"Trips Out of Albuquerque - ..." a Albuquerque Travel Page by AlbuqRay

This is a bird refuge in the Rio Grande corridor. The waterfowl arrive at sunset. In the Fall, there are tens of thousands of them. It is located near the San Antonio exit ~90 miles south of Albuquerque on I-25. You might want to combine this with a visit to the VLA radio telescope (see below) and the Owl Cafe in San Antonio (it is famous for its green chile cheeseburgers).

If you like science and scenery (also driving), visit the VLA. Go south from Albuquerque on I-25 ~75 miles to Socorro, then west on Highway 60 ~50 miles to get to the VLA. There is a small visitors center there but not much else except the VLA itself. It is the largest radio telescope in the world. Who knows, a UFO may be landing when you are there.

Gran Quivera was the largest Salinas pueblo at one time. It is in a remote location and is never crowded. It has a small, but nice, vistors center with clean restrooms. To get there, go east on I-40 from Albuquerque, turn south on State Highway 14 at Tijeras, and wind your way south for ~80 miles.

These gypsum sands are pure white. They feel cool to the touch even when the sun is bright. It is a great place for kids. Don't worry; gypsum is water soluble and washes away easily. The loop road does not go back as far as it used to, so you can still see some plants and not just pure white sand dunes (you now must walk to do that). The ranger-led evening nature tours are interesting. The monument is ~15 miles southwest of Alamogordo on Highway 70.

Huge cave in southeastern New Mexico. If you are able, walk down using the self-guided tour. You can take the elevator back up. This is an overnight trip from Albuquerque but can be combined with a visit to Grand Quivera, White Sands National Monument and the Roswell UFO Museum if you are willing to stay two nights.

Speaking of UFOs, on your way back from Carlsbad Caverns, you may want to stop at the UFO Museum in Roswell. You would not want to go to Roswell just for this museum but at least it is free admission. It has a few interesting exhibits and might be fun for kids. You can see everything in about an hour. Plenty of people have visited though, as you can see from the map.