Valley of Fires National Recreation Area is located approximately 4 miles west of Carrizozo, NM and is managed by the Bureau of Land Management. This lava flow may be the youngest in the continental U.S. and occurred about 1,500 to 2,000 years ago. The 3/4 mile Malpais Nature Trail through the lava flow gave us a close up look at the lava surface and the many plants growing there. This was a great day trip and we enjoyed the beautiful scenery.
Our trip today was to the New Mexico Museum of Space History. The museum is located at the base of the mountain on the east edge of Alamogordo, NM. This facility sits on a very scenic location overlooking the city. The museum has indoor & outdoor exhibits. There's also an Imax theater building, where we watched a 40 minute film about a team of mountain climbers conquering Mount Everest. It was a very interesting and educational trip.
Since we were in the area, we had to stop and visit White Sands National Monument again. Our last trip here was 4 years ago. It was nice to go through the dunes, take in the beautiful scenery and get the feel of the sand between the toes.
While driving along on Hwy 70, just north of Alamogordo, we saw a giant pistachio - so we had to stop and take a look around. This is the world's largest Pistachio and is located at McGinn's Pistachio Tree Ranch & Country Store, Alamogordo, NM. Pretty cool.
