"It ain't new and it ain't Mexico," so says a popular bumper sticker. Everywhere we three traveled everything we saw was old, very old. Millions and millions of years old. It was an incredibly wonderful week orchestrated by Cecily, the New Mexico native and good friend of Peggy's.
Peggy is my dear friend on and off the tennis court. We two flew to Albuquerque (ABQ) to visit her longtime friend Cecily who lives in ABQ. She is an artist/potter by profession and her lovely home was filled with her unique and imaginative creations. Her husband is a civil rights lawyer and I enjoyed hearing about the clients he is representing. They have two well-behaved dogs and a flock of healthy hens.
On our first day in ABQ we visited what in my opinion is the finest botanical gardens in this country, second only to the one in Scottsdale, Arizona. In recent years the ABQ Gardens have added a zoo, an aquarium, a butterfly pavilion and a dragonfly pond, so they expanded their name and now go buy "biopark." Whatever -- it's a fabulous place to spend a day -- beautiful and educational.
We hit the road the next morning and traveled southeast, first stopping in Roswell, famous because in 1947, townspeople claim an alien vehicle crash-landed in their fair town. The US government picked up the bodies and pieces and whisked them off to Area 51 near Las Vegas, keeping them under lock and key and out of the public eye. Despite that secrecy, though Roswellians are adamant that they had off-the-earth visitors, although some skeptics insist the "visitors" were no more than weather balloons gone awry. The whole town is built upon alien-this and alien-that. There's the Alien Elementary School, the Alien Undertakers, Alien Movers, Alien Bar and Grill, etc. They put Roswell on the map and it is the place for UFOs/Star Trek conventions and an out of this world vacation!
Further down the road was the site of the Carlsbad caverns, a place everyone should visit before s/he dies. 250 million years ago this part of the Southwest was covered by an inland sea. As the sea evaporated, the chemical processes and uplifting created huge underground chambers. Groundwater seeping into the chambers combined with limestone before stalactites and stalagmites which over millennia, drip by drip, have produced beautiful formations, many of which have been subtly illuminated to create a wonderland to stroll through, 75 stories beneath ground level where the temperature is a constant that 56 degrees and the enormity of the chambers is equal to 40 football fields.
White Man discovered the mouth of the cave in the early 1900. The inhabitants were millions of bats, mostly Mexican Free Tails. They still live in the cave and every dusk they disengage themselves from the cave wall and fly out en masse to drink from the Pecos River and then to consume tons of insects before returning to their roots, just before sunrise.
We witnessed this fly out, truly a spectacle of nature. Over one million bats emerged, forming dark ribbons in the sky as they headed to the Pecos River and out of sight. We watched for about an hour until it was too dark to see them, but they were still emerging. Bats have a bad rap, but they shouldn't. They are our friends, providing insect control and pollination. And they are the largest group of mammals on earth, breast-feeding their pups and living in maternal groups in the caves. I, for one, admire and respect them and wish them well in a world that prefers to kill what it doesn't understand.
We saw two herds of pronghorn antelopes on our way to the White Sands National Monument. This expensive area -- 300 square miles -- is the world's largest deposit of gypsum. Like the caverns, the White Sands origins go back in time 250 million years. There was a shallow sea in the area and all the deposits on the seabed were uplifted when the Rocky Mountains were formed. Through a series of chemical reactions, gypsum was formed and after all the water dissolved the white gypsum remained and is now a vast expanse of wavelike dunes, sensuous, graceful, ever changing with the winds. Only a few plants and animals can survive in this harsh environment, but because they have, I marvel at the wonders of adaptation. And equally wondrous is the magic created by chemical reactions.
Gypsum is used to make wallboard and to make casts for broken arms. It is mined from the mountains. The gypsum in these dunes is way too refined to be of any use in a manufacturing process.
As the sun set on the sands, the whiteness turned to pinks and lavender. Peggy had a field day snapping pictures. Thanks to digital photo techniques I would bet she took over 300 pictures, something one wouldn't do with old-fashioned film. I'm awaiting her review and deletions so she can give me copies of her best shots.
Next stop: the Three Rivers Petroglyph Site near the town of Tularosa. These are rock carvings done by Native Americans who lived in the Southwest 1,000 years ago. Many of the 21,000 petroglyphs at this site are very well preserved, giving us moderns an inkling into how early people conceptualized their real and spiritual world and their connection to their environment. It was a gorgeous day, in the low 80s, with a warm breeze, simply perfect weather as we strolled through ancient volcanic rocks decorated by ancient people. Cecily spotted a lizard sunbathing on a rock, unperturbed by us gawking humans. We were able to identify it as a Mojave Black Collared Lizard. It's always a thrill for me to see new species and be able to identify them and learn about their lives. It adds to my awe and reverence for the natural world.
We had a fun side trip to New Mexico's largest pistachio farm, 5500 trees and a gift shop full of every kind of pistachio concoction you could imagine. Pistachios grow on short trees with their nuts encased in a rough, red pod which becomes a tan shell with age, cracks open and falls off the tree. You haven't lived until you've tasted jelly pistachio brittle!
We were nearing the end of our journey. Cecily had been behind the wheel the whole time. She drove over 850 miles. There was just one glitch in an otherwise perfect trip. We had to traverse a mountain range at night and this made her nervous and a bit irritable, plus her recently implanted new hip was bothering her so that by the time we landed at our hotel nerves were frazzled and tempers were short. It was road fatigue, nothing more, and we all recognized it for what it was and got over it. Peggy was the calm, cool mediator for Cecily's and my crankiness. Aside from that brief "uncomfortableness," we really got along splendidly and I have no qualms about traveling with them together again. Cecily was the consummate planner.
Our last day on the road was spent at the Riverbend Hot Springs in Truth or Consequences. Do you remember the T or C game show in the early 60s? It was hosted by Ralph Edwards. The producers offered any town in the United States $10,000 if it would change its name to T or C. The town of Hot Springs, New Mexico, won the contest and that's their moniker now, although some townsfolk think it's time to go back to the original name.
There is a huge mineral springs aquifer underneath the town. Enterprising people have tapped into it and developed spas and resorts. The riverbed sits right alongside the Rio Grande. What was once a mighty watercourse is now just a trickle of its former self due to three years of severe drought. But Riverbend pumps from the mineral aquifer and fills five pools ranging from 101 to 108 degrees. The grounds and accommodations are artistic and commodious. I loved sitting in the 103 pool overlooking the cafe-au-lait colored Rio Grande which was bordered on one side and by the Turtleback Mountains where the coyotes wonder and howl at 3 AM. It was a thoroughly relaxing and perfect way to wrap up our five days on the road. Thank you, Cecily!
Peggy and I share a space that had been a single bedroom mobile home. The walls had been removed, leaving one huge room with two queen beds, a full bath, and enormous kitchen and dining area. After our lengthy soaks, we popped open some white wine and beer and settled in to learn poker from Peggy. This pro taught us Texas Hold'em, Five Card Draw, Seven Card Stud and something called Spit. We didn't have much change so we improvised. Pistachio shells were worth a dime and red grapes were a quarter. I had beginner's luck, winning two hands with straights. When all was said and done, I had a plate full of food! We had tons of laughs and it was a fabulous way to spend the last night of our girlie road trip.
We took a morning soak and then headed for home. We stopped at the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, hoping to see the birds, thousands of them, on their migration south. But due to the extensive drought there were only dry meadows and the birds were scant.
Usually water from main rivers is diverted to become flooded areas (wetlands) to provide habitat for migrating birds. I hope New Mexico will do this in November when hundreds of thousands of Sand Hill Cranes, Snow Geese, and waterfowl will descend on the Bosque looking for rest and fuel before continuing south.
We made it back to ABQ before dark, road weary but full of excitement and intoxicated by everything we saw, learned and experienced. It was a wonderful trip and I was so happy to have shared it with two fine women.
During our many hours in the car we were able to share stories about our lives, backgrounds, families, work and educational experiences. It was a classic case of bonding, friends becoming closer to one another. I look forward to our next road trip!
In the meantime, I will relish the memories and relax with an Alien Ale and use the immortal words of Peggy's grandmother to remember our trip: "I'm still enjoying!"
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