Sinclair Snapshots

Day 18: Wednesday April 30th

Leaving Carlsbad, NM and entering Bandelier National Monument,NM
Distance: 292 miles; Time: 4:45
Total Distance: 1,718 miles
Route Taken: Turn North on hwy 285, stopping briefly in Roswell, NM to see the International UFO Museum and the Roswell Museum and Art Center. Then progressing up to Sante Fe, NM staying on hwy 285 all the way. Entering the city, the name changes to St. Francis Dr. (you can also take the truck route around the city on hwy 599). When you get to Pojoaque, you'll turn left onto hwy 502 all the way into White Rock, NM, from there go left on hwy 4 into Bandelier National Monument.

International UFO Museum

http://www.roswellufomuseum.com/

Adam and I checked this museum out while Nana, Paw and Natalie went on down the road to see the Roswell Museum & Art Center.

Then we started "On the road again". Please don't sing that song, Nana!

As far as you could see, fairly flat.

Gradually, we began to climb and found ourselves in rolling hills. See the mile post sign of 238. That's 238 miles from the southern part of NM, when we entered the state a few days ago.

The landscape was changing even more.

Just south of Sante Fe, it began to sprinkle some.

We could see mountains in the distance and wondered if that's where we're heading...

This was I-25 west inside Sante Fe.

Now, we've left Sante Fe behind and headed north again up hwy 285/84.

This was along hwy 502 getting closer to White Rock, NM.

Finally, we've made it up to Bandelier National Monument. It took just about all day and we're tired.

Here's the link to Bandelier National Monument.

http://www.nps.gov/band/index.htm

This was Juniper Campground. Our home for the next two nights.

No electricity. No hook up.

Not many campers here.

Solitude!

The RV liked it here; settled right in.

Nana made great vegetable bean soup. It really hit the spot.

The temperatures started dropping as soon as the sun went down. We didn't stay up long and hit the bed early.

Day 19: Thursday, May 1st

Los Alamos and the Bradbury Science Museum:

Here we learned all about the Los Alamos National Laboratory and it's ongoing science and research.

History.

After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in World War II, the U.S. began a secret project, called the Manhattan Project, to build a new atomic weapon. The mission to build the atomic bomb brought scientists from around the world to Los Alamos. Their work would affect not only the small mesa-top town but would change the course of history.

Bradbury Science Museum

https://www.lanl.gov/museum/index.shtml

These were replicas of the atomic bombs, "Little Man and Fat Boy".

Very interesting history of the town that never was...

There were also secitons about continued research and science. Pretty cool stuff.

Biofuels using algae....

Even today as we were entering and leaving the town of Los Alamos, we had to stop at a security gate and present my drivers license and explain what we were doing there.

Strange....

Day 16: Monday April 28:

Carlsbad Caverns:

Today, we made it over to Carlsbad Caverns to take on the self-guided walking tour of the Natural Entrance (about 1.2 miles into the cavern) and then a ranger led tour of the King's Palace (about 1.5 miles of cavern).

Nana's not too sure about descending into a cavern.

No comment please about the hair. It was blowing fiercely up on top of the hill.

Overlooking the trail to the Natural Entrance.

Outside the Visitor's Center at Carlsbad Caverns.

The ampitheater near the Natural Entrance. This is where we came at sunset to hear the Ranger led discussion of the Brazilian Free-tail bats and watch them fly out of the cavern to begin their night time flights in search of moths or other insects.

It was really cool. You could see the bats come out of the cavern entrance and swirl around getting higher and higher. Then they would swarm over our heads and fly off toward the river.

We saw about 1,000 bats that night.

Because it was so quiet, you could hear their wings flapping overhead.

In the summer they may have around 500,000 bats live back in the cave. They are just returning from their migration, so not many tonight, but still quite interesting and entertaining.

It's a long way down there. And steep too!

See the switch back trail?

Getting down this far, you could smell a foul odor, which we thought was bat guano. We were corrected later. It was really the swallows that roost in this part of the Natural Entrance.

Don't touch the handrails here!

They're covered with bird droppings! Ewwww.

The bats live farther inside the cavern and are inaccessible to us.

My camera was loosing power very quickly at this point and so I didn't use the flash. Sorry it's so blurry.

At this point, I don't have any pictures of the King's Palace tour as my camera gave out. Plus it's really quite dark in a cavern. Photos don't come out too well.

I started using my cell phone to take pictures of the Big Room self-guided tour. It's about 1.5 miles around an enormous cavern room. It's 25 stories tall. It's about 14 football fields long.