Day Eight: Albuquerque, NM, to Alamogordo, NM: 280 miles

This morning we woke up earlier than we should have, still excited about the girls' awards on the night before. We sadly said goodbye to Mama Jane at the Albuquerque airport, then spent the rest of the morning visiting downtown Albuquerque for one last time. Chippy and the crew were in rare form today, probably because they were still wired up from the after-midnight cake and punch.

Goodby Mama Jane! Thank you for coming with us to Albuquerque!

This is actually the typical reaction for a first encounter with a talking, sword-weilding chipmunk

A Spanish settler giving the gift of Hon-Rosie

This is why we no longer use oxen to pull the moving van

Arwen and chippy play patty-cake in the park

Butterpats in front of the old convent

We had lunch at "La Hacienda," a Mexican resturant in the Old Town. The Chippy gang loved the food, especially the sopapias with honey!

Butterpats at La Hacienda

An awkward silence as Diggy dips into the HOT sauce

How many chips would a chipmunk dunk if a chipmunk could dunk chips?

The gang successfully breaks and rides this pentaceratops using the old mice-in-the-nostrils trick

Goodbye Albuquerque! (sniff)

We then headed south to Las Cruces. Just east of Las Cruces we stopped and hiked beneath "The Needles," a beautiful jagged mountain ridge in the Organ Mountains that overlooked the White Sands missile range. We almost stepped on a rattlesnake, who was after the fat chipmunk.

But has he ever tried to swallow a chipmunk who carries a sword and a pistol?

West face of the Needles



East face of the Needles

It was growing dark as we passed through the missile testing area and the White Sands National Monument, so we plan to get up early tomorrow morning and see the white sand on our way to El Paso and Guadalupe Mountains of West Texas.

The Butterpats overlooking the White Sands Missile Range