Spring Break 2009 - New Mexico

This year we decided to spend our spring break on a road trip through New Mexico. On Monday Tevia and the boys picked me up after work and we went straight up to Show Low. The next morning we set off on our trip with Tevia's parents and their RV. One might not think there is a lot to see in New Mexico, but I was looking forward to the itinerary that Tevia had put together.

The first stop was one that I was looking forward - and one that we had been to before. It was the Catwalk, a small box canyon that we had visited a few years ago for the 4th of July. I loved it then and was looking forward to the fun hike up the canyon, which consists of 'catwalks' or little suspension bridges up the canyon where they used to mine. The weather proved beautiful and the hike was great. This time there were a ton of bugs - but they were tolerable for the most part. Enok loved the hike and did great. Jarek and Malik also did well and we didn't have to carry the kids as much as we did a couple of years ago. We ate lunch there, stuck our toes in the freezing water, and enjoyed the first stop on our trip.

The second stop was a location I had never heard of before. It is called City of Rocks and we got there just before the sun was setting. It was beautiful. We found a great place to camp (Tevia's parents and the boys slept in the RV while Tevia and I shared a tent) under a huge tree right up against the rocks. The location is a spectacle as it is a huge congregation of rocks in the middle of desert. I kinda reminded me of the place we camp near Moab for the desert trip, but even cooler and better for kids. The kids could go anywhere and there was no reason for worry of them falling off of cliffs or anything like that since the only way they could get high enough for danger was if they could climb the rocks - most of which they could not (the tall ones - there were plenty of small ones to climb). We ate chili dogs and watched the sunset. Later in the dark Tevia and I hiked around and found a small nook in a rock where we could rest and talk as the cool breeze floated by and we could see millions of stars. This is a place I certainly would love to return to. We woke up in the morning and hiked around a bit more. We climbed on top of big rocks and marveled at the beauty of this site. Then we packed up and headed out to our next stop.

Stop number 3 was on Wednesday at White Sands. This is a place I had heard of before and had always wanted to visit. It has been seen in many movies and is a place of white, fine, gypsum sand (more like salt) in New Mexico. As we pulled up it literally looked like we were surrounded by snow. The roads were plowed and the asphalt was covered with the white sand as white 'sandbanks' were built up on the side of the roads. Jumping out of the RV the sand was warm on top and then cool and soothing as your foot sunk into it. The white was blinding. The weather again proved to be fantastic as it wasn't too hot nor too cold. We ate lunch at the bottom of a beautiful hill/dune. Enok enjoyed going across the street and picking up little sandballs. I am convinced he thought it was snow. We had fun jumping down the large sand dunes. I went for a small hike in search of the white lizards but couldn't find any. This stop was also beautiful and I look forward to going back again at some point. After a couple of hours or so we had brush off as much of the sand as possible and get back in the RV for our next stop.


The next stop was a KOA near Carlsbad, NM. We were to go to the Carlsbad Caverns early on Thursday, so this was a logical stop for us to refresh the RV and have some nice amenities. This KOA was very nice as it had great showers, wifi, electricity, a playground, campfire pits, etc. It even had roadrunners and bunnies for me to watch. We ordered BBQ from the camp which they delivered to our site (the boys ate mac and cheese we cooked) and afterwards we bought some Mexican paletas from the store (I got coco). I then set up a fire, but most people were tired. I took the boys to get showered and showered myself. Tevia and I decided to try and watch a movie from netflix in our tent using the wifi, but it wasn't good enough for a movie. We watched a couple of episodes of Scrubs she had on her computer and then went to sleep. I didn't sleep too well either of these nights - I find it harder to sleep in tents as I get older. Plus I had allergies which make it hard for me to sleep as well (I sleep terrible if I have to breathe through my mouth). But it was still great and I enjoyed it. In the morning I started another fire and enjoyed the brisk morning.

We then set out for Carlsbad Cavern. We bundled up a bit as the cave is fairly cool (Tevia and her parents had been here before). We had decided to descend via the natural entrance which is about a mile or so hike down into the cave. The cave was MUCH bigger than I had even imagined. It is huge. I couldn't believe how big this cave was. And it kept going down and down. It took us about an hour or so to get down to the main room. At that point most of the boys were getting tired - and by this point they had seen quite a bit of cave - and there wasn't all that much more to be seen. But we did part of the hike around the main room and then headed back up via the elevators they have. I enjoyed this part of the trip quite a bit as well.

Next up was Roswell, NM. This is the spot famous for the flying saucer crash in the 1940s. I must say it was fun to go here, but it wasn't nearly as cool as I had anticipated. We went to the UFO museum and checked out a few local shops. Enok did not like all of the fake aliens everywhere. But after a while we were a little bored and decided to take off. We didn't see any real aliens or UFOs though.

That evening we stopped in Capitan, NM which is the home of Smokey the Bear. We stayed in the Smokey Bear motel and I was able to catch a little of March Madness. We ate at a cute restaurant across the street where I ordered a green chili burger (which was great). In the morning we went to the Smokey Bear museum, which was fun, though small.

It was now our last day of our trip. We made a lunch stop in Socorro and then headed for our last anticipated stop in Pie Town, NM. The one pie place we had planned on going was closed (due to Winter hours it closed at 2 PM) so we went to the other pie place called Pie O Neer cafe. It was almost closing time for them, so we were limited in our pie selection. Jarek thoroughly enjoyed his cherry pie with ice cream and deemed it one of his favorite stops. Malik cried when he realized they did not have 'Pot Pies' which he likes - as he let us know he does not like sweet pies. Tevia and I shared an apple/blackberry pie which was fine. I'm not a big pie fan. A couple of hours later we were back in Show Low and enjoyed our obligatory dinner from La Casita.

All in all, it was a wonderful trip. I thank Tevia's dad for driving the whole time. I hate driving, so the many hours on the road were much more palatable when you can draw, play DS, read or even sleep on the bed above the cabin of the RV. My favorite stops were by far the City of Rocks and White Sands. I wish I could take everyone there one day. But it is pretty far away. I can't wait for the desert trip!