Area Attractions

Bosque Del Apache National Wildlife Refuge

Sandhill cranes typically begin to arrive in central New Mexico and at Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge in late October and stay through mid February. Family groups migrate together, with juvenile birds typically staying with their parents through their first winter. Flocks congregate in open fields to feed during the day and roost in shallow water at night for safety. Variations in size and color between birds may be for a number of reasons. By the time the family groups migrate to central New Mexico, juvenile sandhill cranes are the same size as (or sometimes slightly larger than) their parents. Instead of a red forehead, juvenile sandhill cranes have a brownish crown until January. 

Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge

Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge
Run by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge is accessible to the public via its Visitor Center, located about 20 miles north of Socorro. Outside the Visitor Center, the Refuge also offers hunting, wildlife watching, and nature trails for hiking, available from sunrise to sunset. Activities are available for children.

Salinas Pueblo Missions

Salt, Societies, and Spirituality: A Tale of Two Cultures. Tucked away in the middle of New Mexico you’ll find Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument.  Its three distinct sites offer a glimpse into a unique time in history—a time entrenched with cultural borrowing, conflict and struggles.  These sites continue to stand as reminders of the Spanish and Pueblo peoples’ early encounters and prompt exploration of today’s interactions among different people.

Tierra Adentro

Travel along El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro National Historic Trail to experience and learn from a complicated legacy of 300 years of conflict, cooperation, and cultural exchange between a variety of empires—European and non-European alike. There are a number of museums and visitor centers will differ along the El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro. In some places, you may find more interpretive exhibits, information, and programs. In other places, being in the location will enrich your experience, even with minimal facilities. Experiences visiting historic sites and districts really differ along the El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro. In some places, you may find a modern-day city. In other places, the historic nature of the city is still intact. In either circumstance, you can walk in historic footsteps.

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Very Large Array (VLA)

Twenty Seven Radio Satellite Dishes, clustered together in the center of what was once an ancient sea, or they may be spread out along their connecting railroad tracks to a span of 26 miles across the Plains of San Agustin. If you pause to watch them, you’ll see the dishes rotate and move simultaneously as they search the sky for the focus of the current object of research.  It might be a galaxy, or a black hole, supernovas or protoplanetary disks: any number of astronomic objects researchers are using the Array to study.

White Sands National Park

Like a mirage, dazzling white sand dunes shimmer in the tucked-way Tularosa Basin in southern New Mexico. They shift and settle over the Chihuahuan Desert, covering 275 square miles—the largest gypsum dunefield in the world. White Sands National Park preserves more than half of this oasis, it's shallow water supply, and the plants and animals living here.