New Mexico and Texas - November 6-9, 2003

These pictures were taken on a weekend trip from Albuquerque, New Mexico, to Carlsbad Caverns, El Paso, and White Sands, then up to Santa Fe and Sandia Peak. They were taken with my Olympus C730 Ultra Zoom digital camera. Most images are shown at a resolution of 640x480, but are available in full 2048x1536 size by clicking on the links after the captions.

Thursday, November 6, 2003

Cathy and I left Albuquerque in the evening, made a stop for dinner at Penny's Diner in Vaughn, and got to Roswell before too late. The ride was mostly in the dark, so there are no pictures.

Friday, November 7, 2003

We made a quick stop at the museum in Roswell to see some Goddard rocket exhibits [3 Pictures], then drove through downtown Roswell [4 Pictures]. The big destination of the day was Carlsbad Caverns [2 Pictures]. On the way from the highway to the visitors center, the road passes through some Chihuahuan Desert scenery [8 Pictures], including the Walnut Canyon Vista Trail [7 Pictures]. It was hard to believe it was a desert with temperatures in the 40's with fog and drizzle. We got our cave tickets at the visitors center [2 Pictures], then started our way down into the natural entrance. There are lots of pictures from the tour, many with and many without the flash in attempts to get decent pictures. Carlsbad Caverns pictures:

the path from the visitors center to the entrance [2 Pictures]
at the entrance [7 Pictures]
just below the entrance and near the Bat Cave [13 Pictures]
Devils Spring [4 Pictures]
descending further [4 Pictures]
the Whale's Mouth [4 Pictures]
descending further [11 Pictures]
Iceberg Rock [5 Pictures]
up to the Green Lake Room [10 Pictures]
the Boneyard [4 Pictures]
the underground gift shops and restaurants [2 Pictures]
toward the Big Room [4 Pictures]
into the Big Room [8 Pictures]
the Lion's Tail [2 Pictures]
the Hall of Giants [2 Pictures]
Fairyland [5 Pictures]
Pools and the Temple of the Sun [9 Pictures]
the Lower Cave [5 Pictures]
the Bottomless Pit [2 Pictures]
more Big Room [3 Pictures]
Crystal Spring Dome [3 Pictures]
the Rock of Ages [5 Pictures]
the Painted Grotto [5 Pictures]
Doll's Theater [4 Pictures]

After Carlsbad, it was on to Texas and a very cool, foggy, and drizzly Guadalupe Mountains National Park [14 Pictures]. After we left the park, we drove out of the fog and got some nice views of the mountains [16 Pictures] from the road before it got dark and we continued on to El Paso for the night. [7 Sign Pictures].

Saturday, November 8, 2003

In the morning in El Paso, we tried to find a view of the Rio Grande and across into Juarez, Mexico, but that seems to be very hard. The best we could do was some pictures of the fence at the border and some things on the hill on the other side [5 Pictures]. We got some pictures of the mountains on the way up to Las Cruces [2 Pictures]. After Las Cruces, we went east into the White Sands Missile Range [3 Pictures], and eventually to the White Sands National Monument [28 Pictures]. We also stopped at the Space Museum in Alamogordo [3 Pictures]. On the way back to Albuquerque, we got to see the total lunar eclipse [18 Pictures]. [28 Sign Pictures].

Sunday, November 9, 2003

On Sunday, we took a ride up to Santa Fe [12 Pictures], and returned by the Turquoise Trail [9 Pictures] with a side trip up to Sandia Crest [8 Pictures].

E-mail domain: teresco.org, username: terescoj - Tue Nov 11 22:26:45 MST 2003