New Mexico

  • New Mexico

    Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument

    December 22, 2014 - By 

    Hands down, traveling > vacation.  No planning, no such thing as “last minute.” We only plan as far as the campground for the next evening–nothing more than that–because flexibility is priceless.  The real Jean in the office at a desk M-F, 8-5 could never possibly fathom the carefree spirit, but in this current lifestyle, to be carefree is a necessity. When I explained our road trip to the national park ranger at the Carlsbad Caverns Visitor Center, she handed me a pamphlet with information on all the New Mexican parks and monuments.  I had only heard of Carlsbad Caverns and White…

  • New Mexico

    White Sand Dunes National Monument

    December 17, 2014 - By 

    Our day entailed a morning tour through Spider Cave at Carlsbad Caverns National Park and a late afternoon rendezvous to Roswell, which made us pull into Lake Holloman at the Holloman Air Force Base long after the sun had set.  We spent one quiet evening along the lake before venturing out the next morning into White Sand Dunes National Monument just 2 miles down the road. Because boondocking at Lake Holloman is free and is quite beautiful, we were sorry to have left so soon.  I snapped this photo shortly after sunrise, not long before we departed. White Sand Dunes National Monument…

  • New Mexico

    Roswell

    December 16, 2014 - By 

    Well, we just had to go to Roswell, New Mexico.  I mean, why not? It was just about a 40 minute detour on our way to White Sand Dunes National Monument.  Thanks Chris for the idea! If it weren’t for you, we wouldn’t have these ridiculous photos! By mid-afternoon we left Carlsbad Caverns and made a brief visit (literally less than an hour) to Roswell.  With the limited time we had, we only made it to Alien Zone, a silly tourist trap where one can spend $3 to take a bunch of campy pictures and get a decent laugh.  Not much else to say,…

  • New Mexico

    Carlsbad Caverns

    December 15, 2014 - By 

    It has been a while (7 months to be exact) since we spent any time under the depths of the earth, and even though no caving experience can possibly top Vietnam’s Son Doong Cave, we knew we would still be dazzled with amazement by New Mexico’s Carlsbad Caverns. Situated in the Chihuahuan Desert, America’s second largest desert which straddles the U.S.-Mexican border, the limestone chambers of Carlsbad Caverns is the 5th largest chamber in the nation.  We found a quiet, peaceful place to camp in the middle of the desert on BLM land about 20 miles outside of the park.  Desert jewels such…