the infamous "Disaster Burrito."  This a HUGE beef and bean burrito smothered with curly fries, New Mexico red and green chile, cheddar and jack cheeses, and topped with lettuce and tomato.

1/2 of a Disaster Burrity

This thing is so big you can order it in fractions: 1/8, 1/4, 1/2, or a whole (for the foolhardy). We opted to share a 1/2 serving and could not finish it! To be honest, the burrito itself was only average, but the portion was amazing and we liked the ambiance of the place. We would go back, but try something else next time.

Here we are in Albuquerque, NM

We left Fools Hollow campground this morning. As it turned out, we never did get a neighbor and so had that great big site to ourselves. Nice! We did not do much of anything yesterday (Saturday) - the weather turned cool and rainy and so we just relaxed and caught up on a few chores.

Entering New Mexico

This morning, we took the scenic route from Show Low to Albuquerque, and it was an absolutely gorgeous drive despite the rainy weather. We went along Highway 60 for about 200 miles before turning north at Socorro. This route runs through the White Mountains, rising and falling from around 5000 ft to over 7000 ft above sea level. We passed through the Gila National Forest and the Cibola National Forest - this is all "high desert" county and is lovely. Highly recommended!

Part of the Array behind the car

A few miles west of Socorro, still on Highway 60, we came upon the Very Large Array - one of the world's premier astronomical radio observatories. I pulled over and took a few photos but, unfortunately, could not  capture the immensity of this antenna complex. Sometime around 1997, I toured the VLA when I was in Socorro on temporary duty with my Air National Guard unit. It is impressive!

We're now settled in the campground at Kirtland AFB, and like it. We ended up in one of the newer pull-through sites which are huge, but unprotected by any trees or foliage.

Newer part of Kirtland AFB Campground

The wind can blow pretty hard here this time of year and so, in hindsight, it might have been better to choose a site in the older area. The older area has smaller back-in sites that are protected by trees and hedges. Kirtland AFB campground has an off-leash dog park so I know Sydney and Barley will love it here!

We have a long "To Do and See" list for the next five days in the Albuquerque area, thanks in part to suggestions from friends.

Stay tuned!

Kinishba Ruins, AZ

After exploring Fort Apache today, we made our way to the nearby Kinishba ruins.

Kinishba is a large pueblo ruin containing nine masonry buildings constructed between 1250 and 1350 A.D. by the pre-Columbian Mogollon culture. The pueblo is situated on the upper end of a grass covered valley and originally had 400-500 ground floor rooms standing two or three stories high. At its peak, Kinishba may have housed up to 1000 occupants. The pueblo was vacated in the late 14th-early 15th centuries for unknown reasons.

From 1931 to 1940, the archeologist Dr. Byron Cummings, Director of the Arizona State Museum and head of the Department of Archeology at the University of Arizona, led a team of archaeology students and Apache over several seasons to excavate and restore (rebuild) Kinishba. He named the site, derived from the Apache words: ki datbaa, meaning "brown house." The teams also built a pueblo-style museum and visitor's center, as Cummings envisioned it as a destination to help with economic development of the area.

Cummings hoped Kinishba would be declared a national monument and taken under National Park Service management, but did not succeed in this. In 1964, the NPS designated the site as a National Historic Landmark, by which time it had fallen into disrepair.

To access the ruins, you leave the main road and drive approximately 2 miles on a primitive road past some ranches and modest homes. You eventually arrive at a very small parking lot. There is no-one around to keep an eye on visitors to the ruins: anyone can scramble around and cause more damage, remove stones, etc. We ran into a couple other people when we first got there but they were on their way out. It was very quiet and bit creepy.

In my opinion, Dr. Cummings did more harm than good. First of all, his team rebuilt the pueblo based on their best guess of how it was originally constructed. In so doing, they almost certainly altered the pueblo so the ruins are no longer authentic. And they did a structurally poor job: the ruins had survived at least 600 years, but the rebuild did not last 30 years. To top it all off, the well-intentioned Cummings made the location of Kinishba known... and now visitors explore unsupervised, sometimes causing more damage. Lynda and I both thought it was a sad situation.

See some photos below.

After leaving the Kinishba Ruins, we made our way back to Show Low via Highway 73 to Highway 60. This was also a very pretty drive.

Fort Apache Historic Park, AZ

Today, we visited the Fort Apache Historic Park located on the Fort Apache Indian Reservation. This reservation is home to the federally recognized White Mountain Apache Tribe of the Fort Apache Reservation.

We took Highway 60 through Pinetop-Lakeside then south to the Fort Apache Historic Park. This drive took us through some lovely countryside, including part of the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest. I could live in this area, with its mountainous landscapes, rivers and streams, and wide variety of foliage and wildlife!

Once we arrived at the Fort Apache Historic Park, we went into the Museum, paid the modest admission fee of $5 each, and watched a short video about the Creation Story of the White Mountain Apache Tribe. We also browsed around the exhibits before leaving the museum building to begin our walking tour.

The Fort Apache Historic Park encompasses the original site of the Fort Apache military post constructed between 1874 and 1932. This was a major outpost during the 1861-1886 Apache wars and remained a military post until 1922. In 1923 the fort became the site of the Theodore Roosevelt Indian School and its buildings were turned over to the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Today, several buildings continue to stand on the White Mountain Reservation. The Fort Apache post office occupies the adobe adjutant's building. A log building, one of the oldest structures and reputedly the residence of General Crook, as well as the stone officers' quarters, are today the residences of teachers and other Bureau of Indian Affairs employees. Unfortunately, the last standing original barracks, an adobe building, burned in 1984 and lays in ruins. The parade ground provides a recreational area.

Here are a few photos of Fort Apache Historic Park:

Girls Dormitory

Theodore Roosevelt School

Burned Adobe Barracks

Adjutant's Office - Now the Post Office

The Commanding Officer's Quarters

The Captain's Quarters

The First Commanding Officer's Quarters

Fools Hollow Lake Recreation Area, Show Low, AZ

When we packed up this morning to leave Cattail Cove State Park, I was pleased to notice the leveler jacks are retracting silently and completely since I greased them a couple days ago. So it seems that little issue is resolved!

We made our way to Fools Hollow Recreation Area in Show Low, AZ which is in the White Mountains of Arizona. This is a beautiful area that ranges from around 5000 ft to more than 7000 ft above sea level. This region is typically 15-25°F cooler than the rest of Arizona and is a popular year-round recreational area. Although the drive was easy and the scenery was lovely, the 360 mile distance is longer than I normally care to make. We got a very early start leaving Cattail Cove so we could arrive in the Show Low area around 4PM.

So here we are now, settled in to a very nice "side by side" campsite - that is, two sites sharing the same pad. I guess these "side by side" sites are intended for a couple of families who are camping together. These were the only type of sites available so we decided to go for it. If we get a neighbor the space will be very crowded, but if we don't get a neighbor we'll have plenty of room. We'll see if someone shows up over the next couple days.

The campground at Fools Hollow Lake Recreation Area is clean and well-laid out, and the camp hosts and rangers are very pleasant and helpful. I think we'll like it here.

Oh yeah, we had to put the front tires up on wood again. What is up with the unlevel campsites we keep getting?

Waterdoggies, Cattail Cove State Park, Lake Havasu City, AZ

Sydney and Barley had such fun swimming in the lake today!  And then they had a bath...

London Bridge, Etc., Lake Havasu City, AZ

Believe it or not, London Bridge is right here in Lake Havasu City, Arizona!

It is an interesting story of how this came to be: In 1962, the bridge built in 1831 over the River Thames in London was determined not to be sufficiently strong to support the growing load of modern traffic. And so the City of London put the bridge up for sale and it was bought by Robert P. McCulloch, the man who founded Lake Havasu City in 1964. To transport the bridge to Arizona, it had to be dismantled block by block, each one meticulously numbered. McCulloch had the exterior granite blocks transported to America and reassembled around a reinforced concrete structure to rebuild the London Bridge in Lake Havasu City.

We drove into town from the campground, and spent some time in the Lake Havasu Visitors Center and browsing around the London Bridge. It's a neat area, with some shops and a couple casual restaurants - including Bridge Burger, where we had lunch.

Our next stop was Home Depot for some wood; we had an associate cut down a 16-ft piece of 12x2 into several 30" and 12" pieces. We should now have enough wood to tackle just about any unlevel campsite!  I also bought a hand-type grease gun and grease to service the leveler system.

After Home Depot, we made a stop at the local Walmart for some supplies and then headed back to the campground, where I greased the leveler jacks. I won't know until we retract the jacks whether this will resolve the issues - will have to wait until we pack up to leave.