Santa Fe to Carlsbad via Bosque del Apache

This morning we ate breakfast and then checked out of our hotel. We opted to take a scenic drive down the Turquoise Trail to Albuquerque and then head south to Socorro to check out Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge. The drive along the Turquoise Trail was quite scenic and passed through some interesting little towns like Madrid. Eventually we hit I-40 and drove west out of the mountains and into Albuquerque. Then we headed south along the Rio Grande on I-25. We stopped at a rest area to eat lunch

and decided that we were all willing to make the drive over to Bosque del Apache.

The drive along the scenic loop road started out promising enough. We saw a bird with a fish in its beak and lots of turtles basking in the sun. We stopped at a few viewing platforms and saw some ducks and coots.

Then we saw a big group of geese from the road.

After that the birds became a bit sparse. We didn't see one sandhill crane.

After using the restroom we hit the road again and headed down into the Malpais Lava Flow, then up into the mountains at Cloudcroft. We ate dinner in Roswell, before heading back to Carlsbad. It was a lot of driving, but still a good day!