Little Green Men

Roswell, New Mexico, has had a place in alien lore since 1947 when, according to the Army, a weather balloon crashed at a nearby ranch. Locals say it was an unidentified flying object and that they saw corpses of life forms not of this earth. To tell the story is the Roswell UFO Museum. 

We took the hour drive up to Roswell from our campground in Carlsbad. The city definitely knows how to play up the alien angle. Not only is there an annual UFO Festival, I think there was a green alien chainsaw carving at just about every business, even the streetlight globes were alien heads. The Roswell McDonald's is the only McDonald's with a flying saucer facade. We missed the night view, but you can find pictures of it on the Internet. 

Movie prop display in the museum

Outside a souvenir shop

I'm lovin' it

Check out the street lamp

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Guadalupe Mountains National Park

Described as an "obscure national park" Guadalupe Mountains National Park is on the western edge of Texas and just south of Carlsbad Caverns National Park. We were able to visit both Carlsbad and Guadalupe parks based out of Carlsbad, NM. 

The Guadalupe Mountains contain Texas' highest peaks and one of the most preserved fossil reefs. Surprisingly, there is a salt basin dune area as well. We didn't make it to that section of the park though.

We took a couple of short hikes near the visitors' center. Some of the longer hikes looked more interesting. However, we got there late enough in the day that we decided against them. The fact that they were described as moderate to strenuous had nothing to do with it, nothing whatsoever. Ha!

Smith Spring

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Carlsbad Caverns National Park

We left Las Cruces and decided to take the route through Alamagordo and Cloudcroft to get to the Carlsbad KOA. The mountains were beautiful, and Cloudcroft looked like a place to explore later in our Jeep. Cloudcroft was having a lumberjack show that day (go figure) and traffic was heavy. The 4,000 ft elevation change was enough of a challenge without additional pedestrians, vehicles, and motorcycles.

With temperatures forecasted to be in the mid to upper 90's our first day in the area, we decided to visit Carlsbad Caverns National Park. The cavern felt really nice with its temperatures in the upper 50's. Granted, the 90% humidity was a bit of an adjustment after the desert air. My glasses were fogging since we were wearing masks and my hair, well, it didn't like the moisture so much either. 

It took us a little over two hours to walk down the natural entrance and around the Big Room. We do recommend walking down the natural entrance as opposed to taking the elevator. As one ranger commented, you miss half the cavern by taking the elevator. However, be warned that the paved entrance trail is steep in areas and the wet surface may be a bit slippery. According to the signage, you're descending the height of the Empire State Building. You felt it in your legs for sure. 

We returned to the park in the evening for the bat flight. Wow! Absolutely no photography, cell phones, cameras, etc that could scare the bats is allowed, so we don't have pictures. The bats just kept coming and coming, hundreds of thousands. About the time you'd think that was all of them, another swarm would emerge. We finally left because, despite the almost full moon, we couldn't really see them anymore. Amazing!

The natural entrance - where the bats emerge

Entrance trail switchbacks

Not a bad view up top either

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Hatch Chile Festival

Harold was off work for the Labor Day weekend. So, we thought we'd head north to Hatch for the Hatch Chile Festival. We drove up Route 185, passing through several pecan orchards. 

It started raining just as we arrived in Hatch. Thankfully, it didn't rain the whole time we were there, but you had to watch your step to avoid mud and puddles. We smelled green chiles being roasted. We browsed through the small vendor area. However, other than some folk dancing, we realized that most of what we were seeing could be seen on another day - without the crowds. We decided we'd visit another day to try "world famous" Sparky's burgers.

Pecan groves

Chiles!

Traditional way to dry chiles

Just a few chiles

Chiles, onions, and garlic

Roasting chiles

Red or green?

Looks like a fun place to eat

Roadside America mecca?

Love the swirling dresses

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