New Mexico

White Sands National Monument, Las Cruces {New Mexico}

Mar 312016

White-Sands-National-Monument-Visit

Travel dates :: March 12 – 14, 2016

After a wonderful four nights in Carlsbad, New Mexico it was time to keep moving west. Our next planned stop was Las Cruces, New Mexico.

There were two routes to choose from going from Carlsbad to Las Cruces and we opted for the route that went right through the White Sands National Monument because that was on our list of things to see.

Cloud-Croft-Village-8650-foot

However this route ended up taking us up through Lincoln National Forest – and we reached an elevation of 8,300 feet! The drive up to the summit was a gradual uphill grade with BEAUTIFUL views and we even saw SNOW along the roadside! The climb down the other side of the mountain had a fairly steep grade – something we hadn’t driven for months and I was a little bit nervous. But we just took our sweet time, shifted into a lower gear and let our truck’s tow/haul mechanism do most of the work.

Tunnel-New-Mexico-Lincoln-Forest

There were a lot of curves which meant other traffic wasn’t going fast either and we even went through a tunnel at one point!

RV-Parking-White-Sands

It wasn’t long after we descended that we reached White Sands National Monument and we pulled into the Visitor’s Center parking lot. Thankfully they have 3-4 RV parking spots, we had plenty of room to park. But imagine when it’s busy that it could be difficult to find parking.

White-Sands-Visitors-Center-outside

We started inside the Visitor’s Center and picked up the Junior Ranger booklets for the kids (read more about the Jr. Ranger Program here).

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Carlsbad KOA Campground Review {New Mexico}

Mar 272016

Carlsbad-KOA-review-Airstream

Travel Dates :: March 9 – 12, 2016

We went to Carlsbad, New Mexico with specific plans to visit the Carlsbad Caverns and explore the nearby area. When researching places to stay nearby we found the local Carlsbad KOA had great reviews and it looked like the perfect home base while we were in town.

North of the city of Carlsbad, New Mexico the Carlsbad KOA is nestled in a quiet spot off Highway 285 making it easy to access and away from the hustle and bustle of downtown Carlsbad. Because of it’s nice remote location the Carlsbad KOA is about a 38 mile drive to the Carlsbad Caverns National Park. For some this might be a deal breaker but honestly we didn’t see much for camping options closer to the caverns and we liked the park so much that the drive wasn’t an issue for us. Plus as I mentioned in an earlier post, we LOVED visiting Artesia which was just a short drive from where we were located.

You can always tell a lot about a campground when you check-in at the front desk. The Carlsbad KOA had lots of staff on hand at the front desk and they were super helpful when we arrived.

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Carlsbad Caverns National Park, Living Desert Zoo and Gardens, Artesia {New Mexico}

Mar 262016

Carlsbad-Caverns-National-Park-Explore

Travel Dates :: March 9 – 12, 2016

After a fun few weeks in San Antonio, Austin and Lake Conroe it was about time to jet west and wrap up our time in Texas. We had planned to stop in Fredericksburg for a couple days but were watching a series of storms headed for Texas and decided to skip it and head west early. We had plans to get into Phoenix by at least March 23 to meet up with family, so we were on a bit of a deadline.

Fort-Stockton-Campground

The drive from San Antonio to New Mexico is looooong and uneventful. We stopped in Fort Stockton for a couple days to break up the drive and didn’t do much there besides catch up on school and work but it was a good stopover spot. We had beautiful views from the Hilltop RV park we stayed at.

Goodbye-Texas

It was our last stop in Texas before heading to New Mexico. . .

Carlsbad-KOA-spot

We headed north to Carlsbad, New Mexico for a four night stay at the Carlsbad KOA so that we could explore Carlsbad Caverns National Park and other local attractions. I’ll share more about that the Carlsbad KOA in a later post (we LOVED it).

Mural-Artesia-Library

We got into Carlsbad early in the afternoon and decided to head to the nearby town of Artesia to explore. I love small towns. The first place we went was the Artesia public library. . .small town libraries are one of our FAVORITE things.

And this is one of the most beautiful public libraries we’ve ever seen. This amazing Peter Hurd mural (pictured above) in the Artesia Public Library was rescued from a downtown Houston building slated for demolition. The mural was moved as one piece after removing the entire back wall and exposing the 3/4 inch plaster it was painted on. It was then stored for a couple years while the library in Artesia was being built. It’s 46 feet long and 15 feet tall and weighs 50,000 pounds. In 1951, Hurd wrote about his design, “sweeps of landscape, timeless in their forms and yet alive with the activities of man at work improving and developing its natural resources for the present and the future.”

Isn’t it beautiful?

Artesia-Library-kids-reading

We spent a couple hours at theArtesia public library reading books, playing chess . . .

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White Sands National Monument, Las Cruces {New Mexico}

Carlsbad KOA Campground Review {New Mexico}

Carlsbad Caverns National Park, Living Desert Zoo and Gardens, Artesia {New Mexico}

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