After a week in Texas, we arrived in Las Cruces to begin our New Mexico experience. It was very hot and dry, and we’d not recommend visiting New Mexico during this season, but it was the time off we had, so we forged ahead. As is our strategy, we stayed at a VRBO centrally located for some really neat activities. There is sooooo much to do within a reasonable drive of Las Cruces.
Let’s jump right in!
We thoroughly enjoyed our time on the dunes. Fun fact, the sand never gets hot to the touch because it’s made of gypsum. Truth is, WSNP is actually growing, as the crystals grow in the rough parts of the park. If you’re used to burning your feet on coral or lava sand beaches, you’re in for a treat here. Leave your hiking boots in the car!
One thing you don’t want to leave in your car: your sense of direction. The hiking trails are well marked, but there just aren’t normal trails to follow and no real landmarks. It’s just sand… piles and expansive piles of sand.
You’ll not want to hike far with your sled, so park next to a good sledding dune, then take your hike, then sled next to your car upon your return. And the water you left in your car.
The sledding didn’t necessarily make our time. It was fun, but not anything we couldn’t have missed. Jumping off the peaks of the dunes into the soft sand over and over again seemingly didn’t get old, and taking in the enormity of the landscape was just plain fun.
Pro Tip for visiting White Sands National Park: The unique activity this park really trades on is sledding the dunes. If you rent a home in this area, check the garage to see if there are sleds waiting for you before you purchase sleds at WSNP. We overlooked this, and we paid for our mistake. If you do need to purchase, there are only a few used sleds available, so set your mind on the high priced new ones. Walmart is only a seasonal option. Also plan on selling your sled to interested guests in the parking lot as you leave to recover some dough. This is a legalish way of doing things, but it’s the way we did it. 🙂
If you’ve driven far enough to enjoy the dunes, you’ve travelled a looong way from wherever you call home. When you’re done in the sand, drive a little further north to Alamogordo to the World’s Largest Pistachio at McGinn’s PistachioLand! The farm is a neat experience, the myriad of pistachio options to sample and purchase are amazingly tasty, and where else are you going to get to see something like this? If you’re into sweet wine, they made some good stuff on that front, too. Take the tour, get some ice cream, and call it a great day!
In search of another hike in the Las Cruces area, we headed out to the Organ Mountains, a short drive north, and hiked the Pine Tree Loop Trail. We prefer loop trails, and the views along the way of the mountains in one direction and the secret city, likely of some military installation, in the other was well worth the effort.
The New Mexico Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum enlightened us in unexpected ways. The ranching history, and the role the government took in annexing land from the ranchers for military use is really amazing, and quite angering as we learned along the way. Part of the military use of the land, though, was very interesting to learn about, especially in light of our visit to the US Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama. There we learned about the rocket development history, and the major players in the field played significant roles in both locations. Connecting dots on our #gates50states journey is kind of cool.
Sometimes we stumble on a very authentic, in-state experience, and on our way home, we saw a man selling tamales out of the back of his pick-up on the side of the road. Twenty-four tamales for $20. For real. They. Were. Amazing! We got three meals out of them because they were so big and so tasty. When in New Mexico…
One could finish that sentence a number of ways, certainly by saying, “Eat tamales, of course!” Another answer is… “Visit Carlsbad Caverns National Park!” And that we did.
Having been to a couple of caves in Kentucky and learning about Wind Cave National Park in South Dakota (though we were shut out of it because of Covid), we’ve learned not all caves are the same. A variety of factors are at play as these things form, from mineral content to water, and Carlsbad was different from the others we’d seen. You cannot visit New Mexico on an American tour and skip this early 100 year old National Park.
It was insanely hot and dry, so much that many of the above ground trails were closed. This heat wave prevented us from really spending much time at Guadalupe Mountains National Park in Texas. Too much fire risk, both from idiots setting fires and from having to rescue people from fires. But the cave was certainly open, and because Gateses take the stairs, we hiked in and hiked out.
The next day, while Lincoln took off with Auntie Haley and Lauren to hike Guadalupe Peak in Guadalupe Mountains National Park in Texas, Jenn and I took the younger ones to Carlsbad Water Park to beat the heat. It’s not huge, but the slides are fun, the lazy River can be relaxing, and there’s plenty of shade. They limit guests; it’s first come, first served; and one in, one out… so get there early or be prepared to wait in line.
Between Carlsbad and Santa Fe, we too the time to make some fun, very Americana stops. First, Artesia’s thing is very large bronze sculptures of historical significance around town, and we wanted to take a look. Some breakfast at Kith + Kin was a good morning break in our drive.
Next, we didn’t have a bunch of time to really get into the alien thing in Roswell, and frankly, Jenn and I don’t have the interest, but it’s an interesting thing for the area, so we read the story as a family and drove through town.
Not far outside of Roswell sits Bitter Lake National Wildlife Refuge. We missed their peak bird migration season (what bird really wants to be flying long distances in this heat?), but we’ve come to appreciate the beauty of these refuges. While they often have nice interpretive displays, their facilities are typically very small, and it’s clear the priority isn’t attracting a maximum number of visitors. We drove the gravel road around the property and saw what little wildlife was present. No matter the season, we recommend visiting a Wildlife Refuge if there’s one in your area.
On up to Santa Fe we drove, taking in Bandelier National Monument, some cool shopping and some great food. Check out those Lucchese boots!
La Choza is a very nice place to get a good meal with very good service and fun drinks. I tried mezcal for the first time, and really liked it. The bar tender tried really hard to make sure it was what I really wanted because he said many try it and don’t like it. But I was feeling adventurous and Jenn and I are both glad I went for it. The smokey depth it provides is really cool.
But back to the kids, we like taking them to nice restaurants to teach manners on a number of fronts, and La Choza provided us with a very good opportunity. They loved their Shirley Temples, and while Jenn and I were waiting at the bar, the kids struck up a conversation with an older couple from Texas, and because of their recent experiences, they had something to talk about with the nice people! #missionaccomplished
Petroglyph National Monument. Ancient art, we read! See the old drawings, we thought! Well, we’re certain some find this fascinating. Not us. It was a nice excuse to get outside, and we had some fun imagining what the artists may have been thinking way back. I’ll just say the kids didn’t exactly keep it reverent. Unless you feel compelled to visit as many NPS sites as possible, we’d not suggest making this a priority if you’re traveling with kids.
In Santa Fe, after a late afternoon of shopping, Coyote Cantina was a hoppin’ place with good food, and not the type of place we often take the kids. One of those places that’s kind of louder and without much of a kids menu, but they really had a good time at an authentically New Mexico place.
Albuquerque isn’t too far away, and there were some things we wanted to experience there, so we made a day of it and visited the Rattlesnake Museum (they’ve updated their website since we visited, and it’s a major improvement!) as well as the National Museum of Nuclear Science & History. The Rattlesnake Museum is very small, but amazingly organized and the snakes are well cared for and displayed. The Nuclear Museum was more than our kids could take in in its entirety in a day, but the snippets they could handle and the history Jenn and I found fascinating was well worth the price of admission. Plus, air conditioning on a hot day was welcome.
No state to this point in our adventure has received better treatment and more attention than New Mexico, and we really, really enjoyed our time across the state.
#Gates50States 