In New Mexico

September 29,, 2007

It was really windy today. We went out into the desert to look for more goodies and were practically blown off our feet at time. We did find some really nice things and enjoyed the ride. The area is so extremely flat with buttes and bluffs just popping up seemingly from no where!! The colors are so beautiful also.

September 30, 2007

The wind has died down and we went out to the desert again. We drove some of the unpaved roads we saw yesterday and could not believe the wonderful stuff we found. We have all kinds of petrified wood, thought we were going to have to buy a piece as I didn’t want to go home without any!!! We also found dinosaur bones and dung!! The dung sounds bad, but it has become agate, they even make jewelry out of it!! I think we are going to have to ship more boxes home!!! What a great day!!

October 2, 2007

As we drove east the weather deteriorated a bit, and by the time we got to Grants, NM it was cold and rainy. Guess they really need the rain. They didn’t get that much, it dust drizzled most of the day.

This was just a convenient stop before Albuquerque, but I am glad we stopped here. Went to the visitors center and found out this is a wonderful geological area with two National Parks and lots of things to see and so. Wish we had more than three days to do it in!!!

Will be here until Fri. when we go to the Balloon Fiesta.

October 2, 2007

Another beautiful day. Decided to take advantage of it and took a ride into the country. There is so much open space out here. Stopped at a volcano and took a mile hike to the top. We were chastising ourselves with how difficult the climb was until we realized that we were at 8,000 feet!! There was also an ice cave in the lava tube. There is lave allover here.

Then we went to a wolf sanctuary. How much fun that was!!! They take in wolves that have been with people and cannot be turned into the wild. What interesting animals they are. I would just love to work in a place like that!!

October 3, 2007

Sunny and warm today. Went for a ride out in the country and to the top of Mt. Taylor. That mountain is 11,000 feet high. Stopped at a mining museum in Grants. It had a nice rock display and a replica of a uranium mine under the building. Very interesting and also made me aware that there is no way I could ever work in a mine!! Made me a bit nervous!!!

The geology around here is very interesting but the rock collecting is not that great. Most of what I have seen is sandstone. I would love to find a map that traces the lava flows around here, there are lots of them but I can’t make sense out of where they came from. I know there were several different volcanoes. Guess I will just have to do some research when I get home and have the time!?!?!?!?

Don’t know when the next time I will get on the internet will be, so you folks might not hear from us for a while. We leave Fri. AM for the Balloon Fiesta.