johnboystravelblog

May 31, 2017

This post contains photographs I took while visiting Carlsbad Caverns National Park in southeast New Mexico.

(Photo credit: wiki-travel.com)

I arrived in the town of Carlsbad the night before, after having visited Ruidoso and Roswell on my way east from Las Cruces, NM.  The Caverns are about 20 miles southwest of the town of Carlsbad.

This post contains photos I took the day I was there.  While I took well over 200 pictures I was extremely disappointed to discover that most of them are not blog-worthy.  In fact, they are terrible!  While the formations I was photographing were clear on my smartphone’s screen evidently a combination of low-light and the slightest movement of the camera as I triggered the shutter was just enough to result in about 200 blurry pictures.  Here are a few that came out reasonably well.  As I mentioned in Post 1, I am so glad that I took lots of time to go through the Cavern and that I periodically put my camera away and just looked at my surroundings.  At least now when I look at my blurry photos I am at least reminded of the things I saw with my own eyes which my mind can recall more clearly.

Post 1 of 2 (above) will explain a little bit about where I am and exactly what you are seeing.

In the photo above, the formation on the right, named Giant Dome, is what’s known as a column.  The formations on the left, named Twin Domes, are stalagmites (pronounced sta-LAG-mites).  A stalagmite is a generally cylindrical cone which rises from the floor of a cave.  A stalactite, on the other hand, is a similar shape which descends from the ceiling of a cave.  A column is formed if and when the two meet.  The way I was taught as a kid to tell the difference between a -mite and a -tite was that a stalactite (which hangs down) has to “hold on tight”.

Below is a pool of crystal clear water, one of several I saw:

To see much better photographs you should check out the National Park Service website.  Go to nps.gov/cave then click on “Learn About the Park” then click on “Photos”.  That logic applies to every National Park in the US National Park system (just change the “cave” portion of the url to the name of the desired Park).

Here is a quote from the NPS website regarding Carlsbad Caverns:

“Photos can never fully capture the grandeur of the Big Room, it’s a place you need to see to believe!”

Amen to that!!  Everything that Roswell wasn’t was more than made up for by the magnificence of Carlsbad Caverns.   I highly recommend a visit in person.

 

May 30, 2017

After I determined that the UFO-related venues in Roswell were somewhat of a bust I was very pleased to find somewhere else to spend some of my afternoon in town – the Anderson Museum of Contemporary Art.  Here are some of the things I saw there:

First, an example of kinetic art.  Imagine the 3-D canvas which, rather than being flat, is comprised by a full-length series of the letter W sticking out at you across the entire width.  I wasn’t very good about taking photos of the little “card” next to the art pieces which credit the artist and explain what the item is called and constructed of.  One famous artist whose work contains many, many examples of this style is Yaacov Agam who, as I write this, is still living.  If you ever get a chance to see his work in person, do so!

In this work, when you view it from the left side you see mainly blue lines with smaller white spaces:

From the right you see mainly white with smaller areas of blue:

When viewed head-on you see a mixture of the two.

AND you now see what appears to be three dimensional blocks, suspended in space.  Also, look at the shadow at the bottom to see what I was referring to with the “W””s.

Now, imagine that concept with colors, shapes or pictures and you’ll see examples of Agam’s work.

Here are some three-dimensional wooden shapes which fit together like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle and are contained within a cradle (the first two) or a frame:

Here is an image created by making cigarette burns in a piece of paper:

And finally, this colorful and shapely mask which is ceramic:

Artists are very clever!

 

May 30, 2017

After I determined that the UFO-related venues in Roswell were somewhat of a bust I was very pleased to find somewhere else to spend some of my afternoon in town – the Anderson Museum of Contemporary Art.

I was intrigued by these sharks made largely from golf bags:

And this one made from a handheld vacuum cleaner:

And this spider made from a toaster:

And this spaceship made from a model of an old-style mobile home:

NASA, take note….

May 30, 2017

After having been in the Las Cruces area in southwest New Mexico for the 4-day Memorial Day holiday I now shifted my attention to the southeast portion of the state, specifically Roswell and Carlsbad, two of the towns my visit to which were abandoned during my tornadic visit to the state in 2014.

 

(Photo credit: wiki-travel.com)

From Las Cruces I traveled northeast past Alamogordo and Cloudcroft to the Ruidoso area (far left on the map above) and drove a scenic loop up there in the mountains.  From there I proceeded east to Roswell.

Those of you who know me are probably not surprised to hear that I was somewhat of a UFO geek in high school (late 60’s, early 70’s).  For UFO enthusiasts Mecca is Roswell, New Mexico.  In 1947 the US government allegedly recovered a flying saucer which had crashed near Roswell, along with the bodies of the crew.

When I discussed a possible visit to Roswell with a friend who lives in New Mexico back in 2014 he said “don’t bother going there – it’s just a tourist trap”.  I told him “Mark, I can’t go to southeast New Mexico and not have aluminum foil on my head”.   I didn’t plan to be there all day but I at least needed to make an appearance.

Well, I finally made it to Roswell:

I spent about two hours going through a UFO museum downtown and walking up and down the main street observing how the local merchants were using the notoriety.  Can’t say I blame them.  I did have a great lunch at a nice little restaurant and after having complimented the kitchen staff before I left was given an additional salad to take home for dinner (the owner literally tracked me down on the street as I was walking back to my car, talking to fellow travelers who had eaten at the table next to me).

Despite not having very high expectations I must say I came away VERY disappointed.  Something I learned, which perhaps I already knew deep in my mind, was that the UFO didn’t actually crash in Roswell but about 75 miles northwest, closer to Corona (where, ironically, my friend Mark lives with his wife).

I had spent a night in their home back in 2014 (when he convinced me to go north to Santa Fe and Taos rather than south to Roswell and Carlsbad) and he never mentioned this fact.  The reason Roswell gets the notoriety is that the “remains” of the craft and crew were supposedly taken to the closest military base at the time, the Roswell Army Air Field.

 

May 30, 2017

On my way to Roswell, New Mexico from where I had been staying in Las Cruces I discovered this Wildlife Refuge northeast of Roswell:

Among other things, this facility boasts the largest variety of odonates in North America, around 100 different kinds.

Whoa.

Odonates? you ask…..

Dragonflies and damselflies.

The difference? you ask…

At first I thought it was a boy/girl thing but the actual distinction lies in a physical trait other than gender. When at rest, a dragonflies wings remain perpendicular to it’s body. A damselfly, on the other hand, sweeps it’s wings back almost parallel to it’s body when at rest.

Witness, a Common Blue damselfly:

(Photo credit: Jim Almond)

I use this particular damselfly as an example for a particular reason. Last year, when I was in northern California, I spent a few days at the Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuge and saw literally hundreds or thousands of these, or ones very similar, as I drove around that facility. These are quite small, about the length of my little finger, and the ones I saw were electric blue – very striking. I tried taking photos but they were so small that both of my cameras chose to focus on the background rather than the subject.

I’ve been wanting to post this for the past two weeks as I have been seeing lots of dragonflies during my morning walks around a local pond, but for the life of me I couldn’t remember where in my travels I had been to this facility before. As I was combing through my Roswell photos for the next few posts – bingo, there it was.

The title of the post doesn’t mean to state or imply that damselflies are in any way endangered (indeed, the ones at Tule Lake appeared to be quite prolific). I was merely trying to come up with something to pique the reader’s interest.

Oh JohnBoy, you’re such a tease…..

May 29, 2017

After visiting Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument in southwest New Mexico I took a series of small, scenic roads back out towards a major highway which would take me back down to Las Cruces.  This wasn’t on my radar but I saw signs for the City of Rocks State Park (not to be confused with City of Rocks National Reserve in Idaho) and had time so I stopped at the Visitor Center to learn more about it.

Two maps to give you the lay of the land:

(Photo credit: campsitephotos.com)

I was now at the red symbol in the center of the map shown above, having driven southeast from north of Silver City with my ultimate destination being Hatch, on the right side of the map.

City of Rocks State Park is a 1,200 acre field of huge volcanic boulders which fell here after an eruption in the Emory Caldera almost 35 million years ago.

(Photo credit: researchgate.net)

The Emory Caldera is the large blue oval in the lower central portion of the map above.  The area just south of that blue oval (which contains the number 34.9) is where these boulders now rest.  There is also a smaller yellow area, with the number 28.1 in it, which is a caldera where the Gila Cliff Dwellings are located.

As the name indicates, this is now a New Mexico State Park and there are roads and walking paths which meander through the boulder field.  Many of the clusters of boulders are now overnight campsites or day use picnic areas.

You can see many of the boulders off in the distance as I drove in the entrance road.

After driving through the Park I headed back out to the main road and continued on to the little town of Hatch.  If that name seems familiar it is probably because you have heard of or consumed Hatch hot peppers (usually a memorable experience), which are grown there.

After that I returned to Las Cruces for dinner and my final night there.  Having reached the westernmost point in this trip I will start heading back east, albeit slowly, tomorrow.

May 29, 2017

My last full day in the Las Cruces area (southwest New Mexico) I headed northwest a little over 3 hours to visit the Gila Cliff Dwelling National Monument.  After driving in to the facility and parking at the Visitor Center I walked back a long path which took me on a gradual incline up to the side of the mountain where I could see and actually walk through the dwellings:

May 29, 2017

My last full day in the Las Cruces area (southwest New Mexico) I headed northwest a little over 3 hours to visit the Gila Cliff Dwelling National Monument.  After driving in to the facility and parking at the Visitor Center I walked back a long path which took me on a gradual incline up to the side of the mountain where I could see and actually walk through the dwellings:

When arriving at the end of the tour everyone had the choice of going back the way they came in or climbing down a wooden ladder for a shorter path back to the parking area.

To give you an idea of the scale, there is a man standing in right portion of the photo above.

This post contains mainly earth-tones.  Here are some photos of a cactus with blooms to provide a little color.

May 28, 2017

The second day of my Memorial Day long-weekend stay in Las Cruces, NM I headed about an hour and a half northeast of Las Cruces to the Alamogordo vicinity. I had one specific destination in mind but discovered several other interesting things during the day so I was very happy I had the luxury of time on my side.

I had made a quick 4-day to trip to New Mexico back in 2014. I have a friend who lives in the central part of the state (his father was a tax client of mine) and I decided to fly out for a few days after tax season. My friend asked me what I planned to do while I was here and I rattled off about a half dozen destinations (including Alamogordo). There was a pause and Mark said “Uh, you realize those places are all pretty far apart?”. He was right and I never made it to Alamogordo, Carlsbad or Roswell – a situation I would resolve here in the next few days…

Anyway, today I drove past White Sands which I visited yesterday and continued up to Alamogordo. Once there I proceeded east a few miles to Cloudcroft, then south about 20 miles to the tiny town of Sunspot.

(Photo credit: nsosp-dev.nso.edu)

Here I found the Sunspot Solar Observatory.

Here is the view as I ascended up the mountains towards Sunspot (elevation 9,147 feet). The white in the center portion of the photo below may appear to be low clouds but is actually White Sands National Monument!

Here are some of the things I found when I arrived at the Solar Observatory:

This is the main telescope, used to study the sun:

The visible part of the telescope enclosure rises 136 feet above the ground. Like an iceberg, however, this instrument is located mostly under the surface! The telescope inside the white enclosure continues down 193 feet underground.

Elsewhere on the property is a solar telescope originally located at the South Pole.

During “summertime” down there the sun is above the horizon 24 hours a day so scientists have lots of time to study it (and the atmosphere isn’t as disrupted). There is now a much more modern and sophisticated solar telescope at the South Pole.

The Sunspot Solar Observatory was in the news in September of 2018 when the FBI mysteriously swooped in and told all the employees they had to leave the property immediately. They kept the facility closed for about 10 days and were very tight-lipped about what was happening. Theories ranged from aliens, a chemical leak (various gases are inside the telescope enclosure) or a terrorist threat. Turns out it was nothing quite as unusual or scary as those things. Seems a janitor at the facility was using their computers to collect and distribute child pornography!

As I was leaving the Observatory I saw signs for another facility, the Apache Point Observatory, just up the road. That facility is private so there is no public access but I did see this photo outside the gate which shows some of the telescopes there:

Among other things, this facility uses lunar laser-ranging to measure, with millimeter level accuracy, the precise distance to various instruments on the moon.

As I drove back to Alamogordo I stopped at “The Lodge,” a beautiful hotel in Cloudcroft which has hosted many celebrities and is rumored to be haunted.

Lastly, the Alamogordo area is home to many large farms which grow pistachio nuts. I stopped and sampled many flavored varieties and bought a few pounds (which didn’t last long!).

I headed back to Las Cruces, drove down to La Mesilla for dinner and I got home in time to watch the Coke 600 race from Charlotte. A very full and rewarding day!

May 27, 2017

My first full day in Las Cruces, New Mexico I headed about an hour northeast on Route 70 to spend some time at White Sands National Monument, a 224 square mile area on the southeast end of the massive White Sands Missile Range.  I had stopped here briefly back in 2014 when I made a very ambitious tour of New Mexico (a story I will share in a future post) and had only spent a few minutes at White Sands.  Today I had more time to enjoy the area.

While I was stopped in one of the parking areas I spotted the same guy I had spoken with about a week ago while visiting the Marfa Lights Viewing Center.  He was parked in an adjacent parking area with shelters for primitive camping, which he was doing during his driving tour of the western US.  He lives in Pennsylvania and drives a distinctive orange Jeep with a red kayak on top.  I marched across the sand dunes to say hello (again) and marvel that I had now seen him twice in one week.   Small world…