Road Trip 2007

Spider Rock, at Canyon de Chelly in northeastern Arizona, is one of the most popular attractions at this national monument. The rock is 800 feet high and made of sandstone.

(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET News.com)

CHINLE, Ariz.--Of all the places I've visited on Road Trip 2007, I don't think any have been quite so far off the beaten path as Canyon de Chelly.

This is a truly wondrous place. For nearly 5,000 years, people have lived in these canyons among four mountains sacred to the Navajo. Even today, the Navajo still live here.

Still, the reason most people--including me--come, has got to be more about the scenery than the history, sad as that may be.

Truth be told, I had never even heard of Canyon de Chelly until reading about it in my Southwest guide book. It compared this place favorably to the Grand Canyon for pure scenic beauty. And I have to say, I can't see how they're wrong.

To get here, of course, you have to go far out of your way. It's not very near to any other popular destinations, though it's probably only a couple hours from Interstate 40, a heavy-traffic highway.

But it's so worth it. Here, you have canyon walls 1,000 feet high. You have Spider Rock, an 800-foot pillar of sandstone. And you have thousand year old cliff dwelling ruins. And then canyon views that are truly out of this world.

There are two arms to Canyon de Chelly: A north rim, and a south rim. I only drove the south rim, because I was short of time. And it was spectacular. I can't speak personally for the north rim, but I'm sure it's fantastic.

Either way, I suggest that you find your way here. And in the meantime, I expect to post a gallery of pictures of Canyon de Chelly (along with some of the North Rim of the Grand Canyon) on Wednesday. Stay tuned.

These ruins, called White House, were built by the Puebloan people more than 1,000 years ago. The cliff dwellings are still visible, and visitable.

(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET News.com)

The 'shiprock,' a giant rock formation that's also a sacred Navajo site, is located outside, appropriately enough, Shiprock, N.M.

(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET News.com)

SHIPROCK, N.M.--When I was looking at the map, trying to figure out how to get from Taos, N.M., to the north rim of the Grand Canyon, I saw that the road would take me through this little town.

At the time, it didn't occur to me that the town's name might be meaningful.

Well, until I drove through, on Road Trip 2007, my journey around the Southwest looking for the best of science, technology and nature.

And lo and behold, even before you get to Shiprock, off in the distance, a gigantic--and I do mean gigantic--piece of rock begins to dominate the horizon.

And as you get closer, you see that the rock--a sacred Navajo site--does sort of resemble a ship. A really, really, really big one.

I guess that will teach me to think people do things for no reason.

Black Rock hot springs, near Arroyo Hondo, N.M., are a lovely set of two pools nestled right up against the Rio Grande.

(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET News.com)

ARROYO HONDO, N.M.--There are few things in life I enjoy more than soaking in a natural hot spring.

That's why, despite my being late getting started with my day and having hundreds of miles to drive to get to my next stop on Road Trip 2007, I couldn't resist stopping in at Black Rock hot springs near this tiny town.

These are two stone pools on the edge of the Rio Grande, and with amazing views of the Rio Grande Gorge. During my visit, in early August, the pool farther from the water was a perfect temperature: Hot, but not too hot, even on a sultry summer day. The pool closer to the river was colder, according to the visitors who tried it out.

Apparently, during winter and spring, this hot springs isn't really usable because the river is too high and overwhelms it with cold water, even washing it out completely. Then, when the river recedes, the locals come back and rebuild the pools. Thank you!

This is a popular spot. It's a bit of a trek, including many twists and turns on a narrow dirt road, and then a five minute walk down a rocky dirt path. But thanks to my hot springs bible, Marjorie Gersh-Young's Hot Springs and Hot Pools of the Southwest, I had little trouble locating it.

For me, finding local hot springs is a big part of every road trip adventure I take. And thankfully, the American West is brimming with them. Yay Earth!

From Black Rock hot springs, you get an amazing view of the Rio Grande Gorge.

(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET News.com)

An earthship is an entirely off-the-grid, fully sustainable house that can keep a steady inside temperature regardless of how hot or cold it is outside.

(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET News.com)

TAOS, N.M.--I really want one of these.

These are earthships, a form of entirely off-the-grid, fully sustainable houses that are made from natural and recycled materials, and which can provide a family with a steady, comfortable interior temperature regardless of how hot or cold it is outside.

I've come to visit the Earthship Biotecture world headquarters near Taos, and have come ready to be impressed. I'm as into green technology and architecture as the next guy, and what I'd read had me expecting an introduction to a form of housing that is self-sufficient, affordable and attractive, all at the same time.

And that's just what I got. And more. The buildings are really interesting to look at, not least because there are plants everywhere, since including greenhouses in every earthship is a major component of the concept.

I'd come as part of Road Trip 2007, my search for the best science- and technology-related destinations in the Southwest. And this definitely counts. I plan to post a full story and gallery on Tuesday, so stay tuned for that. But in the meantime, I want to make it clear that while earthships aren't the immediate solution for all communities--cities, in particular, are likely to resist this kind of off-the-grid thinking--for many, they are.

I heartily recommend checking out earthships' site and thinking about how one of these buildings could fit into your future.

The infrastructure of an earthship includes walls built of tires packed with dirt. The tires, which can weigh 350 pounds, provide thermal mass, which stores heat.

(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET News.com)

The bridge over the Rio Grande Gorge near Taos, N.M. is truly breath-taking, and is 650 feet above the river below.

(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET News.com)

TAOS, N.M.--Wow. That's almost all I had to say after walking across the Rio Grand Gorge Bridge near this popular city.

And why? Well, the bridge is suspended over the river, which is 650 feet below, and what you see from the span is the outrageously beautiful effects of one of America's most powerful waterways having carved its way into walls of the basalt flows from the Taos Plateau volcanic fields over the centuries and millenia.

The rock looks like it was just chipped away, and the view almost trivializes the scale of what you're seeing from the bridge.

And then there's the bridge itself. You can walk across it on both the north and south sides, looking down the whole way. It is a vertiginous experience, especially in the days after the bridge collapse in Minneapolis. Every time a tractor trailer rumbled across, shaking the entire 500-foot bridge, I could only cringe.

But, hey, what's the point of coming to a place like this if not to overcome a fear of heights, or a fear of complete structural failure? After all, that's what I did when I went to visit the Grand Canyon Skywalk earlier on Road Trip 2007, my journey around the Southwest.

Anyway, if you find yourself in the Taos region, I suggest taking a side trip to the bridge. You'll never forget it.

The Rio Grande river may not look that far away, but the fact that it is 650 below the bridge gives a sense of the scale.

(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET News.com)

The main road into Los Alamos is a significant reason why the U.S. government chose to place the Manhattan Project there: it can be easily watched to see who's coming in.

(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET News.com)

LOS ALAMOS, N.M.--I spent Wednesday night and Thursday here, in the town that gave birth to the atomic bomb. And even though it's been 62 years since the Manhattan Project finished its work, its aura still pervades Los Alamos.

One of the Mitchell 35mm cameras used to film the first test of the atomic bomb design created by the Manhattan Project.

(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET News.com)

For example, the main drag through the eastern end of town is Trinity Drive. And one can't help but understand, when driving in from Santa Fe, why the government chose to place the Manhattan Project here: among other reasons, that road is a windy, two-lane affair with a sheer cliff on the north side that made it easy for security to watch who was headed into Los Alamos.

I came here--as part of Road Trip 2007--to visit the Los Alamos National Lab and talk to folks there about the facility's nonproliferation research efforts. I expect to post a full story on that Monday.

But first, I stopped in on the Bradbury Science Museum, the lab's official museum, to get its version of the history of the Manhattan Project.

There weren't any big surprises there. But I was interested in the museum's collection of artifacts from the Trinity test, including the cameras used to document it.

Anyway, visiting Los Alamos these days isn't the security nightmare it used to be, and given that we're now in the post-9/11 era, it was remarkably easy to get to the lab.

But that didn't make the emotional chill of being there go away. If anything, it made it more distinct.

A Polar Air Cargo 747-400F sits on the tarmac at the Roswell International Air Center, in Roswell, N.M., on Aug. 1, 2007.

(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET News.com)

ROSWELL, N.M.--After I drove by, and was unable to get into, the Pinal Air Park, north of Tucson, Ariz., I've kind of been jonesing for some good Boeing 747 access.

It turns out that there are commercial airplane storage facilities in many different locations, including Roswell, where at the Roswell International Air Center, there are up to 200 planes just sitting on the ground, waiting to be used by their owners.

I visited this facility on Wednesday, as part of Road Trip 2007, my journey around the Southwest, and I expect to post a full gallery Thursday.

For now, though, know that I got my 747 fix there, as I got to see at least two of them up close, including one whose engines were sitting on the ground, directly in front of it, and technicians were expected to put them back on at any minute.

Oh, and there were other planes there, too. There were also MD-11s, MD-80s, L-1011s, DC-8s, 727s, a 737 and more.

Ah, planes. How I do love them.

This alien autopsy scene was created for the film 'Roswell.'

(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET News.com)

ROSWELL, N.M.--If you're coming to this town for anything other than UFO madness, you're probably heading to the wrong place.

I came as part of Road Trip 2007, my driving tour of the Southwest in search of the most interesting technology- and science-related stories.

Roswell is the self-proclaimed UFO capital of the world, and it is still reaping the tourist-dollar benefits of an event that happened 60 years ago, when a local may have found the remains of a crashed UFO in a field that's actually quite some distance from here.

The event made world headlines and the U.S. military clamped down, denying that it was anything other than a crashed weather balloon. The rest is X-Files history.

Yet, here we are, all these years later, and Roswell's UFO industry is still going strong. It's true that it's relegated to a small area of downtown, centered around the International UFO Museum and Research Center, but in that area, hoo boy, nearly every shop has a window full of alien swag for sale.

It's interesting stuff, if you believe. If you don't believe, it's probably just annoying. But then, what would you be doing visiting here?

Around downtown Roswell, there are endless shops catering to alien-crazy tourists. They sell all manner of alien/UFO souvenirs.

(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET News.com)

The Valley of Fires Recreation Area in central New Mexico is a 125-square-mile lava bed.

(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET News.com)

CARRIZOZO, N.M.--One of the great things about being on a lengthy road trip is that you tend to have time to pull off the road to check out some of the interesting things along the way.

Well, on Road Trip 2007, my adventure to discover the best science- and technology-related sites in the Southwest, I've been so busy I haven't had much of that kind of time.

But on Monday, as I was driving toward Roswell, N.M.--UFO Capital of the World, as it's known--after visiting the Very Large Array, I saw something I couldn't resist stopping to investigate.

What I saw, as I crested a hill, driving east, was a plain with a great swath of black carving through the middle.

And as I got closer to it--the road cut right through it--I saw that it was some of the most gnarled rock formations I've seen in quite some time. So, I turned off, paid my $3 entry fee (it was a U.S. Bureau of Land Management area) and went to take a look.

This was the Valley of Fires, 125 square miles of lava flow that was awesome to behold.

At various points, the lava flow is between 4 and 6 miles wide, and can be as much as 160 feet deep.

What really got me, beyond the simplicity of such a place, was that there was a plethora of plant and animal life flourishing there. Now, I didn't see any of these animals--such as meadow larks, mockingbirds, great horned owls or cave bats--but I do think I heard a rattlesnake.

I did, however, see an abundance of the plants. They included soaptree yucca, prickly pears, mesquite and much more.

I have to say, New Mexico is truly a magical place. I was here 14 years ago, and it's everything I remember. And the Valley of Fires is just one piece of why.

The Valley of Fires is home to an abundance of plant and animal life.

(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET News.com)