Looking for Points of Interest between Denver and Albuquerque

I and some other SF fans will be making a road trip from Denver to
Albuquerque for Bubonicon. Is there anything along the way that
is a must-see? I seem to remember hearing about a big mineral
museum somewhere along the route.

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Paul Ciszek wrote:
I and some other SF fans will be making a road trip from Denver to
Albuquerque for Bubonicon. Is there anything along the way that
is a must-see? I seem to remember hearing about a big mineral
museum somewhere along the route.

When we drove that stretch to go to Westercon, we went to Capulin
Volcano National Monument and Fort Union National Monument, but I
wouldn't call them must-sees.

--
Evelyn C. Leeper
http://www.geocities.com/evelynleeper
Believe those who are seeking the truth;
doubt those who find it. -Andre Gide

In article ,
Evelyn C. Leeper wrote:
Paul Ciszek wrote:
I and some other SF fans will be making a road trip from Denver to
Albuquerque for Bubonicon. Is there anything along the way that
is a must-see? I seem to remember hearing about a big mineral
museum somewhere along the route.

When we drove that stretch to go to Westercon, we went to Capulin
Volcano National Monument and Fort Union National Monument, but I
wouldn't call them must-sees.

Refresh my memory--how far from I-25 is Mount Capulin?

And what is Fort Union? The site of a battle wouldn't be so
interesting.

--
Please reply to: | "When the press is free and every man
pciszek at panix dot com | able to read, all is safe."
Autoreply has been disabled | --Thomas Jefferson

The only big mineral museum I can think of offhand is at Socorro, an
hour south of Albuquerque:
http://geoinfo.nmt.edu/education/museum/home.html


Other things along the way? Is this the sort of thing that would
interest you?
http://www.uwcaw.uwc.org/about/montezumacastle.htm


Many other things to see and do nearby are described on this page that
I wrote for a conference a few years back (bear in mind that I've not
maintained the page and thus any references to specific events or dates
are highly suspect):
http://web.archive.org/web/200307071...01/explore.htm

Enjoy your trip,
--Joe

Paul Ciszek wrote:
Refresh my memory--how far from I-25 is Mount Capulin?

Capulin Volcano NM is about 30 miles east of I-25.

And what is Fort Union? The site of a battle wouldn't be so
interesting.

Fort Union was built along the Santa Fe Trail in the early 1800's.
There are the outlnes of two early versons of the fort and the ruins of
the latest fort (built 1863-1869; abandoned 1891).

George

Paul Ciszek wrote:
will be making a road trip from Denver to
Albuquerque for Bubonicon. Is there anything along the way that
is a must-see?

Although fairly far west of I-25, Great Sand Dunes NM has the highest
sand dunes in North America. Capulin Volcano NM, Fort Union NM, Pecos
National Historic Park, Santa Fe, Los Alamos, Bandelier NM and
Petroglyph NM are all farly close to the freeway. In my opinion, Santa
Fe is the only must see, and possibly the Great Sand Dunes. The other
places mentioned may depend more on your personal interests.

George

On 15 Aug 2005 23:12:34 -0700, "george" wrote:

Paul Ciszek wrote:
will be making a road trip from Denver to
Albuquerque for Bubonicon. Is there anything along the way that
is a must-see?

Although fairly far west of I-25, Great Sand Dunes NM has the highest
sand dunes in North America. Capulin Volcano NM, Fort Union NM, Pecos
National Historic Park, Santa Fe, Los Alamos, Bandelier NM and
Petroglyph NM are all farly close to the freeway. In my opinion, Santa
Fe is the only must see, and possibly the Great Sand Dunes. The other
places mentioned may depend more on your personal interests.

George


I enjoyed the Aerial Tramway when I was in Albuquerque last year,
depending on your interests the National Atomic Museum is worth a
look.

There are several aircraft on display at the USAF Academy. A combat
veteran B-52D Stratofortress is on display along the north entrance
road. A T-38 Talon in Thunderbirds colors can be seen next to the road
that runs along the west side of the airfield and an F-104 Starfighter
and F-86 Sabre are displayed near the east entrance to the airfield.

There is an interesting museum at Peterson AFB in eastern Colorado
Springs. You'll need photo IDs and proof of car insurance to get into
the base, but it's well worth visiting if you're into military aircraft
and USAF space activities. For more information about the museum and
base access, visit http://www.pwam.org

The 3rd Cavalry Museum is also located in Colorado Springs at Fort
Carson. I would imagine that the same access rules as getting onto
Peterson AFB apply. More info at
http://www.coloradosprings.com/attra...ory.php?id=988 and
http://www.carson.army.mil/UNITS/3RD...20homepage.htm

The Weisbrod Aircraft Museum is located in Pueblo near the airport.
They have quite a variety of interesting aircraft. More info at
http://www.pwam.org

There is also a pretty good hobby shop in Colorado Springs called
Compleat Games and Hobbies located in the northwest part of downtown at
326 N Tejon. They seem to have quite a decent selection of gaming
items.

Martin

OOPS! The URL for the Peterson AFB Museum is http://www.petemuseum.org

Martin

I dunno, maybe everyone else is already assuming that Paul is from the
Denver area and has already been there, but if the weather is nice
(which is difficult to predict), the trip to the top of Pike's Peak can
be a worthwhile excursion (whether by car or by train). Also near
Manitou Springs, you might want to consider Garden of the Gods, with
all of it's neat rock formations (it's been 16 years since I've been in
the area, so I might have the name wrong, but there is a park in the
area with cool sandstone formations). Farther south, you can visit the
US Olympics stuff in Pueblo.

:-Dan