Day 13 - Albuquerque NM to Alamogordo NM

Had a great stay in Albuquerque. Left 9-ish and decided to drive to the top of the mountain that overlooks town, even though it was clouded in at the time - we had rain overnight. After we started up the mountain, we noticed some white stuff above us. It kept getting deeper on the trees and roadsides as we went up the 19 mile road. We were near the top before there was any on the road and it wasn't slippery, but there was about 3-4 inches of snow on the ground and it was 27 degrees at the top. Quite a surprise! We went south on a scenic highway and passed several bike club groups on Saturday morning outings. Must have seen 50 cyclists. Drove back roads, all paved, across country. That's how you really get to see what an area is like, rather than zooming down an interstate. We were about ready for a rest and saw a sign for some Pueblo ruins. On a whim we followed the sign and found a real gem. It was called the Quarai site and was built by the Indians in the 1600's, using a Spanish design. The Park Service has an interesting method of crowd control. They have a sign that says: "Respect the privacy of our rattlesnakes. Stay on the footpaths." We did. Followed a walking trail and had lunch out of the trunk before moving on. Using the same formula, we drove for quite a while, got tired of riding and stopped at a place called the Valley of Fires. It's a 127 square mile area of black lava and we followed a walking trail through the lava field. One of the pictures shows a 400 year old Juniper tree. So we got some good exercise today. Drove through a bunch of pistachio farms before stopping at Alamogordo.