New Mexico day 6: Carlsbad Caverns

We packed up in the morning and headed to Carlsbad Caverns -- for anyone keeping track, this was the number two place I wanted to visit in New Mexico. We took the mountain route via Cloudcroft (pretty!), even seeing the tiniest bits of snow, and cute, odd little Artesia. But then we arrived at Carlsbad Caverns! We had some time before our reservation, so we sat in the picnic area and ate our packed lunches (a good call -- we didn't realize how long we'd be in the cave!) and then went in. 

We decided to walk down from the natural entrance rather than taking the elevators, and it was 100% the right choice. It's dark but paved and mostly level. And of course, mostly downhill. 

To get to the natural entrance you walk through the "auditorium" where, in summer, people can sit and have a front-row seat to watch tens of thousands of bats fly out of the cave at sunset. It must be amazing. 

I loved the switchbacks down the steep entrance slope -- they reminded me of Walter's Wiggles in Zion. 

We were happy that there weren't a lot of people walking down or up -- because voices carried like crazy in the cave. It got dark, it got cooler, and we just kept going down, down, down. You lose about 750 feet over the course of 1.25 miles and about an hour. 

It felt like we'd been underground for a very long time. I mean, I knew Carlsbad Caverns was big, but I had no idea that it was HUGE. Like, huge huge. 

So we headed around the Big Room -- which I had honestly thought was, yes, a big room, but one where you would see the cave from one vantage point rather than another 1.25-mile loop that twists and turns and climbs up and down. 

It was also interesting that -- though the parking lot was rammed when we arrived, we really didn't see many people in the cave itself. And we walked and walked and walked. 

I should note that it wasn't as "bright" in the cave as these pictures imply -- there were some lights on some of the formations, but it was quite dark even with our underground eyes. 

We finished the loop and arrived at the site of the underground snack bar. Darn you, COVID and seasonality, for keeping this closed except on weekends. Because, man, popcorn IN A CAVE???

Then up up up the elevators -- 752 feet -- and we were back up top. 

On the way out of the park we took the 9.5 mile, one-way "loop drive". I enjoyed it -- I like a little dirt road driving! Of course, we weren't in our Subaru and were in a mid-grade sedan, but it was still fine. 

Then back on the highway and a quick pass through Artesia again for our home for the night:

When I was planning the trip, we wanted to find a cute, alien-themed, independent hotel. I thought I found one, booked it, and then when we arrived we realized that, well, it wasn't quite what we were looking for. Note: it was super clean, the bed was firm, and I'm sure it would have been fine. But I went into the bathroom -- also super clean -- and immediately looked up other places to stay online. I found one close by, then walked out of the bathroom and started telling Wil about it. Turns out he had done the same thing. So we booked the other place and then walked out of the room and to our car and drove to the very, very nice Home2 Suites by Hilton. 

The room was huge and very comfortable, there was a hot breakfast buffet in the morning, and -- crucially -- it was much closer to "downtown Roswell" so we could walk around rather than drive around. Perfect. 

We wandered around a bit admiring how much the city had BOUGHT IN to the alien theme, had an odd but nice dinner in a local favorite called Peppers, and then massive ice creams at Yoly's Paleteria before collapsing in our super quiet, verrrry comfy hotel room. 

Tomorrow: ALIENS, Smokey, and Route 66.

** A quick note about this post -- I'm catching up with my New Mexico memories and backdating blog posts to each day. 

New Mexico day 5: White Sands and Alamogordo

Woke up in a lot of pain after a rough night--seriously, I don't know that I have ever been this sunburned. I'm such an idiot!

But I lathered myself with moisturizer (we made an extra stop to get more!) and we said farewell to Truth or Consequences. 

We set a "no interstates" route, which took us, happily, through the fields around Hatch. Of course, we are way outside of chile season, but it was nice to see acres and acres of fields. Amusingly, we saw lots and lots of trees and were confused -- do peppers grow on trees? I mean, I know they grow on shrubs, but maybe commercially those shrubs become trees? Nope. They were pecan trees; hatch also grows a lot of pecans! (Talk about idiot city slickers, eh?)

In Hatch itself we got out and stretched our legs a bit, wishing Sparky's (pictured below) opened for breakfast!

We also wandered around looking at metal yard sculptures (oh, what we would bring home if we could!), lamenting that a ristra wouldn't make it home in our luggage, and imagining buying one of these big bags...

Then back in the car and a weird drive, including a US BORDER CONTROL CHECKPOINT. Like, on the highway. Not at the border. Luckily they believed that we were citizens because we weren't carrying passports. Because who would? 

Eventually we turned onto Highway 70, went up over a pass, and then descended into the White Sands area. 

White Sands is the second-newest national park, having been upgraded from "National Monument" in late 2019. That said, I love the classic buildings and signage from the establishment of the monument in the 1930s by the CCC. 

Of course we started our visit in the gift shop, where one of the volunteers said, "Not to judge a book by its cover, but the sun reflects off the sand...". I told him I was FULLY SLATHERED with sunscreen, though I am sure he couldn't see me blushing because I WAS ALREADY VERY, VERY RED. 

We bought the obligatory "sled" in the gift shop...

... then made our way into the park along the scenic drive. We stopped where there were trails and went for little walks, loving the white, white sand and the blue, blue sky. 

We made our way to some completely empty areas with steep dunes. And, well, THIS. 

So great! Absolutely worth the price of the sled. The sand is made of gypsum, not silica / quartz. It actually feels cool to the touch, unlike how other sand usually feels hot in the sun. And it was lovely and soft and smooth. And so otherworldly!

We hiked up and slid down dunes for a while, then headed out of the park. We considered coming back at sunset for the "sunset stroll" -- I bet the dunes look astounding at sunset -- but decided to go to our adorable AirBnB for the night first. 

Quail Run is ADORABLE. A tiny house perched near the owner's house, but with plenty of privacy. 

Inside was perfectly laid out, with a sleeping loft, a bathroom with shower, compact kitchen (complete with sink and running water), and a comfy couch. It also had a small heater / air conditioning unit. Really comfy, cozy, and it had everything we needed. 

Everything, including a big pile of sleds from other travelers. :)

We also made a stop at PISTACHIOLAND. Why? Because it's the home of the world's largest pistachio, of course. 

We bought a couple of bags of pistachios -- seriously, the garlic ones are AMAZING -- and have spent the intervening weeks wondering why we didn't buy as many as we could possibly fit in our bags. 

Because we were IN LOVE with Quail Run and the adorable owners, Rick and Penny, we decided we'd stay in for the evening. We bought some burger patties, buns, and a salad kit at the grocery store... and more importantly, we stopped HERE. 

Why? Because Caliche's make a GREEN CHILE SUNDAE with salted pecans. AMAZING.

 

It's spicy sweet, and the salty pecans are the perfect accompaniment. We ate ours at our little picnic table while the skies turned orange. Then Wil grilled our Impossible Burgers -- perfect! -- and we bundled up because it gets cold when the sun goes down.

I'm happy to report that we slept like LOGS in our cozy loft!

Tomorrow: Carlsbad Caverns!

** A quick note about this post -- I'm catching up on my New Mexico memories and backdating blog posts to each day. 

New Mexico day 4: Truth or Consequences and Wil turns 50!

Got up relatively early because we had a morning appointment at Riverbend Hot Springs! As you can see in the photo above, we're still pretty bundled up -- it had been below freezing during much of our time in Santa Fe, and was very chilly on this day in T or C. 

We had booked a one-hour private soak in one of their gorgeous pools, Cielo.

 You know how sometimes advertising pictures look better than real life? Not this time. 

(Okay, sure, the lighting is better, but you see what I mean!)

We had a nice roomy pool, lovely hot water, and a view of the Rio Grande. There were curtains that could be pulled across the front for privacy, but it was early morning and there weren't a lot of other folks around. 

There are walls on the other sides which made it very private, and the "whisper quiet" feel (no loud talking!) was respected by the few other bathers in other tubs. 

This picture taken from the front edge of our "room" shows the pretty communal tubs. It makes it look like you'd really need to pull the curtains shut from this angle, but unless someone was sitting on that little dock you couldn't see them from the pool.

Our soak was great, and relaxing, and we talked a lot about what it would be like to buy a little place in T or C and spend our winters there in the sun. 

But we also were keeping an eye on the clock -- and we were out and dried and dressed right on time. 

We decided to get our walk in for the day, wandering around T or C and even heading up the hill to gawp at a couple of houses we spotted on Zillow. But we realized that, things being what they are, T or C probably wasn't the right spot for us. So the not-serious-at-all search continues. 

By midday we had walked all over "downtown" and decided to head back to the cottage for lunch and a bit of relaxation. There were snacks and drinks and dips in and out of our private hot spring tub. The weather felt cool and the tub felt warm and it was very mellow and quiet. 

And I got SPECTACULARLY SUNBURNED. Like, sunburned worse than I had been in DECADES. No, it wasn't smart. It certainly wasn't on purpose. But let's just say that my normally very pale tummy peeled for days. OOPS. 

In the early evening we headed back to Truth or Consequences Brewing, where the very nice bartender bought Wil a beer. 

Then back to the cottage -- after all, it was the reason we came! -- where we had dinner and spent some more time in the tub. Bliss. 

Oh, and of course we had PIE. Even if it was store bought rather than home baked. 

A pretty perfectly mellow way for Wil to enter his 50s! 

Tomorrow: White Sands NP!

**A note on this post: I'm catching up on my New Mexico memories and backdating blog posts to each day.