New Mexico is...

We get up the next morning, get ready, and go to the Grand Canyon. It is everything everyone claims it is. A gorgeous, giant hole in the ground, it stretches 10 miles across in front of us. We take pictures, footage, and souvenirs, and then head out. Koji requests that we stop at the Planes of Fame Air Museum on the way back to I-40. It is a VERY cool place for anyone interested in planes. We stop, take some pictures, buy some souvenirs, and get back on the road. Next stop, Meteor Crater just outside of Flagstaff, about 2 hours away. The drive back to I-40, which took us 2 hours the night before, takes us half the time this afternoon.

We mosey on down the road, find the road for Meteor Crater, and head on up. Six miles up the road, we come to a partially closed gate with a security guard sitting in a parked truck. Meteor Crater is closed. It closed at 5pm. It’s 5:10 now.

How exactly do you close a mile-wide hole in the ground? Sarah’s mother wants to know if they pull a tarp across it.

Thwarted, we return to Meteor Crater Road (Arizona is not very creative with their road names) and pull over on a “Primitive Road” (I got pictures) and catch a glorious sunset over the mountains. It almost makes up for being 10 min too late to see the crater.

Almost.

Back on the road again, we continue towards Albuqueque, our final destination for the night. It’s now full dark, but at least the road is pretty much straight. For awhile.

About 2 hours from Flagstaff, with about 3 more hours to go, Sarah takes over driving.

Then the fog returns.

Pea soup, can’t see the 18-wheeler 100 yards ahead of us, fog.

Of all the ridiculous nonsense. Where does fog in New Mexico even come from?

We were making really good time, but now we’re back to 50 mph on the freeway. The fog is patchy for the next hour. We don’t get in to Albuqueque until 10pm. Wonderful. We’re going along the freeway towards the hotel, when about 5 or 6 miles from the exit we need to take, the road construction begins. Our exit is closed. We go to the next exit, helped along by Koji and Maxx (Koji’s GPS Navigator) and start down the road for the hotel. We get to where it should be, and it’s not there. What do I mean, it’s not there? Well, we were looking for the Best Western on Central Ave. There is no Best Western on Central Ave. We loop around and call the number from the website. Nobody answers. We loop around again and call information. Information gives us the number to Barcelona Suites on Louisiana. We drive to it and the sign is Best Western, only the Best Western part is covered (you can still tell it used to be a Best Western; their signs are very distinctive). Barcelona Suites bought the Best Western about a month ago. Information didn’t even know about it. So the guy at the desk at the Barcelona Suites (which, by the way, looked fabulous, in case anyone is unfortunate enough to have to go through Albuqueque) was extremely helpful and actually looked up the Best Westerns website for us. No Best Western on Central Ave. We call the closest one to our location. They don’t have our reservation. We call Central Reservations for Best Western. They don’t have a reservation for us either. We call the number for the hotel one more time, and they finally answer.

It’s a Best Choice Inn, not a Best Western, but the man that answers the phone mumbles, has an accent, and talks really fast. He directs us back to where we started and, sure enough, there’s the Best Choice Inn. We get our key and immediately go in search of food (because we’re all very cranky at this point) and then go upstairs and eat and go to bed. We’re not too worried about time because we don’t have to get up too early as we’re just driving from Albuqueque to Carlsbad, a 3 hour drive. (yeah, right!)

After we get up the next morning, I notice that we only have three bath towels. As two of us have hair, we need at least one more bath towel. So I go downstairs and ask for another towel. He asks when we're checking out. Today, as our reservation states. He says that there are 8 towels in the room. *insert crazy look here* No, there are three towels, I explain. He says no, all rooms get 8 towels. Again, no, there are only THREE bath towels in the room. He begins to list them, three bath towels, three washcloths, bathmat...

Seriously? Am I supposed to dry my hair with the bathmat then? Give me my damn towel! He finally gives in. Towel in hand, I go back to the room, and 20 minutes later we're back on the road.

We’re heading south out of Albuqueque, and we are in serious need of some coffee. We end up in the barrio, get lunch at Subway, and then my Dad comes through (once again!) and finds us a Starbucks in Los Lunas, a sprouting of a city that looks like its sole purpose is to support the huge mall they have there. We get coffee and head south to Socorro, our first pit stop.

What’s in Socorro, you ask?

The Very Large Array (VLA).

What’s the VLA?

Ever seen Contact?

That’s the VLA. It is awesome.

We get to Socorro, find the sign that points us in this direction, take that road. Only that road dead ends at the desert. We turn around, and take a different road, and that road has no signs and we’re about to head right out of town. We decide to stop and ask directions at the last building, a vet’s office. We’re going the right way, they tell us, and they are confirmed when a quarter mile down the road we see a sign that tells us the mileage to the VLA. Of course.

This road, by the way, is a two-lane back road in the middle of the New Mexico hills (I think they call them mountains, but really they’re just cute baby mountains). It’s very scenic, and we’re enjoying the drive. 50 miles later, we actually see the first array. I’m sure most of you don’t want to hear about our visit at the VLA, as the vast majority of the three people who will read this are not the science nerds that we are.

Back to the travel.

After we get back to Socorro (after having caught yet another glorious sunset off that New Mexico back road) we head to our next stop which is Roswell via the other tiny back road cross White Sands Missile Range. At this point in our journey we are second guessing the wisdom of driving across the northern end of a missile range. With the luck we’ve been having, they’ll miss the safe zone.

But we were not hit by rogue missiles. We made it through just fine (after I pass a stupid UHaul truck doing 40 in the 65 on a completely unlit blind curve at night).

Finally at Roswell, we stop for dinner at a Sonic. Lo and behold, our carhop is half Inupiat. Grew up in Anchorage and Palmer, and moved to Texas and then New Mexico several years ago. Of course. He was very nice though, and gave us directions to the road to Carlsbad and directions to the Walmart where we could get alien postcards. How can you stop in Roswell, NM, and not get alien postcards? We get to the Walmart, but they don’t have any alien postcards. What they do have is an entire room of souvenirs. Not as many as the Anchorage Walmarts, but still more than I’ve seen in any other Walmart outside of Alaska. Ever. Only no postcards.

Back on the road, we head towards a gas station, ANY gas station, that might have alien postcards. None. We finally stop at a Walgreens (Walgreens! How I miss drugstores!) and they have a couple. Postcards in hand, we get back on the road and drive back through town. By the way, if you’ve never been to Roswell, their downtown streetlights are actually green alien heads. Fantastic.

It’s only 75 miles from Roswell to Carlsbad, but there’s construction on the road, so the speed limit was 55. Lucky us. We finally get into Carlsbad at midnight, get to our hotel room, relax for a few minutes, and then Sarah’s phone tries to tell us that we’re in Central Time and it’s now2:45am.

Excuse me? We just lost an hour??

No, no, we’re still in Mountain Time. Panic averted.

See, we were planning on going to Carlsbad Caverns the next morning and then going to the McDonald Observatory in Fort Davis (our next stop) that afternoon. It was only about a 4 hour drive from Carlsbad to Fort Davis. So we get up super early after a super late night, get to Carlsbad, do a whirlwind tour through the Big Room, and then decide that we’re going to stay an extra night in Fort Davis and go to the Observatory tomorrow, so as not to kill ourselves on the drive down. We have a leisurely lunch at Jack’s, which is the Family Dining half of the Velvet Garter Saloon & Restaurant. Jack’s, just so ya know, is an awesome place. They have Galaga, in the original arcade =) As well as Cruisin USA, Ms. Pac-Man, and Area 51. We bought fudge across the street, and then head south towards Texas.

Ah, Texas. Home.

We went through the Guadalupe Mtns National Park, and actually had a good drive down through back road Texas to get to Fort Davis. Catch another glorious sunset by the Observatory, and then head into Fort Davis. It takes us 30 minutes to wind 15 miles through the Davis Mountains. We finally come to the town of Fort Davis (quaint little thing) and we can’t find the place we’re staying, the Butterfield Inn. Mapquest is telling us one thing, but the actual address is telling us a different story. We choose the address, and head that way. Ta-da! There it is! And they are adorable! They’re little one room cottages. If you should ever find yourself in Fort Davis, TX, stay at the Butterfield Inn.

That brings us up to date. Of course, there’s no wifi or even wired internet here, so I can’t upload any of the blogs I just wrote. But I will upload them soon, and then this paragraph will be defunct.

And now, to bed. Tomorrow, we will sleep in and then go to the Observatory. Yay!