5 La Ventana & El Malpais sunset

We have the morning to explore on our own. Shirley chose a nursery to check out. Osuna Nursery was impressive. She found a rare spiral cactus to buy. In their backyard were planted agaves, cacti, including chollas. We spotted a road runner! A worker watering the trees told us that road runner was their pet.
Next we shopped at "Jack-a-lope". This store had been mentioned to us a couple of times for lots of pottery. We had to check their wares and buy a few things.
Our excursion today with Patrick was photographing the sunset. We met him in the afternoon and headed west on I-40. First stop was Acoma Pueblo. Sky City is here. We arrived after the last tour left for Sky City so went to an overlook to capture the dramatic landscape. There are rules in some pueblos about photographing the area and people. They have been so exploited that photography is prohibited in places. This one is OK to get from afar.
Onward to El Malpais. We stop at La Ventana, one of the few arches that New Mexico can claim to have. It is impressive and mostly made of sandstone. Patrick has a place in mind a little ways away for capturing the sunset. There are clouds in the skies. We climb up on the rocks for a good spot. Below us are lava fields. El Malpais is Bad Country or Badlands in Spanish. Lava rocks are sharp and rugged, aka "Bad". We do our best to get sunset pictures. There are too many clouds but I got some fiery photos.
On our way back to ABQ we grab dinner at a casino. Shirley pretends to gamble away her kids' inheritance as a joke.Læs mere