Artesia, New Mexico

Artesia, New Mexico is a different town. It is 1,696 miles from Seattle, Washington, and it is in the southwestern part of New Mexico. It is halfway between Roswell and Carlsbad. We planned it that way.

Artesia has a population of almost 11,000 people so it is not very big. The first thing you notice about it is the Navajo Refinery. It is the state's largest refineries that processes 85,000 barrels of crude oil per day.

The second thing you will notice is amazing statues.

Artesia is not suffering much from the recession. Housing continues to climb....It also has a Speedway. The owner of the Artesia RV Resort where we are staying races dragsters. If you want to see a huge trailer, come look at his trailer. It must be 60 feet long all by itself.

It is warm in this area. Today it is over 90.

I discovered some different Yucca in this area. Or, maybe they were just HUGE!!!!

Oh, there is one other thing you might notice in Artesia -- when the wind is really blowing there is dust....

Albuquerque, New Mexico

Say Albuquerque five times real fast....then spell it. Boy oh boy that took some doing! I think it should be spelled Albakirkee!

On the way, just out of Flagstaff we came upon Meteor City. Yes, it is the place where Jeff Bridges of Starman took off in his flying saucer. And, the cafe they were in was there too! But my camera died about then and not all the pictures were on the card.

The first thing we noticed heading into Albuquerque was a different rock formation than we had seen before. There were caves everywhere.

The other thing we noticed was the presence of the Indians in New Mexico -- Hopi - Navado, Mescaleros, Apache. This area is rich in tourquoise and silver.

Then another thing we had never seen before...miles and miles of lava rock. While we did not go to the El Malpais National Park here is what their website says about this area.

There is much evidence of past volcanic action in New Mexico, including the Capulin National Monument in the northeast, various lava plugs - inner remnants of ancient volcanoes - around Shiprock, and large lava fields around Carizozo, south of Socorro and west of Grants, together with various smaller areas. The last named is the largest, and most is contained within the El Malpais National Monument. The lava covers an area of 60 by 35 miles; I-40 crosses the northern margin, but the scenery is much better viewed from along NM 117 which runs south, through the monument. Admission is free and for 30 miles the road follows the edge of the twisted black lava deposits which stretch westwards to the horizon.

ALBUQUERQUE

Albuquerque is situated in a "bowl" with mountains every where.

And, a lot of the homes and buildings are adobe. Very, very different than the northwest.