I have a friend who says her favorite spot in the world is the overlook at White Rock. During a certain period of her life she often found herself in northern New Mexico, and would go to the overlook to meditate. Isolated, with a view over the beautiful valley, it was easy to be at peace with the world.

And then a tour bus would drive up, the tourists pile out and run to the edge of the overlook, cameras snapping, run back to the bus and speed off. That, my friends, was us.

Northern New Mexico is high and rough, with deep valleys and high tors, created by volcanic action and earthquakes. South of the highlands, we find ourselves in a rift valley, where ancient earthquakes created two fault lines running north and south, with the Sangre de Christo mountains on the eastern side, and San Mateo and Cibolleta mountains on the west. Between these two fault lines the earth sank, creating the rift valley. Albuquerque is in this rift valley and you can see it clearly as you travel north, with mountains on the right and mountains on the left.

North of Albuquerque we saw evidence of the volcanic past in the Valle Grande. This extensive meadow was once the caldera of a volcano that erupted a million years ago, throwing up ash and boulders as far as California on the one side and Kansas on the other. It was easier to see Valle Grande as a caldera when we were shown the site on a topographical map.

To scroll this pan, run your mouse on the right or left arrow.

The southern part of the state is flat. Whew! I never saw land so flat as at the rest stop outside of Roswell. The rest of the tour ran into the little convenience store to load up on snacks and a take a bathroom break, but I remained outlide, and gloried in the flatness of the landscape.