Carlsbad Caverns National Park

The Blue House Bakery & Cafe in Carlsbad seemed to be the most popular and best-reviewed coffee shop in the area, and reasonably so. The place was cute, the staff was very friendly, and the pastries were tasty. It was also packed with many locals waiting in line when we arrived. Still worth it, though.

After breakfast, we headed to the Carlsbad Caverns. We weren't able to get a ranger-guided tour to the King's Palace (it's good to know that they release some slots every morning, and you can get one if you arrive early) but, in any case, we had an entry reservation to the Big Room Trail. You can hike from the cavern's Natural Entrance or take an elevator down, but I'd definitely recommend making the longer trail. We did it, and it was wonderful, not crowded at all, and truly impressive. The caves are huge and have all kinds of different rock formations and geological features.

Dean had to attend a meeting right after, so we went straight to lunch at a Mexican place, El Charro, before heading to Roswell.

We had considered making some stops before arriving in town, but we were already a bit late, so we went directly to Roswell. We arrived at sunset, right on time to stop at the funny welcoming sign on the road, which displays a flying saucer and aliens interacting with humans while trying to fix their spaceship. Roswell has fully embraced its UFO-connected history and the town is capitalizing on it on every single detail.

We had dinner at a place across the street, Pasta Cafe Italian Bistro, before going back to the hotel.Read more