We are so looking forward to a cool escape into the Mountains!  Here are the details for the day.

Saturday July 30th

First and foremost, this will be a Saturday event. We’ve had a few requests for a Saturday Rally and this looked to be a good day for one!

Meet at Starbucks on Transmountain-Between 9:00 and 9:30 am

The group from El Paso will be meeting up at the Starbucks on Transmountain between 9:00 and 9:30 am.  Those of you from Las Cruces, Holloman, and Cloudcroft can meet us at the Alameda Park in Alamogordo NM.  The El Paso group should arrive in Alamogordo between 11:00 and 11:30 am.

Lunch-11:30 – 12:30

We will be taking a pitstop at Alameda park in Alamogordo for lunch.  There are a few choices as you come into town or you can pack a cooler for the park.  Google Maps Shows several restaurants coming into Alamogordo from El Paso.  (Blake’s Lotaburger is almost a must do when in NM )

Depart Alameda Park-12:30

We will leave Alamogordo at about 12:30 pm.  We will be sure to get a car count and have everybody regrouped as the next stop is Sunspot!  The travel time from Alamogordo to Sunspot is approximately 1 hour

Directions to Sunspot (Corona Loop)

Directions to Corona Loop, Lincoln National Forest, Southeast Otero, NM 88317

Starting from Alameda Park in Alamogordo NM

• 1 Head north toward N White Sands Blvd
• 2 Turn right onto N White Sands Blvd
• 3 Make a U-turn
• 4 Turn right onto US-82 E
• 5 Turn right onto NM-130/Co Rd 63/Co Rd 65
• 6 Turn right onto State Hwy 63/State Hwy 65/Sunspot Hwy Continue to follow State Hwy 63/Sunspot Hwy
• 7 Turn right onto Sunspot Hwy 8 Continue onto Corona Loop Arriving at Corona Loop

Sunspot Observatory Arrival – 1:30 PM

Once at the observatory, we will participate in a tour of the Telescope and can explore the area.  We will be at the Sunspot Observatory for Approximately 2 hours.  At the end of the tour, we will hop over to Apache point for a second, “behind the scenes” tour. Apache point is less than 5 minutes away.

Apache Point Arrival – 3:30 pm

Our epMINIs friend, Garrett Ebelke, works at the Apache Point observatory and has received permission for us to view the control rooms and telescopes usually not open to the public.  (Thanks Robert and Garrett for working together to get this set up!)

After the tours, we are open for any other suggestions the group may have. We look forward to seeing everyone!