10/08/2026
🌵 Day 1: Welcome to New Mexico!
We kicked off our newest adventure by meeting the group in El Paso, Texas, and then hit the road!
We traveled through the beautiful desert before climbing through the mountains and making our way toward Carlsbad, getting ourselves perfectly positioned for the adventure that awaited us the next day.
And because every great tour needs a great dinner, we settled in for a fantastic prime rib and chicken-fried steak dinner.
Nothing says “welcome to the Southwest” quite like a plate of comfort food big enough to require its own zip code. 😂🥩
Everyone got a good night's rest because Day 2 was about to take us somewhere… out of this world.
👽 Day 2: OUT OF THIS WORLD
If Day 1 got us to New Mexico, Day 2 took us somewhere completely otherworldly.
We started the morning at Carlsbad Caverns, where about two-thirds of our guests decided to embrace their adventurous side and hike down the Natural Entrance into the cavern.
The rest of us demonstrated excellent judgment and took the elevator. 😂
Either way, everyone eventually arrived in the spectacular Big Room, surrounded by formations that look like they belong on another planet.
From underground wonders, we headed to a place where people have been looking toward the sky for decades…
👽 Roswell!
We made a quick stop in downtown Roswell to get our alien on.
Some hit the UFO gift shops, others explored the International UFO Museum, and a few brave souls conducted very important research at the soda shop and Subway. 😅
No word yet on whether any extraterrestrials were spotted, but we're keeping our eyes open.
From Roswell, we crossed the Sacramento Mountains and traveled through Billy the Kid Country before arriving in Alamogordo.
And then we finished the day in one of the most surreal places in the entire Southwest.
🌅 White Sands: Truly Otherworldly
We enjoyed a catered sunset dinner at White Sands National Monument, surrounded by miles of brilliant white gypsum dunes.
Our newest member of the Trips Family, Seth, shared fascinating stories about the area's connection to missile testing and the Manhattan Project, giving us a glimpse into the incredible science and history that happened right here in the desert.
Then we watched the sun begin to disappear across the dunes.
And the colors?
Absolutely magical. 🌅
The white sands transformed into shades of pink, orange, purple, and gold, giving us the perfect ending to a day that somehow managed to take us underground, into alien country, over the mountains, and onto another planet—all without leaving New Mexico.
⭐ Day 2 Verdict…
Carlsbad Caverns ✔️
Aliens ✔️
Roswell ✔️
Billy the Kid ✔️
Mountain roads ✔️
Missile history ✔️
White Sands ✔️
One spectacular sunset ✔️
And this is exactly why we don't believe a New Mexico adventure should stop at Albuquerque and Santa Fe. 😉
Sure, you can fly into Balloon Fiesta, take some pretty pictures, eat a little green chile, and call it New Mexico.
But where's the fun in that? 😂
We're here for the caverns, aliens, Billy the Kid, mountain roads, missile history, White Sands, quirky little stops, local characters, and all the wonderfully weird corners that don't make the standard itinerary.
Because anyone can see the highlights.
We're here for the full New Mexico experience—with a little more local flavor, a little more adventure, and considerably more “well, THIS wasn't on the brochure!”
And honestly… that's our kind of tour. 👽🌵
Here’s to more friends, sites and experiences before heading to the grand finale of the Balloon Fiesta. 🍷🍻🥃
