• Eastham, Cape Cod, MA, US

Out West Trip: Day 6 (Carlsbad, NM to Carrizozo, NM)

Today’s Highlights: Alien encounters, eating in the UFO McD, walking on old lava flows.

After breakfast, we worked on cleaning and packing up. We hit the road a little after nine and headed right for Roswell. On the way out, we could see the place where the brush fire had been the previous evening. In Roswell, we found street parking right across from the International UFO Museum and Research Center. Entertaining, and the gift shop got lots of our money. We walked up the street to Alien Zone where we paid a few dollars to take “staged” photos with aliens.

Area 51 - 27 may 2011

We could not find a funky diner so instead stopped at the UFO McDonald’s for ice cream and free wi-fi. The girls worked on homeschooling and postcards as we crossed through the Lincoln Forest and past the Smokey the Bear Historic Park. We arrived in Carrizozo fairly early and easily found a nice spot in the Valley of Fires campground. A run into town netted us some watermelons and snacks. We relaxed in the campsite while waiting for the sun to go a little lower, then went out to explore the lava fields we camped in. Chloe had fun scrambling around on the lava.

UFO McD - 27 may 2011
valley of fires - 27 may 2011

After setting up the sleeping arrangements, we took showers and then watched Doctor Who in the whipping winds. It was so windy the girls didn’t want to sleep up in the poptop, so Rob slept up there instead.

Links:

Trip Stats:
Roadside Attractions: UFO McDonalds (Total: 7)
States: New Mexico. (Total: 6 – GA, AL, MS, LA, TX, NM)
State Plates Spotted: 1 (Total: 25)
Miles: 186 (Total: 1890)
Gallons of gas bought: 8.3 (Total: 119.9)
Poptops Spotted: None. (Total: 2)
National Park Stamps: None. (Total: 1)
Miles walked: 4 (Total: 8)
Dollars saved with NP pass: 0 (Total: 18)

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