Link to Roswell, NM Facebook Pictures

On wards to Roswell! We got there pretty late in the night and set up camp at the Haystack Off-Roading Vehicle Park. There were some massively strong winds in the are and our tent almost blew down a cliff! The views in the morning were pretty spectacular.

CHECK IT!

We visited Roswell’s famous UFO museum

Awesome replica of a radio station from the 40’s.

Reasons for why the government hides UFO evidence from the public (it’s because we suck as a civilization and can’t handle the truth).

Ryan and his new friends.

Then, we went to the Spring RIver Park and Zoo. Check out this prairie dog (gopher?) and his/her pal in the hole.

Bufarro. I bet he was sweating his butt off.

After this post was written, we went to Bottomless State Park.  It is a gorgeous oasis, in the middle of the desert.  One minute, you’re driving through what seems like barren wasteland, then you come upon a beautiful lake.  It was about 100 degrees outside and felt SO refreshing to dip in.  We both actually got goosebumps from being cold!

Molly and I then took a nice refreshing shower in the little showers that you’re supposed to wash the sand off with..nobody seemed to mind / notice.

After Bottomless Lake, we drove back towards Carlsbad Caverns again to watch the bat flight at dusk.

Every night, thousands and thousands of bats fly out of the cave to search for insects to eat.  We weren’t allowed to take pictures.  By the time the bats started coming out steadily, it was pretty dark.  

We could still see their silhouettes against the dark night sky, which was pretty neat.  They come out in a counter-clockwise spiral from the cave.  Sometimes they come out in a less dense fashion (like this time), and other times they come out by the thousands, all at once.  Google “Bat Flight” and you’ll see some pictures.  If you’re in the area, you definitely need to check out the caverns and flight!

After the bat flight, we wanted to make our way onward, across New Mexico.  Since it was dark, we decided to do the 2.5 hour drive at night.  What we didn’t realize, however, was how windy these roads were about to be.  And how many deer, elk, and rabbits we would see along the way.  We drove across a mountain range.  

At one point, we were able to get out of the car, have pee breaks along the highway, then sit there for a minute and watch the stars.  During all of this, not one single car passed by.  Once we entered Lincoln National Forest and started climbing the mountains, we had to slow down considerably.  Our sightings of deer and elk seemed to correspond perfectly with the signs on the side of the road – the yellow ones that show a picture of a deer or elk crossing.  

It was eerie, because on more than one occasion, we would pass the sign and then immediately see the animal.  I had to slam on my brakes pretty hard one time to avoid a particularly big deer!  

We passed through a town called Cloudcroft, with an elevation of nearly 9,000 feet.  It was during this stretch of the drive that we kept seeing different animals.  On our way down the mountains, we passed a huge ELK that was standing on the side of the road.  That thing was big enough to total an F-150 for sure..it would have completely DESTROYED my poor little Honda.

We got to the city of Alamogordo and we were too tired to try and find a place to camp / set up the tent, so we stopped at a gas station for a restroom break and decided to sleep at the local Wal-Mart.  It wasn’t that bad to sleep in the car!  It was our second time sleeping the night in the car during this trip.