Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge
(http://www.fws.gov/southw...) is part of the national wildlife refuge system, maintained in part by the Friends of the Bosque (http://www.friendsofthebo...), an all-volunteer group. About 20 miles south of town; follow I-25 to the village of San Antonio, then south on SR 1 to the refuge $3 fee/car. This is where snow geese, cranes and hundreds of other birds stop in on their migrations. Gorgeous photography in the winter months during sunrise and sunset - be prepared for the cold!Fort Craig National Historic Site
is a ruin reachable via a short side road from SR 1 south of the Bosque del Apache. A quick visit gives you a sense of the bleak existence faced by the Army forces based here to guard transportation routes during the 19th century. No visitor services other than toilets.Langmuir Lightning Laboratory
(http://www.ee.nmt.edu/~la...) in the Magdalena Mountains west of town, associated with New Mexico Tech, is a major center for atmospheric-science research and has a visitor center open during summer daylight hours. The road to the laboratory is rugged and may require 4-wheel drive. Hiking in the Magdalenas is feasible using trailheads at, and on the way to, Langmuir, even when the visitor center is closed.Trinity Site
(http://www.wsmr.army.mil/...). Site of the first nuclear bomb explosion, now a National Historic Landmark. The radiation has long since decayed to the point that the site is now safe for visitors. The White Sands Missle Range holds an open house at the Trinity Site twice a year, the first Saturdays in April and September from 8AM-2PM. South on I-25, east on NM 380, enter at Stallion Gate. Free.The Very Large Array (http://www.vla.nrao.edu/), long considered the world's most sensitive interferometric radio telescope and still a first-rate instrument of astronomy, is about 60 miles west of town, beyond the Magdalena Mountains and the tiny town of Magdalena. Driving out west along US 60, it is surreal to come upon this shimmering, alien-looking collection of radio dishes in the middle of the Plains of San Agustin. Open year round during daylight hours for free self-guided tours.
Mountainair
about 60 miles northeast on I-25 and US-60, is home to the Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument, which preserves the ruins of several abandoned pueblo villages and impressive Spanish missions.El Camino Real International Heritage Center
(http://www.caminorealheri...) is a New Mexico State Monument that celebrates El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, a Spanish colonial road that ran from Mexico City and Veracruz to Santa Fe. It is on I-25 about 30 miles south of Socorro.