Afternoon: Road Scholar registration with your group leader in hotel lobby between 4:00 and 5:30 PM. You may check into the hotel anytime after 3:00 PM. [Please note that this is a preliminary itinerary only and is subject to change based upon local conditions.]

Dinner: Dinner at the hotel from 6:00 - 7:00 PM

Evening: Program orientation and introductions in hotel meeting room from 7:00 - 8:30 PM

Lodging: MCM Elegante

Meals Included: Dinner

Note: Walking up to two miles over uneven terrain at Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks

Breakfast: Breakfast at the hotel from 7:00 - 8:00 AM

Morning: The morning will be devoted to classes about the geology in the Albuquerque area (mountains and surrounding high desert areas), about history of the area, how plant and animal life have developed and adapted within geological regions, and how human life, from early Native Americans to present day occupants in and around the city have adapted to the geology and climate.

Breaks every hour.

Lunch: Lunch at the hotel from 12:15 - 1:15 PM

Afternoon: Enjoy a bus exploration, departing at 1:30 PM, of the city of Albuquerque, then proceed to Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument. This BLM site was established as a U.S. National Monument in 2001. Over time, weathering and erosion of layers of volcanic rock and ash created canyons and tent-shaped rocks. A 1.2 mile trail leads up through a slot canyon to a lookout point where the tent rocks may be viewed from above. A 1.3 mile trail leads past their base.

Dinner: Dinner at a local restaurant from 6:00 - 7:30 PM

Evening: Free evening for rest and socialization

Lodging: MCM Elegante

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Albuquerque Departure/Petroglyph National Monument at Boca Negra/Valley of Fires/Arrival in Alamogordo

Note: Walking on paved and unpaved trails at Petroglyph National Monument and Valley of Fires

Breakfast: Breakfast at the hotel from 7:00 - 8:00 AM

Morning: Bus departs for Petroglyph National Monument at Boca Negra at 8:00 AM. Petroglyph National Monument protects a variety of cultural and natural resources, including volcanos, archeological sites and an estimated 20,000 carved images. Many of the images are recognizable as animals, people, brands and crosses, others are more complex. These images are inseparable from the cultural landscape, the spirits of the people who created, and who appreciate them.

Afterwards, bus continues to Valley of Fires Recreation Area with a stop in Socorro, NM to pick up boxed lunches at El Camino Restaurant. Valley of Fires Recreation Area is located immediately adjacent to the Malpais Lava Flow.

Approximately 5,000 years ago, Little Black Peak erupted and flowed 44 miles into the Tularosa Basin, filling the basin with molten rock. The resulting lava flow is four to six miles wide, 160 feet thick and covers 125 square miles.

The lava flow is considered to be one of the youngest lava flows in the continental United States.

From a distance, Valley of Fires appears as barren rock, but when you walk through the nature trail there are many varieties of flowers, cactus, trees and bushes typical of the Chihuahuan Desert.

Animals living there include bats, roadrunners, quail, cottontails, mule deer, barberry sheep, and lizards.

It's also a virtual birdwatcher's paradise with great horned owls, burrowing owls, buzzards, hawks, and gnat catchers.

Lunch: Have a boxed lunch at Valley of Fires recreation area.

Afternoon: Bus travels from Valley of Fires to Alamogordo, New Mexico with several site visits in between. Bus will depart around 2:30 PM for Alamogordo. Check in at Best Western Desert Aire Hotel in Alamogordo.

Dinner: Bus departs at 5:15 PM to take you to dinner at Memories Restaurant from 5:30 - 7:00 PM.

Evening: Free evening

Lodging: Best Western Desert Aire Hotel

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Breakfast: Breakfast at the hotel and check out

Morning: Check out of the hotel and board bus by 8:30 AM. Pick up boxed lunches at Our Country Kitchen at 8:45 AM. You'll have a discussion about the geologic history of the Alamogordo area on the bus as it travels. At 9:15 AM, you'll arrive at White Sands National Monument to explore the area. Lying at the northern end of the Chihuahuan Desert is a mountain-ringed valley called the Tularosa Basin. Rising from the heart of this basin is White Sands, one of the world's great natural wonders. Here, great wave-like dunes of gypsum sand have engulfed 275 square miles of desert and have created the world's largest gypsum dune field. The brilliant white dunes are ever-changing: growing, cresting, then slumping, but always advancing. Within the extremely harsh environment of the dune field, even plants and animals adapted to desert conditions struggle to survive. Only a few species of plants grow rapidly enough to survive burial by the moving dunes. Several types of small animals have evolved with a white coloration that camouflages them in the gypsum sand.

Lunch: Boxed lunch at the monument

Afternoon: Board the bus at 12:30 PM and travel on to Carlsbad. The bus will make several stops, and your study guide will point out various geological features of the landscape. Check in at Best Western Stevens Inn around 4:15 PM.

Dinner: Bus departs at 5:00 PM to take you to dinner at the Trinity Hotel restaurant. Dinner will be from 5:15 - 6:30 PM followed by a Geology lecture at the hotel.

Lodging: Best Western Stevens Inn

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Breakfast: Breakfast in hotel dining area

Morning: Bus will depart for Carlsbad Caverns with arrival at 8:30 AM. There will be a brief orientation to the Caverns followed by a walk through the caverns. The Caverns, as well as numerous other caves, exist within a Permian-age fossil reef. The Civilian Conservation Corps built many of the structures in the park, and today, the caverns, with their incredible formations of limestone, are highly accessible to tourists. Participants will walk through the Caverns with a Park Ranger.

Lunch: Lunch in the cafeteria at the Caverns. You'll take the elevator up from the Big Room, have lunch, then go back down into the Caverns on the elevator to continue your visit.

Afternoon: After the walk through the Caverns, the group will return to ground level via elevator, and will explore the lovely Visitors' Center at the Caverns. Bus returns to the hotel at 3:00 pm.

Dinner: Dinner at Red Chimney Pit Barbecue

Evening: Free evening

Lodging: Best Western Stevens Inn

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Breakfast: Breakfast in hotel dining area from 7:00 - 8:00 AM. Box lunches will be picked up or delivered around 8:15 AM.

Morning: The bus leaves for Guadalupe Mountains National Park at 8:30 AM. This park contains the southern end of the Guadalupe Mountains, an isolated range surrounded in all directions by desert. The mountains are part of an ancient fossilized reef which also includes the Carlsbad Caverns - a huge limestone formation. The high country has much exposed rock with fossils, and a climate typical of lands much further north, with pine, fir and aspen trees and animals such as elk, mountain lions, and even black bears. You'll enjoy some trail walks and a ranger program in and around the Visitors' Center.

Lunch: Boxed lunch in the park

Afternoon: Continue exploring Guadalupe Mountains National Park. At 3:00 PM, bus will return to the hotel. Rest period at the hotel from 4:00 - 5:00 PM.

Dinner: Board bus at 5:00 PM for a trip to the No Whiner Diner where you'll have dinner from 5:30 - 7:00 PM. This restaurant is fun and the food is good - it's one of Carlsbad residents' favorite restaurants. You'll have an extensive number of options from which to choose.

Evening: Free evening for rest and relaxation

Lodging: Best Western Stevens Inn

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Breakfast: Breakfast in hotel dining area from 7:00 - 8:00 AM and hotel check-out.

Be prepared to have your luggage at the bus no later than 8:15 AM for an 8:30 AM departure.

Morning: After breakfast and hotel check-out, bus departs for Albuquerque at 8:30 AM.

With several stops on the way, you'll travel through Roswell and visit the Roswell Museum and Art Center from 10:00 until 11:30 AM.

At 11:30, bus travels to lunch destination.

Lunch: Have lunch from 11:45 AM to 12:45 PM at Roswell's Golden Corral.

Afternoon: Bus continues on to Albuquerque at 12:45 PM. Total travel time is approximately 4 hours.

There will be videos shown on the bus. Arrive at MCM Elegante Hotel at approximately 4:30 PM for check-in.

Dinner: Dinner at the hotel from 6:30 - 8:00 PM.

Closing comments from participants, study guide, and group leader end the evening.

Lodging: MCM Elegante

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Buffet-style breakfast in hotel dining area and departure. Hotel check-out is no later than 12:00 PM.

Breakfast: Buffet breakfast in the hotel dining room any time between 7:00 - 9:00 AM

Morning: Departure after breakfast. Check-out time is 12:00 noon.

Hotel provides free shuttle service to Albuquerque Sunport and Amtrak Station with advance reservations.

Meals Included: Breakfast