Caves, E.T., and Sand Dunes in Southern New Mexico

The second day of our Texas / New Mexico road trip was jam-packed with sight seeing, and was our longest driving day. We woke up early on Saturday morning (which was easy, thanks to the time change) and drove to Carlsbad Caverns National Park for our 8:30am time slot. We took the natural entrance path, which is a 1.25 mile path that winds down into the cave, descending 750 feet. We highly recommend taking this route instead of the elevator down, as there are some really fascinating views as you enter and descend into the cave. We also recommend doing the first time slot if you can - it was not crowded yet that early in the morning, so it was a quiet and appropriately eerie walk. At several points we couldn't see any people in either direction. Arriving at the main level of the cave, there's a loop trail that circles the "big room," which is about 4,000 feet long, 635 feet wide, and 255 feet deep. "Big" is an accurate name! The cavern is full of interesting formations, many of which are still active. We've been to a lot of caves, and this is one of the more impressive ones. After finishing the trail, we took the elevator up. It was very busy in the visitor's center by the time we were exiting, with long lines of people waiting for the elevator down.

Rainy morning in the desert.

David heading down the natural entrance.

It's a long way down!

Looking back up shortly after entering the cave.

The path just keeps winding down deeper into the earth.

David with some formations.

The "lion's tail" formation.

Some of the formations are huge, and hard to capture in a photo.

A shelf of formations indicating an old water level.

It's a giraffe! 

Paul looooooves caves.

Leaving the caverns, it was a little less than a two hour drive to Roswell. Alien theming hits you right in the face when you arrive - there are alien billboards, statues, and even the streetlights have little alien eyes. I guess they know how to make that tourist money! We started at the visitor's center and walked to the Roswell Spacewalk. What is the spacewalk? Well, the website describes it this way:

"Step into the temporal vortex field of the Paisley-Horvak TVG9000. See into Roswell's past. when the future was beginning; then watch the future unfold, becoming a spectacular panorama of outer space viewed from the deck of an alien starship."

So, yeah, we don't know what it is either. 😅  Essentially it was a black light walk through photo op with aliens. Kind of short, but kitschy and fun. Our next stop was the International UFO museum just down the street. This was a large and updated "museum." Essentially, it's a tourist trap that has some museum-like exhibits explaining the history and cultural significance of aliens and UFOs. Mostly it was pretty well done, but it's really kitschy. 

Lunch was at La Escondida Cafe on the way out of Roswell. This place was just ok, but had cute old-school diner vibes with lots of random folks enjoying a late lunch.

Downtown Roswell needs a road diet, but there are a couple of cute blocks.

Does Paul believe though?

Happy Valentine's Month from Roswell!

Even the street lights are aliens!

Alien ATM.

David and E.T. phoning home.

Step into the temporal vortex field of the Paisley-Horvak TVG9000!

Can you even with this place?

Just hanging out with some friends at the UFO museum.

You know it's a museum because it's full of facts!

We liked the fashion accessories best.

We don't even know what this was about...but it lasted 3 minutes.

Lunch at Escondida Cafe was just ok...

From Roswell we drove west on Hwy 380/70 to Alamogordo. It's about a 2 hour drive up and over the mountains, passing through the Lincoln National Forest and the Mescalero Reservation. This time of year, the mountains near the town of Ruidoso are snowy and very lovely. Ruidoso has some skiing areas and was a tourist trap type city on top of the mountain...there was even a race track. Who knew?

Shortly before reaching Alamogordo, we stopped at McGinn's Pistachioland, which has billboards all over New Mexico. It's a delightfully tacky tourist trap with the world's largest pistachio. Of course Paul got some pistachio ice cream!

Ice cream and the world's largest pistachio.

Very "New Mexico" looking!

A field of pistachio trees.

By now it was late afternoon, and the weather was great, so instead of going straight to our hotel we decided to go to White Sands National Park for sunset, since it was open until 7pm. It was a great decision - we were treated to a dazzling sunset across the sands and behind the mountains. It was pretty crowded, probably a lot of locals who came specifically for the sunset on this lovely Saturday.

Welcome to White Sands National Park!

Paul's digging the views.

They don't call it "white sands" for nothing!

The view toward the mountains we drove through earlier in the day.

Sunlight on the dunes.

David at sunset. Majestic!

Shadows on the sand.

Our accidental rental car.

Sunset money shot!

Sand all around.

David enjoying twilight.

We dumped all of the sand out of our shoes and ended the day at our hotel in Alamogordo. Due to a late lunch we didn't make a specific dinner plan...and instead just got some takeout from Chili's (gross) which was the only thing in walking distance to our hotel. We didn't end up spending much time in Alamogordo, but there's a small space museum and some information sites/tourist traps focusing on the nearby missile range and the city's contribution to space exploration. Unfortunately, these were all closed while we were in town due to it being Saturday night and Sunday morning. Maybe next time!

Two national parks in one day is an accomplishment! Looking forward to wrapping up our last couple days exploring southern New Mexico and El Paso.