Tuesday, April 16 – Mini Magic is loaded and E & G were ready to hit the road.  Heading east out of Scottsdale, today’s destination is Bosque Del Apache in New Mexico.  As always – there were surprises along the way!

What the heck is that up ahead?!?!  Ever heard of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory Very Large Array?  Perhaps you have seen it and didn’t know it – like in the movie Contact.  It is one of the world’s premier astronomical radio observatories – consisting of 27 radio antennas in a Very Large Y-shaped configuration on the Plains of San Agustin in New Mexico.  The data from the antennas is combined electronically to give the resolution of an antenna 22 miles across with the sensitivity of a dish 422 feet in diameter.  Roswell is on the agenda for another day – but we felt like we were about to be carried away into another universe now.

 

Wow!  Bring us back to this world – please.  The Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge will do just that.  Part of the National Wildlife Refuge System – and established in 1939 – Bosque del Apache provides a 57,331 acre refuge for tens of thousands of cranes, geese and ducks who winter here each year.  During the spring and fall migrations, birds rest and refuel here as they follow the Rio Grande through the woodlands which hug the riverbanks, called bosque.  Unfortunately, we were a little late for the spring migration – the thousands of cranes were gone.  But, lots of egrets were settling down for the night and the sight was still stunning.

 

 

This had been a fairly long travel day – with lots of fun, interesting, other worldly, beautiful sights.  Time to say good night to this day – –

 

 

Morning came fast and it was a cold, rainy day.  BUT – we had sights to see.  So, off to the Three Rivers Petroglyph Site just east of White Sands Missile Range in the Tularosa Basin.  This Basin has been inhabited by humans for 10,000 years or more.  The past residents left traces of their ways of life, including petroglyphs, pottery, stone tools and village ruins.  The Three Rivers Petroglyph Site includes some of the more than 20,000 petroglyphs identified in the area left by inhabitants of a nearby village.  Those people were of the Jornada Mogollon prehistoric Indian culture, of which there are no known modern descendants.  Their rock carvings were created over 600 years ago.  The meaning of these carvings are not known – but they are still quite interesting.

 

 

Another squall was coming and our time was running out to get to the International UFO Museum in Roswell before it closed.  So – a quick run down the hill and a beautiful drive (where we almost got snowed on!!) to Roswell.  Then – we were back with the same feeling of yesterday at The Very Large Array – eerie!!

If you don’t remember “The Roswell Incident”, here is a brief reminder.  July 2, 1947, a rancher about 75 miles NW of Roswell heard a loud noise late in the evening.  The following day, while working on his ranch property,  he discovered a huge debris field (a football field wide and 3/4 mile long) of strange looking material, which he takes samples of to the sheriff.  The samples wind up at the Roswell Army Air Field.  A press release is issued a few days later about the recovery of a crashed Flying Saucer on the ranch.  A day later the AP reports that the recovery of a flying saucer was just the recovery of a weather balloon.  HOWEVER, there is much more that occurred and was cataloged – all documented at the International UFO Museum in Roswell.  So – many questions still remain.

 

A very interesting couple of days;-)  From out of this world, to the beautiful nature of this world, to hundreds of years ago in this world, back to out of this world!

E & G hoping they are not abducted tonight – but live on this earth to see another day;-)