Days 65 – 67 – Albuquerque & Santa Fe

Elliot and I have been looking forward to visiting the Southwest for a long time, so of course we were excited to be in New Mexico! After visiting Carlsbad Caverns we made our way up to Albuquerque and Santa Fe. Our thoughts in planning the trip we didn’t really think about how cold it gets in the mountains at night… During the day the temperatures reach 70 or even 80 in March, but the nights get super chilly, as low as the 30’s or 40’s. When you’re in a tent, you really feel that drop in temperature. After our first night we decided we really needed to get a nice blanket.

In the Historic Old Town District in Albuquerque there’s a ton of little shops and restaurants, we scoured the stores to find the perfect blanket. Local jewelry artists line the side walks during the day to sell their own goods. However, some of the stores were a little less traditional than others, mostly carrying products that were made in China rather than local products but we found a big blanket made in Mexico and we were super warm that night!

After our little shopping spree we spent time visiting many of the Breaking Bad set locations. We both used to watch the show, and rerun episodes on our own free will, so we had to see a few set locations that we recognized! We ate at The Doghouse, as seen in several episodes and had chili cheese dogs. On the same street is Java Joe’s, which was the set of Tuco’s warehouse. We drove past the hotel that Hank took Walter White Jr, and of course… We saw Walter White’s house! We actually stopped and got a pizza to throw on the roof, but there was somebody sitting outside and a bunch of no trespassing signs. I guess they finally got tired of getting free pizza. 😉 At just about sunset we took the Sandia Peak Tramway to the highest portion of the Sandia Mountains. It was crowded because a lot of people had the same idea to see the sunset, but it really was quite the view. The way back down was even better with the city lights at night.

Camping that night was pretty warm and cozy with our new blanket, we were excited to explore Santa Fe so we wanted to feel well rested. Santa Fe’s historic district also serves as their city center. We picked up a few souvenirs from street vendors and admired the architecture. We visited the outside of the San Miguel Chapel, which is thought to be the oldest church in the United States, as well as the oldest house. Both were built between 1610 and 1626. On the same strip are the “mysterious stairs” that are in Loretto Chapel. Legend says that the chapel was finished with construction and they realized that they forgot to add an access point to the choir loft that was 22-feet above the church. The legend goes on to say that the nuns of the church said prayers to Saint Joseph, the saint of carpenters and on the ninth day of prayer a man showed up at the chapel with a donkey and a toolbox looking for work.

The man left without pay from the chapel, and nobody could track him down. He was thought to be Saint Joseph himself, answering their prayers. The stairs have no visible means of support and was built without nails, only wooden pegs. The church was beautifully built, but who knows about the actual mystery of the stairs. They’re blocked off, so you can’t walk up them to view the church from the top but many wedding photos are taken on the stairs in the present day.

Santa Fe is seriously huge on art, so while we were there we visited the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum. Georgia O’Keeffe is an artistic legend, extremely well rounded and talented. The museum is home to the largest collection of Georgia O’Keeffe’s work in the world. There’s also a short film about her life and several photos of her on her property in Abiquiu. Georgia was an iconic mythic figure, and this museum definitely showcases that quite well.

Later that night we checked out Meow Wolf. As crazy as it sounds, Meow Wolf is an interactive art collective that you can literally spend HOURS in. We saw it in a pamphlet at the campground we were staying at, but what we figured out after being there for a few hours already is that you’re supposed to figure out this entire story line that the artists have created. Otherwise, even without the story line the building is home to a massive amount of exhibits that you can walk around it, make music with and take photos with things. It’s extremely immersive, we ended up spending the better half of 7 hours there. We wished we had realized sooner what it was all about!

Overall, I kind of fell in love with the feeling that Santa Fe gives you when you walk around the city. It’s a pretty spiritual and beautiful place, you’re close to the desert but since you’re in the high desert, you still get snow and cooler weather. It really was an interesting place to see!

Days 62 – 64 – El Paso & Carlsbad Caverns National Park

Every moment spent in Big Bend was well worth the time and effort. We weren’t quite done with Texas so before heading up to New Mexico so we stopped in El Paso to check out the area. What we didn’t realize about the area is that many of the museums are closed on Mondays, so instead we did a short hike at Franklin Mountain State Park up to a small cave. Afterwards we went for lunch at Los Bandidos de Carlos & Mickey’s and we each had a Texas-sized margarita! Even though we didn’t spend much time in El Paso it was good that we stopped, their grocery stores are super inexpensive. You can see right into Mexico from the highway, so it wasn’t surprising that their avocados and limes were under 50 cents.

On the way to Carlsbad Caverns National Park we stopped at White Sands National Monument for less than an hour just to check it out. There’s camping and hikes that you can do but we just checked out a little boardwalk and took a scenic drive. The gift shop at the monument also sells sleds so you can sled down the dunes! It was a good time watching some of the kids sled down the dunes, but it’s definitely different than sledding in the snow.

Driving to Carlsbad Caverns was a pretty normal drive, besides the fact that we drove past areas that do missile testing for the military and there are several border patrol checkpoints. We got to our campground pretty late, but there were a few other tent campers there. It’s really amazing meeting other travelers that are doing something similar when you’re so far away from home. One was from Alaska and the other from Ohio, both escaping the winters just like we are! We exchanged stories around the fire for awhile and all contemplated this bizarre banging noise we could hear in the distance… If anybody can shed some light on the consistent banging sound that echoed through the night, please let me know!? It’s been weeks and I’m still curious about it!

Carlsbad Caverns National Park was the third national park we went to, but it was completely different from the others because well, it’s underground! We got there a bit later than we expected (we really aren’t morning people at all) so we couldn’t hike down into the cave, but instead we took the elevator 75 stories below the visitor center. We paid for a guided tour so we could learn more about the caverns and tour guide took us into an area that they don’t allow you to venture into by yourselves. It was well worth the money, there were several stories she knew about the park and how it got founded that we wouldn’t have learned about on our own.

Jim White, the person that found the cave, was just a curious 16-year old that saw all the  bats flying out of the cave at dusk so he investigated! He went down into the cave and found all of the stalagmites, stalactites, chandeliers and soda straws all beautifully formed. Of course, that was all seen with the help of his kerosene lantern. Without the lantern he was just sitting in darkness. Our tour guide was able to turn off the lights during part of our tour to show us just how dark the caverns really are. We were all silent while the lights were off, all you could hear was the faint dripping of water.

On our tour we learned that it takes hundreds and hundreds of years for these formations to get as large as they are now. They now do the tours in certain areas as a way to protect them, a lot of guests would vandalize the formations by breaking off parts to take home or even writing their names on the cave walls. Even just touching the stalagmites can damage the way they’re forming, and even stop the entire process just because of the oils from our skin. It’s too bad that visitors can’t just simply visit without damaging the cave. Of course, some parts of the cave aren’t even accessible by the average visitor. Over 120 miles of the cave have been explored and mapped out, making it the largest cave in the western hemisphere. The caverns are a really special place, I’m glad we were able to see it!