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More New Mexico

Wednesday we drove to Albuquerque and stopped at a Mormon Battalion monument. Interesting to note that the original route was the middle of nowhere and is now right next to a major interstate

We went to the Albuquerque Temple

And then to Petroglyph National Monument

You can find SO many petroglyphs all over the park, there are lots of hiking trails and it was amazing to hike past them

Our last stop of the day was another Madonna of the Trail statue--we haven't found them all, yet!

Thursday we headed south to the Very Large Array


The array is well known for being in the movies! One of the more recent movies it appeared in was Contact, starring Jodie Foster

There was a visitor center, with an amazing introductory film, narrated by Jodie Foster, plus various museum exhibits

There was also a walking tour

You could walk up to one of the dishes!
 

We also learned that they use these railroad tracks (that make a Y shape) to move the dishes from a tight configuration to a wider configuration.


Friday we went to El Malpais National Monument

It is known for the lava beds--this map shows the different flows from eruptions

There are also beautiful sandstone cliffs
 

Saturday we went to El Morro, which is not that far from El Malpais

 It is a small national park site, mostly just this sandstone bluff, with trails around it and on top of it

 

The historical significance of this place was that many stopped here because of the freshwater pool that exists year round.  It was a welcome relief to travelers traveling through the desert!
 

Don Juan de Oñate, governor of New Spain, even "signed' Inscription Rock as one of the first Europeans to pass by here, 15 years before the Pilgrims. This inscription was written in 1605, but he originally came through in 1598.

Also really interesting: at one time they experimented with camels along the trail that passed by El Morro, since it was so desert-y and dry. Camels worked but weren't cheap like mules.

Today we attended the Mt. Taylor Ward, Gallup New Mexico Stake

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