The Natural Wonders of New Mexico

Oops, we lied. We are not getting better about blogging, actually, we’re getting worse. But come on, cut us some slack, we had a very busy last few days. And by few days, we mean 5. Man, it’s been that long already? Ok, take a seat, get a glass of wine, and get ready for some catch up time.

Our trip to Phoenix was quite deserted, as we expected, since we were driving through the desert…that is, until we drove into a parking lot on highway I-10. Obviously, we were curious why we came to a complete stop, so, like everyone else, we got out of the car, made some friends, and chatted with the po-po. Mind you, it was a brisk 110 degrees outside. Yes, that means we were covered in sweat after about 30 seconds. We debated putting our bathing suits on and sun bathing, but when we realized our sandals were melting to the pavement, we thought that might not be the smartest idea. We couldn’t actually see the accident, but we could see the 4 separate Lifestar helicopters come flying in. Never a good sign. Turns out a woman with 3 little kids rolled her Ford SUV over onto the opposite side of the highway. It took about 45 minutes until we were moving again and making our way to Phoenix. Once we got to Phoenix, obviously the first thing we did was restock our food pantry, and then we hit up the pool. To give you an idea of how hot it was in Phoenix, with no heater, the pool was easily 92 degrees. It felt like we were taking a bath. Good if you want to shower, bad if you want to cool off. Oh well. That night we asked the concierge for some Mexican restaurant recommendations. I mean, we are in Phoenix here, how could you not get Mexican? And since one of the places was called Sam’s Café, we obviously went there. The food was phenomenal and the location was beautiful…..outdoor seating in what looked like an outdoor mall with water fountains, palm trees and a sunset to top it off. Not too shabby.

The next morning, we started our trek to White Sands, New Mexico. The highlight of our drive was being stopped by border patrol. We were interrogated with questions such as; are you a U.S. citizen? What are you doing out here? Where are you coming from? Why are you on your trip? What were your majors? What size bra do you wear? Can I join you for dinner? As you can see, he was extremely bored with his job and wanted to be entertained. Besides, based on stereotypes, we are probably the least threatening people to border patrol. Three blonde white girls from CT? Come on now.

White Sands can be compared to the Grand Tetons in that words, nor pictures, can accurately depict how gorgeous the area is. But since pictures are worth a thousand words…. 

We had done our extensive research and found that they have sand sledding. We rented wax and saucers and made our way out to the dunes……in 107 degree weather. We quickly figured out that more wax = a faster ride and more intense sled races. Now let us tell you, sand sledding is extremely exhilarating, but at the same time, exhausting. As you know, every time you go down, you have to climb back up. It’s pretty comparable to hiking up snow, except your feet do not leave footprints, they just slip back down. After we sweated through our first pair of clothes, we changed and moved on to a new sand dune. If you can’t tell yet, we sweat a lot, get over it. That night, we were pleasantly surprised with our Marriott hotel, mainly because it had an overhead shower. It’s the little things that count! We knew we had a long day ahead of us since we would be driving to Carlsbad, NM (4 hours), doing a cave tour and then driving to Austin (8 hours) all in one day. Needless to say, we went to bed pretty early.

The drive to Carlsbad was not exactly what we pictured. Almost the entire drive consisted of windy roads ascending and descending through mountains, and speed limits that changed from 35 mph to 70 mph. Once we arrived at Carlsbad Caverns, we got our tickets for our tour, and began our 800+ ft. descent into the caverns. While the temps outside are a constant 100 degrees, the constant temperature inside the cave is only 56 degrees. Thank God we brought sweatshirts because it got pretty freaking cold. As we began to tour the caves, we realized that New Mexico’s natural wonders trump Wyoming’s. We never thought we were gonna say that, and if you recall how in awe we were of Wyoming, you can only imagine what this was like. Therefore, we are not even going to attempt to describe the caverns, instead we will just show you our pictures. If you want to have a minor inclination as to how incredible the caverns are, go watch Journey to the Center of the Earth. One of the scenes was filmed in one of the caves we saw on our tour. 

By the way, Sam’s camera died right at the beginning, Britt’s camera was taking pretty good pictures, but funny enough, the IPhone took the best pictures. Who would have thunk it? On our tour, we got to experience a total blackout. As our guide was telling us the story about how the cave was discovered, he turned off all the lights in the cave, giving us a feel for how the founder, Jim White, felt when his lantern died. If you think you’ve ever seen a blackout, that’s false…..unless you were in a cave. Your eyes do not adjust even after 5 minutes because there is literally no light, nothing, nada, zip. We were waiting for the Boogey Man to jump out behind us while our tour guide told us the story. Don’t worry, he did not make an appearance.

Following our tour of the caverns, we started our journey to the Lone Star State. Our drive went from tumble weed, cacti and open spaces, to oil rigs with wind turbines in the background and finally back into the world of trees! What a concept. Oh, and we saw deer too! Well, Britt dodged about 4 of them while driving, along with 2 people dressed in dark clothing. Smart idea, right? Once we got to our hotel, we moved in and hit the sack.

We’re currently still in Austin, but to leave you on the edge of your seats, we’re going to make you wait to read about our Austin adventures until they are complete. Check back tomorrow at 4:53 pm. That’s probably a lie, but it’s worth a shot. We do have a whole day of driving tomorrow.

Until Next Time,

Later Skaters