Day 2

Day 2
Cool breezes on a summer evening, the laughter of children playing, the view from the top of a mountain, and waking up in a moving motor home are among some of the best sensations known. Mom and Dad woke early, packed up, and began driving as we slept in comfort. Upon waking we were met with views of red mountains and the foot hills of the Rocky Mountains. The drive this morning was quite nice and we did not cease to stare out the windows the entire time. Grandma should be proud as we have not played one card game all day for the fear of missing some spectacular view.

Our first stop was at the Petroglyphs National Monument in Albuquerque. The short hike among large black volcanic rocks was interesting enough, but we were a little skeptical when it came to the 130,000 year old spiritual Indian drawings as it was difficult to tell which were real and which were modern day scandilisms. That was a short enough stop.

Driving through Albuquerque was an adventure in itself. Everything was beautifully landscaped with colored rocks, painted and mosaic walls, and native plants. Mom and I were, of course, very interested in the houses here and their Mexican style.Next we drove on to a little town called Grants. This is a very Mexican/Indian population and it shows. Here we visited the National Mining Museum which was fascinating in many ways. The small upper portion had great information and a short video explaining how the town found prosperity through the discovery of large amounts of Uranium in the area. The Lower portion of the museum consisted of a mock mine with tools, little railway cars, and the works. We were the only ones there so we felt free to explore and climb around to our hearts desire. Coming out of the museum we found a quaint little Mexican restaurant for lunch and then headed off for El Malpais.
Twenty nine. Twenty-nine fire spouting, lava gushing volcanoes occupied this particular area. The road was not gravel, but fine black sand. On one particular hill, the volcanic soil prevented all but a few desperate trees from growing making it a rather interesting sight. We came to this place and began a half mile hike up to see the largest volcano in the area. The walk itself was worth stopping for as we passed a canyon full of huge rocks, gnarled trees of the most twisted nature, and a lovely blue sky. At the top of the path we saw what appeared to be a huge sunken hole. By huge, I mean bigger than at least two football fields across. It was a great sight.After the warm walk up to the volcano, of course, we had to cool off, and what better place to do so other than an underground cave of ice! It was such a strange sensation to come down the stairs and suddenly hit a wall of cold. Deeper in the cave it was a refreshing thirty-one degrees.
You know those “Stay on the Path” signs? Well, my Dad has no respect for these slight rules as he climbed to the volcano rim and ran around it to a ridiculous point, and then at the Ice cave, he jumped the railing to hug a column of ice. Silly, silly man.
Carrying on we decided the day shall come to an end at the Bluewater campground near the edge of New Mexico. The “blue water” of the lake here is not too impressive. Actually it is not even close to being blue as it is pretty dirty. But, there is a canyon here with a creek coming through it that looks great. Mom, Dad, Anni, Ryan, and I took an adventurous little hike down our own pathway to the valley of the canyon. It