I had written in the Grants NM section about how I thought that Acoma Sky City was nearby, it was. Here is a photo of a sign that tells a little about it. El Morro is about 40 miles or so from Grants, off of NM53. These are a few pics. at El Morro. Inscription Rock was great & there were many more than what I am showing a photo of. I had a great time at all of these places.

Land of Fire & Ice

Grants, NM

The Bandera Crater- Land of Fire & Ice. 1-888-icecaves.
We just refer to this trip as our trip to Indian country. Just the area that these icecaves were in was facinating! There was the El Malpais national monument. We went to El Morro as well. I could be wrong but I believe Acoma Sky city wasn't too far from these places either.
Right now, I will stick to the crater & ice caves. The crater is approximately 1,200 feet across & 800 feet deep. Around 10,000 years. If you have never seen an erupted volcano- this is a good one to visit & the great thing is that the ice caves are there as well. It's an easy hike to see both & a nice trading post for souvineers, info, etc. Inside of the ice cave, the temperature never rises above 31 degrees F.
I visited in the summer & it was interesting to see the lava with snow all over it. It was a fun & interesting short hike. I had my dog Bruce with me- he enjoyed it as well!

Pics. in Hatch

Hatch NM

This was a very small town but interesting to drive through. The stores all have the Chile peppers hanging all over. They are made into artwork pretty much, large, small, baskets, wreaths, etc. Quite pretty. The people were nice as well.
Hatch is the green chile capital of the world. While eating chile peppers, don't drink water to cool your mouth- drink beer, milk, eat guacamole- these help.

This is Smokey the Bears gravesite in Capitan NM. Cute town.