Saturday, March 20, 2010

Finding Something to Do in Aztec, New Mexico

Stopped in Aztec on our way down to Albuquerque. This area has been hit with cold and snow (AGAIN!). They have even decided to keep the ski runs open longer due to the 8-14 inches of fresh snow in the higher elevations. That cold front should be out in the next day, so we stayed in this area after seeing the Aztec Ruins. Both I-40 and I-25 were closed due to ice and snow; we couldn't have gotten very far anyway.
We had read in The Official Aztec Visitor Guide that "the natural wonders surrounding Aztec provided inspiration to the spirit and an appreciation of the artistic side of nature's creations". Sounding entertaining, we ventured out to see for ourselves. There are several Arches in the area, only problem, the visitor center was closed (it is Saturday) and the local police never heard of these Arches! Turns out only a few local residents have ever explored and documented these sandstone tributes. We had sketchy written directions and Garmen...how hard could they be to find! The directions said "drive NM 173 for 5.6 miles, then turn right on dirt road. Travel 0.5 miles and park at oil well. Walking distance from oil well is 100 yards northeast for one and 200 yards south for the second one, and under 1/3 mile southwest is the last one." That was it!
Andy and I found two of them! Walked a while and never found the last one. But it was nothing compared to the other Arches we saw up in Utah. Although, Andy had fun climbing, and me, taking pictures. Anyway, it killed part of our afternoon.
On our way back to town, we drove past a Motor-cross track and stop to watch the bikers. Looked like fun, but dangerous. Would like to see a race.










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