New Mexico

Before getting into New Mexico, we made one last stop in Texas: Guadalupe Mountains National Park, the smallest of all the national parks in the US. It was a nice spot to get out, stretch our legs, and take a short walk. The views were phenomenal, and we got to use our National Parks pass again (it was free to Military, and we have really taken advantage of that thing)!

Our first stop in New Mexico was Brantley Lake State Park, which is just north of Carlsbad. The state park is in the Chihuahuan Desert, and we saw countless jack rabbits and cottontail bunnies. We also spotted several roadrunners while there. There were a couple of really nice trails, and now I can say I went jogging in the desert (I probably won’t do that again).

Since Brantley Lake is about an hour south of Roswell, we decided to drive that way one afternoon and visit the International UFO Museum and Research Center, which had lots of info about the Roswell Incident. I don’t, personally, believe in alien life forms, but it was fun checking the place out.

We spent another afternoon at the Carlsbad Caverns National Park, and that was the highlight of the visit for me. What I really like is that there are self-guided tours, so we spent a couple of hours or so down in the cave, and we did not have to follow a group or listen to a tour guide tell jokes. We did have to listen to our kids complain after the first hour. I think they have just seen enough caves at this point. Nevertheless, it was full of amazing formations.

After a few days, we left Brantley Lake for a town called Alamogordo, which was a good stop for two nights, before moving into Arizona. The RV park was not the best, but we didn’t spent much time there. We arrived Saturday afternoon, so we headed out to do some shopping, and then spent Sunday visiting a local church and then going to the White Sands National Monument.

White Sands is the largest gypsum dune field in the world, and the sand is white (and cold). It’s beautiful to see, and it’s a great place for sledding. We picked up some sleds at the gift shop and headed out.

The girls had been snow sledding before, so they were extremely excited to do this. They also love rolling around in sand, seeing how much they can get in their hair, and even doing sand angels. So, they were in Heaven… for a while. Then, they got tired and hot and hungry, and it was game over. The dogs also enjoyed the outing, and Old Scout even got to play sled-dog for a bit.