We returned again to New Mexico at the beginning of March, hoping to enjoy spring weather a little earlier than in Colorado. This time we headed farther south to Carlsbad. The drive down wasn't too bad, except for the strong winds. We passed one wind farm along the way, but they could have been harnessing a lot more energy if only there were more.

We enjoy taking secondary and back roads rather than the interstates when we can, and in this case they provided a more direct run down from Las Vegas to Carlsbad. The one disadvantage is the lack of rest stops. We got a nice surprise around lunch time out in the middle of nowhere and still well north of Roswell when we came upon a nice state facility with picnic tables, wind breaks, and restrooms.

After lunch we drove on down toward Roswell, with the outside air temperature registering over 90 degrees for several miles. We decided to check out the UFO museum in Roswell. It was very informative, covering not only the original local incident, but the whole history of UFOs as it evolved in the '40s and '50s and thereafter.

We arrived in Carlsbad late in the afternoon of our second day out. The town is laid out along the Pecos River. They have some very nice riverside parks and recreation features, but we found everything still a wintertime brown and barren.

The next morning we drove out to the caverns. It is amazing what lies below the earth's surface. I was prepared to capture all the wondrous features, but after seven pictures my batteries died, & the backups were not charged. (Lesson learned: always charge up both sets of batteries before heading out on a photo shoot 750 feet below the surface of the earth). Or Lesson forgotten: always have husband bring his camera along too, just in case).

I couldn't have done justice to the caverns any way. It's impossible to capture the enormous dimensions of the rock formations and the underground space in any small, two-dimensional photo. There was considerable consolation for my photographic disappointment, however, in that we were able to tour at our own speed. With benches along the way to sit when needed, we could just enjoy. I couldn't imagine trying to explore the caverns as they did back in the early years, before paved paths, electric lights, and elevators. Back at the surface, I bought the National Park's professionally done book of photos as well as several picture postcards.

From the caverns we drove further south to see the Guadalupe National Park and Frijole Ranch just over the state line in Texas. The rustic character of the ranch led me to wonder how anyone could eek out a living in such seemingly austere surroundings. But they did, and hosted community dances as well.

On the way back we stopped at the caverns again so that I could purchase a badge for my walking stick. I also found a simple but pretty Zuni turquoise cross. After returning to town, we found that there weren't a lot of choices for supper. We had been to the diner the first evening, Denny's was closed due to a gas main problem, we'd already done Mickey D's, and so we ended up at Wendy's.

Next morning on the way out of town, we drove along the Pecos River, touring the park areas as well as some of the nicer homes in Carlsbad. The route from Carlsbad back up towards Roswell and then through Artesia to Cloudcroft was rather desolate. Between Hope & Mayhill there had been a large wild fire the day before. Some of the hotspots were still smoking, but it had been brought pretty much under control in spite of very high winds.

The issue of a restroom cropped up again, but this time there was a handy roadside stand, complete with a petting zoo & a small shop selling local products, as well as the much-needed restroom. I had to walk through the petting zoo to get to it. That restroom looked a lot like an old-fashioned outhouse, but actually contained a modern bathroom, albeit in rather tight quarters. We went on to do a picnic lunch in Cloudcroft's town park, but had to eat in the car due to the high winds. Closer to Cloudcroft the scenery changed to look more like our foothills.

Our next stop was Ruidoso, a small town similar to Estes Park or Manitou Springs with lots of tourist shops. The big attractions were apparently the three casinos and a nearby skiing facility. But we just enjoyed the hotel amenities and many eating places in town, plus other attractions not too far away.

Our first outing was to Three River's Petroglyph's National Park. We stopped at the Trading Post first, & I found a cowboy hat that I liked. The trail to see the petroglyphs was only a mile round trip, but not easy to walk as it was very rocky & we were still battling the high winds. Needless to say, I didn't try to wear my new hat. It took us an hour & a quarter to do the whole walk. The site contains more than 21,000 drawings, but we saw only a small percentage of them. I wonder in the years to come if what we now consider graffiti will be considered art & a kind of key to our civilization?

After resting a bit, we drove up the remote road to a small catholic church, which honored the Mother of St. Niño de Atocha. The church was just loaded with rosaries, candles & memorials of one sort or another. We then headed back to Ruidoso for supper at the Casa Blanca, where I had a blue corn enchilada.

Our original plan for the second day was to go to White Sands National Monument, but again it was way too windy. So we drove to Capitan and visited the Smokey Bear State Park & Museum. The real Smokey the Bear was originally found close to Capitan. And eventually, after a long career in fire prevention, his body was brought back from Washington, D.C., to be buried in the museum grounds. They have an interesting display of how wild fires start, their natural benefits as well as destruction, & how they are fought.

We returned to Ruidoso for lunch at the Village Buttery -- an upscale bakery. That was followed by some window shopping, plus a few photos of what is purported to have been one of Billy the Kid's hideouts.

The next day we attended church at the Community United Methodist Church & met several people with either Colorado or Wisconsin ties, including the pastor who grew up near Sheboygan. After the service & lunch, we decided to drive towards White Sands to see what the wind was like on that side of the mountain. We were pleasantly surprised that there was little to no wind, so we continued on to the Monument.

White Sands is a unique place, and it's a bit easier to get close to the dunes than with the Great Sand Dunes National Park in Colorado. In one place there's a nice boardwalk that's handicap-accessible and outfitted with nature-walk signs. I was surprised that you could drive into the midst of the sand dunes. People were sledding down the dunes as if they were made of snow, & there was even a guy with a camel.

After supper back in Ruidoso, we realized that, since we were now on daylight-saving time, we still had a couple of hours before sunset. So we headed out to see the Apache ski area on Sierra Blanca. It was a 12-mile drive off the main road, and very narrow & winding. The speed limit was only 25 mph, and we didn't really want to go any faster than that. There was no snow on the road, & I can't imagine trying to drive on it if there were. We did finally arrive at the ski slopes, & were surprised that there was some snow, but not really enough to attract a lot of skiers. It was continuing to be a dry, windy winter for everybody.

As we left Ruidoso early Monday morning, it was raining, & it would rain most of the way up to Santa Fe. We decided to take the back roads in order to visit the Salinas Missions. Once again I had the issue of needing a bathroom when there were no public services for miles. Close to the point of using a cactus to hide behind, we came across a golf course that was open. It was not exactly "public," but the clubhouse was nearly deserted, and the woman behind the counter was very understanding.

We continued on to the first mission Gran Quivira. The ranger there was so surprised to see anyone at all coming to tour his mission in such dismal weather. We found the ruins to be very well laid out with a very nice handicap-accessible walkway. And the visitors' center featured a heated restroom. Hurray!!

We then drove on to the main visitors' center for the whole area where they had a video explaining the history of the missions. They were all built in the early 1600s, but the settlements didn't last long due to conflicts among the Native Americans, the Catholic Church, & agents of the Spanish government. It was all a more complicated version of the political history we know as the Inquisition in Europe.

The last two missions, Abo & Quarai, actually had two churches built on each site. It was more pleasant to tour these two because it had quit raining, although the wind was still an issue. After the last mission, we headed to Santa Fe, but again, not via the interstate. We wanted to pass through Madrid, made famous by the movie, "Wild Hogs." We'd visited Madrid on our last stay in Santa Fe two years ago. But we were getting pretty tired and decided not to stop this time.

We had supper at our favorite place in Santa Fe: the Blue Corn Café & Brewery. Afterward, we headed off to bed to get ready for the long drive home. That last leg home wasn't anywhere near as bad as our last trip back from Santa Fe, when we were trying to outrun a snow storm that caught us at Raton Pass on the Colorado stateline. At least this time we only had to deal with those persistent high winds.

It had been a fun little trip, with lots of new and interesting sights. We enjoyed it all, except for the wind of course. But it was still good to get back home and into our regular routine.