Al Braden Photographer

Amazing cave formations - and a great National Park to visit on a hot summer day. Carlsbad Caverns is always cool at 700 feet underground. The splendor of the Big Room can be reached by an amazing hike down into the cave - or be elevator for those less able to hike or on a tight timeline. Additional ranger guided hikes include the Lower Cave, Slaughter Cave and other side hikes once the restrictions of Covid are lifted. Plan ahead for those special tours. Another popular attraction is the evening bat flight where watch where hundreds of thousands of Brazilian free-tail bats emerge for evening foraging every night in the summertime from about Memorial Day to early October.

Chaco Canyon, is a magic place that we have to return to - a major center of Puebloan culture between AD 850 and 1250. The Chacoan sites are part of the homeland of Pueblo Indian peoples of New Mexico, the Hopi Indians of Arizona, and the Navajo Indians of the Southwest.

Here are many of New Mexico's special places: Route 66, the open skies, and the Very Large Array radio telescope. Add to that Lava flows at Valley of Fires State Park and El Malpaies National Monument and landscape views of the Rio Grande River.

Aliens abound! Bring your lunch. You may need it if spirited away on a flying saucer by the Aliens of Roswell, New Mexico. The reported UFO sightings and cover up are the stuff of legend in this part of the New Mexico desert.